HIGHT ROCKETS TO TOP OF FUNNY CAR DURING DAY 3 PRO WINTER WARM-UP TESTING

by Tracy Renck    Sat, 2019-02-02 12:24




The second day of the 2019 Winter Testing Friday was a fruitful one for nitro Funny Car driver Robert Hight at Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz.

Hight, the two-time world champion driver for John Force Racing, had the fastest elapsed time with a 3.863-second elapsed time at 326.87 mph.

Hight drives the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car and his ET was the quickest in nitro Funny Car of the test session which began Thursday.

"This feels good," Hight said. "We have a few new guys on the team. They are doing a great job. Actually, we had some issues coming in here from shaking and having a fit. Finally, last night we put it all back together and made three great runs today. I'm pretty pumped. We are only planning on making a few more. We feel we are ready to go to the Winternationals."

The Winter Testing concludes Saturday for the nitro teams and the season-opening Winternationals are Feb. 7-10 in Pomona, Calif.

Hight also clocked a 3.909-second time at 319.60 mph in his final pass Friday. His best run Thursday was a 3.942-second time at 314.68 mph.

Hight won world championships in 2009 and 2017 and finished second in the point standimgs in 2018. Jimmy Prock is his crew chief.

Hight’s run just edged out J.R. Todd’s 3.868-second lap at 324.36 mph Friday. Friday’s test session ended at 6 p.m. (MT).

Todd, the reigning world champion, who pilots the DHL Toyota Camry for Kalitta Motorsports had the best Funny Car run Thursday at 3.930-seconds at 305.22 mph.

Todd’s teammate, Shawn Langdon is third quickest on the two-day Funny Car grid with his 3.905-second time at 327.35 mph. on Friday. Legend John Force (3.942) and Matt Hagan (3.959) are third and fourth on the Funny Car chart with their runs from Thursday.
On the Top Fuel side, reigning world champion Steve Torrence’s run of 3.689-second at 328.78 mph Thursday remained the quickest lap for any car – dragster or Funny Car at the Winter Testing.

Mike Salinas had the quickest Top Fuel lap Friday at 3.747 seconds at 324.83 mph.

"We should have been a lot quicker today," Salinas said. "We are inching up on it; the car is coming back clean. I think we are going to have a rocket ship here."

Salinas said he's been shutting the car off 200 to 300 feet short of the finish line.
Salinas and his Scrappers Racing team have high expectations for the 2019 season after renowned multiple-time world championship crew chief Alan Johnson and world champion crew chief Brian Husen came onboard.
Salinas’ is the fourth quickest of the two-day session in Top Fuel, Steve Torrence (3.689 seconds), Billy Torrence (3.731), and rookie Jordan Vandergriff (3.78) occupy the first three spots.

 

 

 

 
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