Robert Hight used Brainerd International Raceway's 1,000-foot course to set the national-record elapsed time at 3.793 seconds in 2017 – the same race at which he set the track speed record at 338.00 mph.

Hight happens to have six of the top 10 speeds, including the fastest in the sport’s history – a 339.87 from that same year, at Sonoma, Calif.

The fastest a Top Fuel dragster has gone is 338.17 mph, by Hight’s John Force Racing colleague, Brittany Force. She recorded that in 2019 at Las Vegas. And she happens to own nine of the top 10 speeds in Top Fuel history. Her 338-flat at Las Vegas this spring ranks as No. 2 on the dragsters’ all-time performance chart, while that same clocking is only 10th-best in the Funny Car class.

And Funny Car’s Ron Capps challenged for the fastest-ever with a 339.28 from the 2019 event at Reading, Pa.’s Maple Grove Raceway.

It all points to quicker and faster elapsed times and speeds, causing many to wonder how fast is too fast and whether the huge rear Goodyear slicks can handle the 340-mph speeds that some racers are predicting could happen during this year’s Countdown to the Championship.

One entity is not concerned at all – Goodyear.

Goodyear representatives Todd Rogers and Bill Bedont said the current tire technology can handle the performance gains.

“We don’t really have any concerns the way things stand now,” Bedont, Goodyear’s lead engineer for drag and sport racing said. “We have two race engineers who go to the track every [race]. We haven’t seen anything so far that has any red flags on our end. We monitor that week to week, and we talk to NHRA constantly. We test every year, throughout the year, multiple times.

“We also have a couple variations of this tire on the shelf that we feel comfortable rolling out if we needed to,” he said. “But we’re comfortable with what we have right now. We’ve been running this tire since 2015.”

Rogers, sales account manager, agreed.

“We really don’t have any concerns with where we are right now with the speeds. We’re comfortable with what we see. At Sonoma, with Brittany [Force] going 337 a couple of runs, her tires looked great.” He said a pair of here tires from Sonoma ran at the next race, at Seattle.

Moreover, Bedont and Rogers said that has a new-compound tire in reserve but doesn’t feel any need to haul it out right now.

“We’ve done testing. We’re always testing. Every season we try to come out with another development of the tire, whether we change sidewall construction for tread compound, trying to stiffen up the tire, make it more robust,” Bedont said. “We tested last January. So we have another tire sitting on the shelf, but there’s no reason to introduce it now. Teams have inventories of tires. No need to make a change now.”

Rogers said, “We have no plans to change it, but we always want to be learning, because everything constantly changes. Whether it’s clutch disc or whatever these crew chiefs are doing, they’re pretty smart guys.”

So this eight-year-old edition of the slicks is holding up just fine, they said.

But at what point would Goodyear engineers become concerned?

“I don’t know. We’re not there yet,” Rogers said.

Bedont said, “We are not worried about it. We have the technology to stay ahead of where they are. And we work very closely with the teams. We monitor every tire that comes down the track. We follow sequence numbers. We track the life of the tire so that if there are any issues we can go back to the teams and work with the teams or work with NHRA to see if somebody’s doing something different.”

Make that two entities unconcerned. The drivers certainly aren’t fretting about it. It’s in their nature to want to go quicker and faster.

“They’re wired that way,” Bedont said.

Capps said that when the Countdown starts in September at Maple Grove Raceway, it’s possible someone in the nitro ranks will break the 340-mph barrier.

“You might see 340 this year when we get to Maple Grove [a facility known for its mineshaft conditions] and places like that. I’ve got confidence in Goodyear. I don’t see an issue there. We can’t go much faster,” Capps said. “They’ll do something to keep [speeds] down, I’m sure. I don’t have an issue with worrying about the tire.”

Same for Hight.

“We don’t have any tire issues,” the Funny Car points leader said. “Goodyear gives us a great tire. We’re putting more runs on tires now than we ever have in the past – ever. As a driver, I feel very, very confident and safe in one of these cars.”

Tire capability isn’t the hot topic among crew chiefs, Capps said.

“From what I’ve gathered, talking to crew chiefs, it’s not tires – it’s shutdown [room] to stop the cars,” he said. “It’s not just the short shutdowns at some of these tracks. There’s a lot more [factors] that adds to it, especially with the weight of the cars. It’ll take another few years and the crew chiefs will figure out a way around it.”

Hight knows that, too: “I commend NHRA – and trust me, I want to go as quick and fast as I can. It’s what this sport’s always been about, being quicker and faster, setting records. That’s the goal. That’s what you work for.” On the other hand, he said, “They also have made it where it’s really, really close, good racing. It’s a lot of fun, and the fans that sit in the stands are treated to some really close side-by-side racing. I’m not knocking their rules at all.”

As soon as the speeds started looking like those of a runaway truck, the “NHRA changed the rules – made us stand our headers up and gave us a different rev limiter. And we haven’t even come close to that since,” Hight said.

Hight even predicted, “I don’t think you’re going to see dragsters go 339 with the rev limiter the way it is. I mean, it’s pure physics. RPM is a function of speed, and when you have a rev limiter that’s taking timing out the way it’s doing, a dragster’s on the rev limiter at half-track, at the eighth-mile. I don’t think you’re going to see 339 miles an hour.”

Of course, winners on the dragstrip are determined by elapsed time rather than speed. But speed still is what makes the crowd go wild. Maybe it’s just the number everyone can relate to more. As far as Goodyear is concerned right now, the Dave Grubnics, Mike Greens, Dean Antonellis, and Jimmy Procks can bring it on.   The tires can take it.