Waiting out a lengthy rain delay was more than worth it for veteran nitro Funny Car driver Robert Hight Friday at the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties in Topeka.

Hight claimed the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot by clocking a 3.826-second run at 337.66 mph to set the national speed record for the class during the only qualifying session of the day at Heartland Park.

"It was just killer conditions," said Hight, who pilots the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro for John Force Racing. "You have to give it to the NHRA Safety Safari. With all the water and the rain that came down on the race track and they were able to keep it dry and keep it in shape so we could make a run like that. The racing surface here at Topeka is unbelievable and it was a perfect storm (Friday)."

As stout as Hight's run was he acknowledged  his mph record may be broken Saturday.

"Tomorrow (the conditions) are going to be just as good or better," Hight said. "We need a good racing surface, that's how you run quick and fast. This race track is flat, there's no bumps in it. The last place we were at (Atlanta) was super bumpy so you didn't see big speeds. We have been creeping up on this for a while. We've gone 291 mph at half track before and if we can put that together with the back half we just ran, there's a chance we can go quicker and faster."

Hight said sitting and waiting and trying to figure out whether Mother Nature was going to cooperate at all Friday was not easy.

"It is hard," Hight said. "If you really looked at the forecast there wasn't much chance we were going to get to run. It was 80 percent chance of rain from 2 p.m., on. You have to give it to NHRA for not giving up and we almost got the second run in, which would have been cool. Tomorrow we are looking at 60-degree temperatures and cloudy and the track is going to be awesome and probably better than (Friday) because there's going to be more race cars running down it. It could be quicker and faster. I believe if I don't run quicker than (3.826), I will not be here (Saturday night)."

Hight's Funny Car is tuned by world championship crew chief Jimmy Prock, and Hight said Prock's demeanor didn't change on his record run.

"I spent a lot of time with Jimmy over the years, and you know in these kind of conditions he is swinging for the fence," Hight said.
Setting the mph mark was especially meaningful for Hight since he received his nitro Funny Car license at Topeka in 2004, and he joined the John Force Racing team at Topeka 22 years ago.

"This is a really special race for me," he said.