Epping, ‘Eastern Swing’ come at great time for
AAA Northern New England driver Robert Hight
Photo credit: Gary Nastase and Auto Imagery
EPPING, N.H. (May 31) – The way Robert Hight’s AAA Northern New England Chevrolet Camaro SS has been running, the “Eastern Swing” could not be starting at a better time.
Starting with the New England Nationals this weekend at New England Dragway, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series races on four consecutive weekends. Following Epping, there’s Englishtown, N.J., Bristol, Tenn., and Norwalk, Ohio.
Hight is on a roll, going to final round once and the semifinals three times in the last four races. And he’s coming off a hot spree in Topeka, where he posted three of the five fastest speeds in Funny Car history – including a career-best 338.09 mph.
“We are that close,” Hight said. “We just have to keep working hard. All we can do is keep digging every week. My guys have a lot of work to do to get ready for four races in a row. That’s a grind, but these guys want it just as bad as I do. We are hungry and we are going to do whatever it takes in the next week and a half to make sure that we are leaving nothing on the table for the next four. Maybe when we get to Epping, we can start a streak of our own.”
Hight is still looking for his first victory of 2017, which would be the 38th of his career. But he knows it’s just around the corner if his team keep performing the way it has. That’s why Epping and the four-race swing couldn’t come at a better time.
“It is,” Hight said. “That’s what you need. You need to start that four in a row with some confidence, and nothing is a bigger confidence builder than a win. One that’s coming up that I really want to win is Englishtown. That’s a big race, and I call it one of the majors on the tour. There’s a lot of history there.”
“If you get conditions in Englishtown and Epping like we had in Topeka, you can see these numbers again. What I like is we have a good car when it’s hot and we have a good car when it’s cool. We’ve just gotta put four runs together on Sunday.”
Two qualifying sessions are slated for Friday (5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Eastern) and Saturday (noon and 4:30 p.m.), with final eliminations scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m.
Fox Sports 1 will televise one hour of live qualifying on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, with an hour of qualifying coverage on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. Eastern. FS1 will have three hours of eliminations at 4:30 p.m.
4-Second Reads:
Robert Hight has competed in four races at New England Dragway and every race since the inaugural event in 2013.
Hight is still looking to advance to the final round of the NHRA New England Nationals.
Hight is 2-4 in elimination rounds at New England Dragway. Three of his four elimination round losses have come as a result of teammates – John Force in 2014 and Courtney Force in 2015 and 2016.
Hight qualified No. 1 for the 2014 edition of the New England Nationals.
Hight is 2-2 in first-round matchups at New England Dragway.
Hight is currently fourth in Funny Car points standings, where he has remained for two consecutive races.
In his career, Hight has 37 victories and 384 round wins. He has 49 No. 1 qualifying spots, tied for 13th all-time in NHRA’s professional categories.
Hight’s most recent NHRA victory – 2016 NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
Hight’s most recent No. 1 qualifying effort – 2016 Fall Nationals in Dallas, Texas.
Hight’s best time/speed at Epping – 3.919 seconds (2016 Q4); 329.26 (2016 Q4)
Hight’s best time/speed of career – 3.826 seconds (2017 Topeka Q1); 338.09 mph (2017 Topeka E1)