Winning championships is expected at John Force Racing, and the powerhouse team flexed its Funny Car muscles Friday night at the U.S. Nationals.

Robert Hight, the defending Funny Car world champ, captured the provisional pole with a track-record time of 4.055 seconds at 310.98 mph.

Hight just edged out his boss and father-in-law John Force and his sister-in-law Ashley Force Hood. The senior Force clocked a 4.058-second lap at a track record speed of 312.86 mph. Ashley Force recorded a 4.059-second pass at 310.98 mph.

Winning championships is expected at John Force Racing, and the powerhouse team flexed its Funny Car muscles Friday night at the U.S. Nationals.

Robert Hight, the defending Funny Car world champ, captured the provisional pole with a track-record time of 4.055 seconds at 310.98 mph.

Hight just edged out his boss and father-in-law John Force and his sister-in-law Ashley Force Hood. The senior Force clocked a 4.058-second lap at a track record speed of 312.86 mph. Ashley Force recorded a 4.059-second pass at 310.98 mph.

“That’s the way to start the Countdown out,” said Hight, who has qualified No. 1 six times this season. “You know when you run a number like that you’re going to be qualified. You do not know if it is going to hold up for No. 1 or not, but we have the points deal where you get points for every run you make in qualifying. As you saw, I finished the regular season one point behind my boss John Force. So, every point you can earn is important and this is a perfect way to start this new season. From here forward, we have to be perfect and do our job because these guys are so good out here who are chasing us.”

When the points were reshuffled for the Countdown to 1 playoffs, Hight was seeded 30 points behind John Force.

“All three of the John Force cars are one, two and three in qualifying and we had a good test session here (at Indy) a week ago,” Hight said. “I was actually nervous about tonight because Jimmy Prock wasn’t happy about how we ran in testing and he’s never happy. He was back at the dyno and he has been working night and day to trying to figure out how to make this car leave better. Tonight, we had the best 60 foot (time) we’ve had in a long time and everything he did on the dyno paid off and that doesn’t always happen. Jimmy Prock, he’s a genius and I’m lucky to have him and he made all the right calls.”

Since making his Funny Car debut in 2005, Hight has had tremendous success at Indy. He won the circuit’s biggest race in 2006 and 2008 and he was runner-up in 2007 and 2009.

“This is Indy and there’s a lot of energy here and this is basically our home track,” said Hight, who pilots the Auto Club Ford Mustang. “Last year, we came to Indy with our fingers crossed hoping that we could make the Countdown and we got to our first final. Winning Indy never gets old and you have to focus on what you have done and what you know how to do.”

A year ago, Hight just barely qualified for the Countdown claiming the 10th and final spot by capturing a controversial win over John Force in the semifinals at the U.S. Nationals, before decimating the competition over the final six races.

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