Robert Hight knows the window for his 2009 NHRA Full Throttle championship aspirations is quickly closing. The pressure is on because he must not only out-qualify the defending world champion Cruz Pedregon but must also gather 39 points more.

He’s done his homework enough to know what will help as well as what will hurt. Maintaining Friday’s top spot through Saturday at the NHRA U.S. Nationals only helped his chances.

“Had I not been number four qualifier and Cruz not number one, well that changes everything,” Hight explained. “Then we have to make up three rounds on Sunday, and that is big. But at the same time, you know, you risk smoking the tires. All my other team mates, had we not stepped up tonight would have bumped me. John already had, by speed. And Neff and Ashley...and had Cruz stepped up and gone to number one, well, that would have made it 40 some points, 40 and some change, which would have made it three rounds on Sunday.”

Robert Hight knows the window for his 2009 NHRA Full Throttle championship aspirations is quickly closing. The pressure is on because he must not only out-qualify the defending world champion Cruz Pedregon but must also gather 39 points more.

He’s done his homework enough to know what will help as well as what will hurt. Maintaining Friday’s top spot through Saturday at the NHRA U.S. Nationals only helped his chances.

“Had I not been number four qualifier and Cruz not number one, well that changes everything,” Hight explained. “Then we have to make up three rounds on Sunday, and that is big. But at the same time, you know, you risk smoking the tires. All my other team mates, had we not stepped up tonight would have bumped me. John already had, by speed. And Neff and Ashley...and had Cruz stepped up and gone to number one, well, that would have made it 40 some points, 40 and some change, which would have made it three rounds on Sunday.”

Going into Sunday, behind the eight ball, wouldn’t have been good for Hight either. He throws caution to the wind when counting his provisional spot as unbeatable.

“It's still not over yet because they're calling for some clouds tomorrow, and if we have cloud cover, it could even shuffle again, the top spots,” Hight warned. “And that's unusual for this time of year at this race.”

Then there was his exchange with father-in-law John Force, who gave Hight his car and then took it back when crew chief Austin Coil encountered medical issues serious enough to remove him from the event. Force felt the return to his original car provided more stability.

That didn’t stop Force from seeking credit for getting his son-in-law back on track.

“John joked with me last night, you know, first he said he wanted to switch cars again, but then he said that ... he said aren't you gonna thank me for fixing your car? I'm like yeah, how'd you fix my car. You know, he doesn't know how to turn a spark plug, so how did he fix my car?”

Maybe shaking up the system for a race was how Force fixed it.

“Maybe the shakeup did do something,” Hight pondered. “Maybe Jimmy is doing something a little different, maybe his mindset's different, because it went down the track all five runs in Reading and it's gone down the track here three runs. And two of those three runs it's been low ET, and the other one, second low ET. So something is different.. We haven't changed any parts.

“So maybe John did fix my car, in his own little way.” 

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