HIGHT FINE AFTER Q3 BOOMER; JFR STEPS UP PACE ON SATURDAY
INDIANAPOLIS – Saturday at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals was filled with a scary moment and improved performance numbers for John Force Racing. In the final qualifying session of the day three-time U.S. Nationals winner Robert Hight suffered a massive explosion running beside Dave Richards. He was on a run that would have easily moved him up in the qualifying standings before he suffered a suspected failure of his camshaft. Courtney Force and Brittany Force both improved on their performance numbers and everyone will head into the final day of qualifying safety qualified in the field.
Hight started the day with a solid 3.978 second run at 318.47 mph. In the heat of the day it was a good start for the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team. In Q3 with cooler temps and in front of a packed house Hight took off down the right lane and was blazing towards the finish line. With no warning his Auto Club Camaro body blew into pieces and shot to the left nearly colliding with Richards. Luckily for both drivers, Hight was able to control his bodiless Funny Car and stop it on the track without incident. He immediately exited the cockpit and a few minutes later was talking over the PA to the fans at Lucas Oil Raceway.
“I had no indication anything was wrong. All of a sudden it exploded and blew me over into the left lane. We have a lot of work to do tonight, but I have the best guys in the business,” said Hight, who was uninjured.
His Auto Club team was working on a back-up Funny Car for the 37-time winner so he could compete in the Traxxas Nitro Funny Car Shootout tomorrow. He will go into the final day of qualifying as the No. 8 qualified Funny Car. The two-time Traxxas Shootout runner-up will have lane choice in the first round against Tommy Johnson Jr.
Before Hight lit up the Indianapolis sky with his explosion John Force was muscling his Chevrolet/PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Camaro SS Funny Car down the right lane. He was able to keep his Funny Car off the centerline and lit up the scoreboard with a 3.935 second pass at 276.75 mph. He had to lift before the finish line and sacrificed a possible No. 1 quickest run.
Prior to that run during the first session today Force was not as lucky as he clipped an orange timing cone disqualifying his second run of the event. The scoreboard showed 3.928 seconds but it was not an improvement on his Friday time.
“I was doing my best to keep it off the center line and I had to lift. I think it was a little light on the front end. We’ll be ready for the Shootout tomorrow. I hate that I hit that cone but my guys got this PEAK Chevrolet back together. This is Indy and I did an autograph session for Chevy with ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits so it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Force.
Force will face Ron Capps in the first round of the Traxxas Nitro Shootout tomorrow.
The biggest move of the day in Funny Car was executed by Courtney Force and the Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. She jumped from 16th to 9th and eventually moved all the way up to 4th with a tremendous run to close out Saturday’s day of qualifying.
In the second session she ran 3.944 seconds at 324.44 mph in the heat and she closed out the day with a stellar 3.867 second pass at 327.11 mph that earned her two qualifying bonus points. The 2012 Rookie of the Year earned three qualifying bonus points for running the third quickest run of the second session to go along with her final quick run of the day.
“We made two great passes with this Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. Traxxas is the fastest name in radio control and we were one of the quickest Funny Cars today. That gives me a lot of confidence going into the Traxxas Shootout. I am glad Robert is OK and I know everyone at JFR will be working to get him ready to go for tomorrow,” said Force, who will face Alexis DeJoria in the first round of the Shootout.
The Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster saved the best for last on Saturday with a 3.706 second run at 326.00 mph moving the most recent winner up to the No. 3 position in qualifying. The run was the second quickest of the class and earned Force two qualifying bonus points.
Unfortunately that was the highlight for the No. 4 qualifier in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout. She was upended by eventual winner Tony Schumacher in the first round. Force appearing in her third specialty race launched hard but was hazing the tires down the left lane as Schumacher was pulling away in front of her. The final tally on the scoreboards read Force 4.021 seconds behind Schumacher’s 3.777 second run.
“The way I look at it, just to have a shot to compete in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout is a big deal when you look at the people you’re playing against. Those are champs we are running against,” said Force. “We didn’t have an easy ladder; we knew it was going to be tough. We won a race to qualify this year at the very beginning of the season at Gainesville, and that is something to be very proud of. Winning the Traxxas Shootout is on my bucket list, and it might take years. Hopefully next year. I’m proud of getting there and we’ll start over on Monday (in eliminations of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals).”