Bob Pellegrini Photos

The Funny Car final round at the NHRA Fram-Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Ca., represented a battle between the teacher and former JFR driver Gary Densham and the student and successor Robert Hight. As iconic as his father-in-law John Force is, Hight pointed out one significant shortcoming.

Robert Hight was groomed by Gary Densham to be his successor.

“Gary’s the guy that helped me a lot in the beginning because John Force, as great as he is, is not a good teacher,” Hight admitted. “It’s hard to learn from him. He’s the best in what he does but he can’t teach it.”

Hight replaced Densham for the 2005 season and went on to win rookie of the year accolades.

Bob Pellegrini Photos

The Funny Car final round at the NHRA Fram-Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Ca., represented a battle between the teacher and former JFR driver Gary Densham and the student and successor Robert Hight. As iconic as his father-in-law John Force is, Hight pointed out one significant shortcoming.

Robert Hight was groomed by Gary Densham to be his successor.

“Gary’s the guy that helped me a lot in the beginning because John Force, as great as he is, is not a good teacher,” Hight admitted. “It’s hard to learn from him. He’s the best in what he does but he can’t teach it.”

Hight replaced Densham for the 2005 season and went on to win rookie of the year accolades.

“Gary, honestly, helped me a ton. He would explain things to where I would understand it. He was excited when we would do good and I was taking his job so that shows what kind of guy he was. Helping me when he knew that I was going to be jumping into that seat of his. You have to give that guy a lot of credit, he’s been running out here for a lot of years. We had to make a good run in the final, we had to make a real good run or he was going to beat us. It’s tough to beat him.”

In the end, Hight said it took the whole team to secure a win.

“I had Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly, this whole team,” Hight said. “Austin never goes to the starting line unless John is racing and he was up there every round with me today, gives me the thumbs up. That’s what motivates me to do well for these guys because I have a great team around me and we’re supposed to win.”

Hight’s victory extended his record of round wins over Densham to ten.

While Hight's desire to win comes natural, he turned up the level a couple of notches Sunday afternoon for a couple of reasons. First, he wanted to win for Ford's Dan Davis as a retirement present and the Sonoma area, that's his home turf.

Dan Davis, Ford Motorsports director for the past eleven years, will retire on August 1. Davis had been with the company for 32 years. This weekend’s race was his last and instead of spending the final weekend at the NASCAR event, Davis spent the weekend in Sonoma.

As Hight burned out in the final round, Davis gave him the thumbs-up as he passed.

Hight wanted to win for Davis.

“It’s huge and I dedicated this trophy to him,” said Hight. “He really does love NHRA drag racing. He always wanted to come to the Drag Races. I think if he had a choice drag racing is where he’d be. He had a lot of fun and he’s a very smart guy.”

Davis was more than just a marketing person, Hight said.

“Ford hires people that aren’t just marketing guys; they’re engineers,” Hight continued. “Honestly, if you put Dan Davis around one of these cars for long enough he could tune one. He’s a very smart individual and he loves this stuff. He’s part of the reason we are where we are today, not only in performance but in safety. All of the new stuff Ford has been behind that but he was a big help behind that. So this is for him, and we are looking forward to working with the new gentleman Brian Wolfe. He’s also a drag racer and an engineer so Ford has some great people.”

There's no doubt that Hight always wants to win for the Sonoma crowd, after all, once upon a time, he was one of them.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to win at this race track, since I’ve been driving,” Hight explained. “I actually have been at every national event and tested here back when it was Sears Point. I would come to the races as a spectator before I ever got a job working on a crew and I dreamed of the day that would get to drive, well not drive, I didn’t dream that big … just to get to work on a car and it didn’t matter whose car it was. I wanted to work on somebody’s Nitro car.”

Hight said his favorites were always Kenny Bernstein and John Force and would hang out at their trailers all day watching the crews work.

“I knew that I could do that job,” Hight admitted. “To finally get a chance to do the job for John, working on his car for a lot of years and now be driving one of the best Funny Cars in the nation is a dream come true.”

For the last three seasons, John Force Racing has won the Sonoma title.