Robert Hight earns another Funny Car title with Chevrolet

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS
AUTO CLUB RACEWAY IN POMONA, CALIFORNIA
NOVEMBER 17, 2019

Robert Hight earns another Funny Car title with Chevrolet
Consistency leads John Force Racing driver to career-best six wins

POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 17, 2019) – Robert Hight set a goal of winning the 2019 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car championship before leaving Auto Club Raceway at the conclusion of the 2018 season.

Hight, driver of the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS, had come agonizingly close to repeating as the Funny Car titleholder but grudgingly settled for a runner-up finish. Dutiful off-season preparation by co-crew chiefs Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, the crew and Hight focused on consistency throughout the 24-race campaign this year.

It paid off handsomely at the 55th Auto Club NHRA Finals as the 50-year-old John Force Racing president and driver claimed his second Funny Car championship in the past three years and third in a hall of fame career in the making.

“I’ve been waiting since Vegas to get out here and get started in the first round.”

Since the 2015 season, the John Force Racing Funny Car and Top Fuel lineup with Chevrolet has produced 43 total wins – led by Hight’s 17. JFR has won an unprecedented 21 NHRA championships.

“Congratulations to Robert Hight and his AAA of Southern California Camaro SS team. They have been incredibly focused all season long and accomplished their goal, clinching the 2019 NHRA Funny Car championship,” said Mark Kent, Chevrolet’s Director of Motorsports Competition. “It is also exciting to recognize team owner John Force on capturing his 21st NHRA world championship as an owner, a feat unmatched by any other owner in the series.”

Hight’s season, which began nine months earlier with a victory at Auto Club Raceway, has been his most productive – and arguably his best – with victories and three other final-round appearances. Along the way, he also collected eight No. 1 qualifier honors and led in points after all but one event. Consistency was his calling card.

“That’s the name if the whole game,” said Hight, who earned his initial title in 2009. “We went down to the last race of the year last year with a shot at the championship and didn’t get it done. Instead of completely trying to reinvent ourselves over the winter, we paid attention to why we lost, and it was a lack of consistency.

“Making 12 to 14 runs in a row without smoking the tires, that’s consistency and that wins you the championship.”

In 352 career Funny Car events, Hight has more than 500 round wins and on July 28 at Sonoma Raceway he joined teammate John Force and Ron Capps as the only Funny Car drivers with more than 50 career victories. That win broke a tie with Don Prudhomme for 13th on the all-time list in professional categories.

Hight, the No. 8 qualifier in the Auto Club NHRA Finals, capped the season with a runner-up finish.

“This is a dream year for me,” Hight said. “I’ve had years where I led all year and we lost in the Countdown. I’ve had years where we were terrible until we got to the Countdown and we ended up winning a championship. I think the results have showed from start to finish. This is what I’ve dreamed about, having a year where you’ve got the most wins and you’ve been in the lead all year.”
That’s consistency.