Robert Hight is prepared to accept a new role this weekend at the Auto Club NHRA Finals. He and tuner Jimmy Prock head to the final event on the 24th on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing tour in the unfamiliar role of the elusive prey as opposed to the hunter.

The hunter in their case will be teammate Ashley Force Hood and Hight's challenge is to stay out of the crosshairs and outlast her in competition and the championship will be theirs.  

Robert Hight is prepared to accept a new role this weekend at the Auto Club NHRA Finals. He and tuner Jimmy Prock head to the final event on the 24th on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing tour in the unfamiliar role of the elusive prey as opposed to the hunter.

The hunter in their case will be teammate Ashley Force Hood and Hight's challenge is to stay out of the crosshairs and outlast her in competition and the championship will be theirs.  

“I never honestly dreamed that I would be at this point,” said Hight, who made the Countdown to 1 on the next to last round of the regular season.

Actually, Hight never envisioned driving a race car, much less contending for a championship.

“I didn’t ever think that I would ever get to drive a race car,” Hight admitted. “I was just content and happy driving down the road in John Force’s truck and working on his race car, and I just owe it all to him for giving me this opportunity to come out here. When you’re on a team like this, you’re expected to win, so that puts a little added pressure on you, but you also know that you have good equipment, a good car, and that makes it easier to learn. Trust me I’m still learning.”

Hight entered the Countdown to 1 championship phase as the tenth and final seed, but heads into the final event with a 105 point lead. Throughout the brief Countdown to 1 history the Funny Car driver that has entered the Auto Club NHRA Finals with the points lead has gone on to win the title.

Worst to first would put a positive cap on the season for Hight and Prock, who admittedly struggled through the regular season.

“I knew that we would figure this thing out and fix it. Jimmy Prock has just done such a great job since the Countdown started even at Indy (where Hight reached his fourth consecutive final) getting three wins in five races of the Countdown. That is stout. It has all been on performance. We have not gotten lucky. I haven’t had to pedal the race car. We have just out muscled these guys. That is what Cruz Pedregon did last year.”

For crew chief Jimmy Prock a championship season would also be a momentous occasion. Prock narrowly missed winning a Top Fuel championship in 1992 with Cory McClenathan. They came in second, nine points behind Joe Amato. The team was forced to skip the Montreal NHRA national event for economic reasons missing out on the 10 entry points.  Since then Prock has been right at the cusp of championship glory with Hight. The veteran tuner knows that being close does not give him an advantage or a right to a title win.

“You just come here and give it your best shot. As long as we give it our best we have to live with those results,” Prock concluded.

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