NORWALK, Ohio (June 26, 2022) – Robert Hight and the AAA Ohio Chevrolet Camaro SS team take over the points lead with their fourth win of the season Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Flav-R-Pac Chevy dragster had a semifinal appearance while Austin Prock with the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster and John Force with the PEAK / BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy had quarterfinal exits. Coming in as the No. 3 qualifier making his 90th career final round appearance, Robert Hight defeated Bob Tasca III for his 57th career victory, first at Summit Motorsports Park. The AAA Ohio Chevy would rally to a 3.944-second pass at 327.51 mph for Hight’s fourth win of the season bettering Tasca’s 3.962 at 330.63. “This is big. I’ve never won here. We come here almost every year and race in Night Under Fire, a huge match race where the Badder’s pack in all the fans. I’ve won that thing a lot, but I could never get it done here for the National event,” said Hight who has been to six of 10 final rounds this season. “I think this is awesome being able to cross this one off and get the points lead, it’s big. I am so proud of this AAA team. They have worked so hard. AAA Ohio and everybody behind us, Chevrolet, Cornwell Tools was here with us. I’ve had so much fun this weekend and we’ve had a great time, and I’m not ready for it to end.” En route to the finals, Hight would defeat Jim Campbell in the first round with a 3.903-second pass at 326.24 mph to Campbell’s 4.093 at 311.85. The win set Hight up to run against Alexis DeJoria who would go 4.651 at 175.71. Hight would lay down a solid 3.997 at 311.92 mph. In the semifinals, Hight would have a strong side-by-side drag race against J.R. Todd. Hight would prevail with another quality run at 3.890-seconds at 328.06 mph sending Todd and his 3.916 at 329.75 home. Hight and the AAA Chevy now have a 21-points lead over Matt Hagan in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series points standings. Brittany Force and the Monster Energy team came into race day in the No. 1 position and kept up their consistency in the first round running 3.774-seconds at 310.20 mph to pick up the win over Kyle Wurtzle when he ran into trouble to run only 8.548 at 87.22. Against Tripp Tatum in the second round, Force would take the Monster Energy dragster to a 3.765 pass at 329.75 mph bettering Tatum’s 3.810 at 318.47. In the semifinals Force would lineup with class rival Josh Hart. Hart would run the second quickest pass of race day at 3.750-seconds at 328.94 mph and the Monster Energy dragster would come up shot with a 3.783 pass at 329.02 mph. “Overall, our Monster Energy team had a good weekend at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. We earned our third No.1 qualifier of the season, set both ends of the track record with a 3.666 at 333 mph run, and made a semi-final round appearance on raceday,” Force said. “We have a couple weeks off to reset and get ready for the Western Swing. We kick it off starting in Denver and then head to Sonoma and Seattle. We plan to keep the rhythm we’ve held all year and get back in another winners circle.” John Force and the PEAK Chevy continued to improve on their performance from qualifying in the first round of eliminations. The BlueDEF Camaro would lay down the best run of the event at 3.878-seconds and 333.41 mph while his competitor Bobby Bode ran a 4.121 at 244. 96. In the second round, Force’s Chevy Camaro Funny Car would put a hole out at the step hindering the BlueDEF car to run only 4.154 seconds at 271.52 mph falling short to J.R. Todd’s 3.953 at 329.34. “Not a bad weekend for this PEAK Chevrolet team. We picked up quite a few qualifying points and we were strong through qualifying, even today, race day, we looked good,” Force said. “We dropped a cylinder out there, not sure why, but we’ll get it figured out and move onto the Western Swing. Good weekend for Robert and AAA over there getting the win and Brittany with Monster and Flav-R-Pac going No. 1. The Prock kid, they are pulling it together, he’s hard on himself so he’ll work at it and that Montana Brand team will be good.” Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT dragster started race day with a solo run after Clay Millican broke on the starting line. Prock would handle the Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler tuned dragster to a 3.836-second run at 256.65 mph after shutting off early. In the second round, Prock would face eventual runner-up Josh Hart. Hart would win on the starting line with a .038-second reaction time to Prock’s .063. Hart would cross the line at 3.813-seconds and 323.66 mph to get the holeshot win over Prock’s 3.808 at 321.81. “We made good progress today on our Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist car and I messed it up. I was .063 on the tree and got picked off,” Prock said. “Definitely pissed for my guys. They’re doing a great job and we just can’t seem to get it done. I’ll go to work to try and improve to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Looking forward to the Western Swing here in a few weeks.” The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series continues at Bandimere Speedway for the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals July 15-17. -30- |
AUSTIN PROCK, 26, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:5th; 3.745-seconds; 328.78 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0Race Results: Beat Clay Millican; Lost to Josh HartBRITTANY FORCE, 35, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy DragsterQualifying:1st; 3.666-seconds; 333.08 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +7 (quickest Q1 & Q2, 3rd quickest Q3)Race Results: Beat Kyle Wurtzel, Tripp Tatum; Lost to Josh HartJOHN FORCE, 73, PEAK / BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:2nd; 3.903-seconds; 330.15 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +10 (quickest Q1&4, 2nd quickest Q2&3)Race Results: Beat Bobby Bode; Lost to J.R. ToddROBERT HIGHT, 52, AAA Ohio Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:3rd; 3.907-seconds; 327.59 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0Race Results: Beat Jim Campbell, Alexis DeJoria, J.R. Todd, Bob Tasca III |