How he got here is not important, Robert Hight is in the NHRA playoffs and has every intention of making the most of the opportunity.

Put aside his struggles, and the fact he made his way into the Countdown to One with one round left in the regular season.

Hight has found his groove at the best possible time.

Controversy Behind Him, Hight Focused On Task At Hand

How he got here is not important, Robert Hight is in the NHRA playoffs and has every intention of making the most of the opportunity.

Put aside his struggles, and the fact he made his way into the Countdown to One with one round left in the regular season.

Hight has found his groove at the best possible time.

“It looks like we’re finally getting our act together at the right time,” said Hight. “I guess it’s better late than never, but we’re happy to have all of our Ford Mustangs in there. That was a major accomplishment for us. It wasn’t an easy thing. The way my Auto Club Ford Mustang is running now, we could actually win it from the number 10 spot. I can’t wait for Charlotte; that race cannot come too soon. It would be nice to keep this roll going because our Mustang is running very well. It takes a lot of work and if you struggle a little like we did, you can get behind and almost not make it. I’m excited that six of the top 10 are Ford Mustangs and, you know what, one of us ought to win this Championship.”

Hight managed to keep his focus intact despite last minute driver and crew chief shuffles. When the playoffs were on the line, he delivered with a No. 1 qualifying effort and an event runner-up finish.

The stellar performance saved his season.

“If you don’t make the Top 10 it means your season is over for all practical purposes,” Hight explained. “I guess you could look at it like you can start testing for next year, but I wasn’t ready for my season to be over. It’s just now getting started, the way I look at it. I’m very excited about that, relieved, but excited going into Charlotte, knowing that we could be moving up in this deal.”

Hight admits that even though the situation looked grim, he never lost sight of how close the team was in regaining their performance.

“Well, people probably got tired of hearing me, throughout all the struggles, say, ‘We’re close.’ I would say that Jimmy – crew chief Jimmy Prock- is not that far off, he’s getting closer, and of course things would happen and we wouldn’t do well,” Hight said. “Little things would come up, mistakes were made, but everybody stuck together. I still have the same exact team that I had last year. We stuck together as a team, worked through it, and we believed in each other. We knew we were close, and we just kept working hard, and that’s what it takes to win.”

Last year, at this event, Hight qualified No. 2 and had the car to beat, but in the semi-finals Jack Beckman, by his own admission guessed the light, and recorded a spectacular .002 reaction time (.000 is perfect) and he defeated Hight with a slower 4.15 second run to Hight’s 4.10 second pass. Beckman went on to win the inaugural event and Hight ultimately finished fourth in his quest for his first Funny Car championship. 

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