Robert Hight takes Auto Club Chevy to Norwalk final round
NORWALK, Ohio (June 25) – Auto Club of Southern California driver Robert Hight put together another strong performance with his Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, but fell short of his first victory of 2017 in the final round of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Summit Motorsports Park.
Hight had the quickest car in two of the first three rounds of eliminations, carrying over a steady performance from qualifying, where he ended up with the second-quickest elapsed time.
But an issue with the clutch caused Hight’s Auto Club car to shake and get sideways in the final round, and he had to lift the throttle before falling short of what would have been his first victory of the season and first at Norwalk.
“You have to be in it to win it,” Hight said. “But when you just see what you have to run to be able to win, it’s painful, especially when we were doing it. Since Q4, we put a nice string of runs together and I honestly went up there (in the final) thinking if we go A to B, it’s over. And that would have been the case.”
Hight had the two quickest elapsed times of race day, 3.913 seconds at 329.85 mph in beating Jim Campbell in the first round and 3.925 seconds at 328.62 mph in beating Bob Tasca III in the semifinals. His second-round run was quick, too, 3.978 at 321.73 mph, to beat Alexis DeJoria.
But in the final, Hight slowed with a 6.673-second pass at 98.53 mph, falling to a winning 4.073-second run at 311.85 mph. Hight has made it to two finals and four semifinals in 2017 but is still looking for his first victory.
“I guess (crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) said it was clutch disc-related,” Hight said. “You just move on. Everybody says, ‘You’re due.’ I don’t believe in stuff like that. No, we have to go up there and do our job four times better than everybody else and we’ll win.
“The only people who are due are the Auto Club, Chevrolet, who have stepped up and given us everything we need. They’ve done their job. We have to do ours.”
Hight will maintain fourth place in the Funny Car points standings heading to Fallen Patriots Route 66 NHRA Nationals on July 7-9 at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. While he is frustrated with not winning in 2017 so far, he knows if his team stays the course, the victories will come.
“It’s not from lack of effort,” Hight said. “We’re working hard. I spent four weeks on the road with these guys. I’ve seen how much they want it, how hard they’ve been working, and they’ll continue it. We’ll get there.”
4-Second Reads:
Best Qualifying Effort: 3.870 seconds/334.65 mph (Round 2, Qualified No. 2)
Elimination Round 1 (Right Lane): 3.913 seconds/329.75 mph, def. No. 15 Jim Campbell, 4.101 seconds/307.65 mph; ran second-quickest time of the weekend with a perfect pass; vs. Campbell – now 2-0 all-time; 2-0 this season; 1-0 at Norwalk
Elimination Round 2 (Quarterfinals, Right Lane): 3.978 seconds/321.73 mph, def. No. 7 Alexis DeJoria, 4.741 seconds/180.16 mph; got the better reaction time and never trailed; vs. DeJoria – now 5-6 all-time; 1-0 this season; 1-0 at Norwalk
Elimination Round 3 (Semifinals, Right Lane): 3.925 seconds/328.62 mph, def. No. 6 Bob Tasca III, No Time (disqualified, red light); great run down the track and gains lane choice for the finals; vs. Tasca – now 17-6 all-time; 3-0 this season; 1-1 at Norwalk
Elimination Round 4 (Finals, Right Lane): 6.673 seconds/98.53 mph, lost to No. 9 Jack Beckman, 4.073 seconds/311.85 mph; smoked the tires right after the start, pedaled the car once, and smoked the tires again; vs. Beckman – now 18-18 all-time; 0-1 this season; 0-2 at Norwalk
Hight is now 17-12 this season in 29 elimination rounds.
Hight is now 15-11 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in 26 elimination rounds.
Hight is 64-32 all-time in 96 elimination rounds from the No. 2 qualifying position.
Hight is now 390-249 all-time in 639 elimination rounds.
Hight has set the best event speed in seven of 12 race weekends this season.
Funny Car Points Standings: 1. Ron Capps, 1,095; 2. Matt Hagan, 946; 3. Jack Beckman, 855; 4. Robert Hight, 809; 5. Tommy Johnson Jr., 739; 6. Courtney Force, 714; 7. John Force, 683.