Robert Hight was finished with holding in his frustration.

And, with the ESPN cameras rolling, following his eighth consecutive Countdown to 1 first round loss, Hight cut loose in a verbal coming to reality interview. It was as if his resolve had blown out like the burst panel on his Auto Club Mustang.

The burst panel is an opening on Funny Cars designed to blow out and alleviate concussion pressure from an exploded supercharger so as to minimize the damage sustained by the expensive carbon fiber bodies. In the early days when his boss John Force honed his driving skills, a supercharger backfire and no burst panel usually meant a body blown to smithereens.

Hight was at the point of exploding considering his last playoff round victory came during his 2009 championship run. By popping out the burst panel following the loss in Dallas, Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock were able to perform reasonable repairs to their psyche and return for another run with their minds clearly back in the ballgame.

Hight ran a 4.065-second pass at 302.62 miles per hour to beat a tire-smoking Johnny Gray in the Funny Car final round at the Auto Plus NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa.

On anything but a Chamber of Commerce weather weekend, Hight, Prock and the team had the get healthy weekend they’ve needed for quite some time.

Robert Hight was finished with holding in his frustration.

And, with the ESPN cameras rolling, following his eighth consecutive Countdown to 1 first round loss, Hight cut loose in a verbal coming to reality interview. It was as if his resolve had blown out like the burst panel on his Auto Club Mustang.

The burst panel is an opening on Funny Cars designed to blow out and alleviate concussion pressure from an exploded supercharger so as to minimize the damage sustained by the expensive carbon fiber bodies. In the early days when his boss John Force honed his driving skills, a supercharger backfire and no burst panel usually meant a body blown to smithereens.

Hight was at the point of exploding considering his last playoff round victory came during his 2009 championship run. By popping out the burst panel following the loss in Dallas, Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock were able to perform reasonable repairs to their psyche and return for another run with their minds clearly back in the ballgame.

Hight ran a 4.065-second pass at 302.62 miles per hour to beat a tire-smoking Johnny Gray in the Funny Car final round at the Auto Plus NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa.

On anything but a Chamber of Commerce weather weekend, Hight, Prock and the team had the get healthy weekend they’ve needed for quite some time.

“We knew coming in here this was our last chance race,” said Hight, who won four races during the regular season. “If we had another bad showing it would be over because you put yourself in such a hole when you lose first round at the first two races of the Countdown. Then I have that monkey on my back from last year when we didn’t win a single round in the Countdown. We had won four races before that and then in the Countdown to lose eight races in a row in the first round.”

Call it exorcising demons. Call it getting the monkey of their backs. Call it Hight and his crew calling upon the resources available at the juggernaut John Force Racing to get their act together.

“We have been struggling that is no secret,” Hight admitted. “Jimmy has worked so hard and we have to thank Mike Neff and all the teams because we all worked so well together. Mike Neff helped get us back on track. Once Jimmy gets it he has got it. I am looking forward to heading out west to home for the final three. We are back into this deal.”

The victory over Gray kept intact one of the Funny car division’s most impressive winning streaks and a personal milestone. Hight remains undefeated in 2011 final rounds.

Knowing what was at stake in the final round, and understanding the potential of the Gray team, Hight said he and Prock were cautious in their approach during Monday’s final round. This wasn’t exactly an easy proposition for the tuner best known for his homerun swing.

“They threw down some major league numbers this weekend and you can see that that eats at (crew chief) Jimmy Prock,” Hight said. “He wants to be out there running those numbers. We have to keep making baby steps and move forward. We can’t go out there and give it away. If we would have gone out there and pushed to try and run 4.01, something we haven’t done all weekend, we might have been like them and smoked the tires.”

Hight said he felt a difference in the car, one it hasn’t felt in a while, when the championship is on the line.

“It was smooth all day and that is what I am most impressed about,” Hight said. “The last races it has been rattling and shaking. It was unfriendly to drive. Now this thing is smooth as can be and it is fast. There is no way we are going to win this championship if all the JFR Mustangs are not running good. We can’t just have Mike Neff pulling the team and holding us up. We have to be there for him and he has to be there for us. John is back in the game too. They made some real good runs in qualifying and they had some bad luck on Sunday. I believe JFR has a great shot at this.”

And Hight has the teams' emotional burst panel to thank for it.