Auto Club driver Robert Hight on title battle:
‘Focus on the process, not the outcome’
POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 6) – It’s all come down to this.
Auto Club of Southern California driver Robert Hight carries a 15-point lead in the Funny Car standings into the final race of the 2017 NHRA season, the Auto Club Finals this weekend at Auto Club Raceway.
If he finishes the weekend with the lead, Hight will have earned the Funny Car championship, the second in his terrific career. But he and his John Force Racing team know that have to earn it, as 15 points can be made up in one round of racing.
“The way I look at a 15-point lead is, we just have to go further than (second-place Ron) Capps at Pomona,” Hight said. “No matter what, we need to go one round further than him, or we both lose in the same round, and it’s over.
“But our goal going into Pomona is to win that race, go in there and go four rounds, and cap off a championship with a huge win at our home track in front of our sponsors, at the Auto Club Finals. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Hight took over the points lead with a second-round victory in Las Vegas on Oct. 29, but his Countdown to the Championship has anchored his title run. In five races of the six-race Countdown, Hight has two victories, two semifinal finishes and three No. 1 qualifiers.
Now, the title race could come down to a winner-take-all-scenario. Thirty points are awarded for each round win at this race, 10 more than usual. Plus, more points are available through qualifying. That all adds up to a precarious lead for Hight.
But Hight is sustained by a quote from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill, whose team recently competed in a tough seven-game World Series with the Houston Astros. Hight, a lifelong Dodgers fan, knows the pressure is there in the race for the championship, but he also knows he and his team have to channel it.
“I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous (at Vegas), but you have to learn how to channel that pressure and that energy,” Hight said. “And we just have to do the same thing at Pomona we did at Vegas. One of the pitchers from the Dodgers made a statement that really hit home for me, and that is, you have to focus on the process, not on the outcome.
“That’s really it. If you start changing the way you race because you’re nervous and you’re worried about the points, or worried about winning or losing, you will lose, you’ll beat yourself. You have to focus on what got you here, don’t change anything, and keep doing it.
“I like our chances. Pomona is a good race track for us, and we’ll run good there.”
Two qualifying sessions are slated for Friday and Saturday (12:45 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Pacific both days), with final eliminations slated for 11 a.m. Sunday.
Fox Sports 1 will provide one hour of live qualifying coverage Friday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific and Saturday at 3 p.m. Pacific. FS1 will have three hours of live eliminations coverage at 1 p.m. Pacific.
4-Second Reads:
Robert Hight will be back in the special California Highway Patrol paint scheme for the Auto Club Finals. Hight carried the scheme in the season-opener at Pomona, as well as the race in Sonoma, Calif.
Robert Hight has competed in 25 races at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and qualified for all 25 races, including every race since the 2015 Winternationals, his NHRA debut.
Hight has four victories at Pomona – three in the Winternationals (2006, 2008 and 2011) and once in the Auto Club NHRA Finals (2007). Overall, he has six finals appearances, most recently in the 2011 Auto Club NHRA Finals.
Hight is 37-21 in 58 elimination rounds (.638) at Pomona, with a 15-11 mark in 26 rounds in the Auto Club NHRA Finals (.577).
Overall, Hight has three No. 1s at Pomona – all in the Winternationals (2009, 2010, 2012).
Overall, Hight is 17-8 in 25 first-round elimination matchups at Pomona. He has won six of the last seven first-round matchups at the track.
Hight’s 41 victories are the fourth most in Funny Car history, behind John Force (148); Ron Capps (58); and Tony Pedregon (43). He is 20th on the all-time professional victories list, one behind pro stock motorcycle riders Angelle Sampey and Eddie Krawiec.
Hight recorded his 400th elimination-round win Aug. 20 at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota. His 415 round wins are 23rd all-time in NHRA’s professional categories and sixth all-time in Funny Car. He is five round wins behind Jim Yates (pro stock) for 22nd all-time.
Hight has been the No. 1 qualifier eight times this season, and seven times in the last 10 races. His 57 No. 1s are third most in Funny Car history – only John Force (155) and Cruz Pedregon (61) have more in the category. He is ninth all-time across all professional categories. His next target – Don Prudhomme, who is eighth with 59.
In 2017, Hight has four victories, a 42-19 record in elimination rounds, and eight No. 1 qualifiers. His 42 elimination-round wins in a season is a career-best, breaking the previous mark set in 2014 (38). He has surpassed 30 elimination-round wins in a season eight times in 12 seasons.
Hight has faced 21 different drivers this season in elimination rounds and has at least one win against 20 of them (exception is Jonnie Lindberg, 0-2). He has a season-high four elimination-round wins over Tommy Johnson Jr. and Courtney Force.
Hight has set the fastest event speed a career-best 13 times this season, which exceeds his previous season-best of seven set in his rookie season, 2005. He now has 54 fastest event speeds in his career, the 50th coming in July at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, where he set the NHRA record at 339.87 mph.
Hight now holds 10 track records for elapsed time (nine of which have been set this season) and 12 track records for speed (all of which have been set this season).
Hight has six final rounds this season and 63 in his career.
Hight has competed in 165 consecutive races, tied for 17th all-time with Doug Kalitta, dating back to the second race at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif., in 2010. It is also tied for the eighth longest active streak, also with Kalitta.
Most recent NHRA victory – 2017 AAA Texas FallNationals in Ennis, Texas
Most recent No. 1 qualifier – 2017 AAA Texas FallNationals in Ennis, Texas
Best time/speed at Pomona – 3.853 seconds (2017 #1 Q4); 330.96 mph (2016 #2 E2)
Best time/speed of career – 3.793 seconds (2017 Brainerd Q2; quickest elapsed time in Funny Car history); 339.87 mph (2017 Sonoma Q2; fastest speed in NHRA history)
Hight will be participating in a pre-race media press conference Thursday morning at the NHRA Museum in Pomona. Media interested in attending the luncheon should contact Scott Smith, 317-281-5049, ssmith@nhra.com.