Hight knows the time to act is yesterday if he hopes to win title …


This season has been very good to championship contender Robert Hight. He’s won three races including the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

In addition, Hight has also reeled off four No. 1 qualifying efforts thus far in 2008.

He could have gained even more had it not have been for an opponent’s miraculous reaction time in one race and then by .003 of a second in another race.

Would have. Could have. Should have. Hight knows the time to act is yesterday if he hopes to win title …


This season has been very good to championship contender Robert Hight. He’s won three races including the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

In addition, Hight has also reeled off four No. 1 qualifying efforts thus far in 2008.

He could have gained even more had it not have been for an opponent’s miraculous reaction time in one race and then by .003 of a second in another race.

Would have. Could have. Should have.

Hight’s season is on the line in the next three events.

He stands only three rounds out of first with only 12 left in the season. He trails Tim Wilkerson and Jack Beckman and early losses by both combined with a win could propel him back into the point lead.

Hight wants the chance to put his championship destiny in his own hands and welcomes the chance to square off against his fellow Countdown to 1 competitors. He knows that every win over someone in the Countdown is really a 40 point swing. He is adding 20 points for moving onto the next round and stopping his competitors from picking up 20 additional points.

“Knocking Countdown guys out early all depends on how the ladder works out. Wilkerson runs just well enough to beat everyone he races. It is tough to beat a guy like that,” said Hight. “There are still twelve rounds left.”

The final three races of the season will be contested at facilities Hight has had success including The Strip at Las Vegas and Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. The track that is the “x” factor is Virginia Motorsports Park. Last year Hight was forced to race at VMP without teammates as John Force Racing evaluated additional safety measures following Force’s near-career ending crash at the Texas Motorplex. This season he is looking forward to having teammates, 2007 rookie of the year Ashley Force, 14-time champion John Force, and 2008 rookie of the year front runner Mike Neff joining him. With three JFR drivers working together Hight feels he still has a good shot at his first championship.

“(Racing for the championship again) is huge but I honestly believed the day I stepped into this car that it could win a championship if I could do my job. I knew the team and (crew chief) Jimmy Prock with the resources we have from the get go it could win a championship. The big question was; can the driver do his job? In the beginning until you have won races and done anything you don’t know. It is not that you doubt yourself you just don’t know because you haven’t done it,” said the two-time championship runner-up. “I still haven’t won a championship but I know I can. There is no doubt in my mind.”