HIGHT SEEKS TO PIECE TOGETHER THE PERFECT SEASON
Mon, 2011-01-31 16:00
As the newly appointed President of John Force Racing, Robert Hight knows a thing or two about the computer process of cut and paste. Now, if he could just 
apply the process to the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle season, the veteran driven and son-in-law of John Force could be enjoying a second NHRA Full Throttle Championship come November.
“If I’m looking at the past two seasons; if I could put together the first half of last year with the last half of 2009 then it’s a season like John Force had in 2010,” Hight said. “When you have a season like that you’re going to win championships so that’s what our main goal is this year; to be steady all year long.”
Not that his title defense was a slug, there were some impressive moments as Hight won four out of five finals and qualified No. 1 six times. However, as important as these feats were, in the championship picture, they didn’t mean a whole lot outside of an invitation to the dance.
As the newly appointed President of John Force Racing, Robert Hight knows a thing or two about the computer process of cut and paste. Now, if he could just apply the
HIGHT PULLS 'DISAPPEARING ACT'
Auto Club Ford Mustang driver Robert Hight might have felt like he was fading from sight during the NHRA's 2010 Countdown. Despite winning four races last year, including three in a row and qualifying No. 1 at one-fourth of the events, he dropped in the Funny Car standings from second finally to eighth place.
But the 2009 champion, impatient to reclaim the title from father-in-law John Force, literally is shrinking. He has lost 20 pounds. For that, he figured, Force owes him $20,000.
Huh?
It was just a joke, although the matter of weight is something he and his team are taking seriously. The truth is that his Mustang has been the one that needed to trim down.
"My car has always been close to the weight limit," Hight said, "but hopefully now, we can add weight that will help traction. We have always believed that to take a pound off of the race car, it is worth doing if the cost doesn't exceed $1,000. So I guess John owes me $20,000? Just kidding.
"There is some truth to the fact that if the driver is light and you don't have to have such light parts on the car, that it will be a more reliable car. Light parts fail eventually," he said.
However, Hight said he "just didn't feel comfortable in the car at the end of the season."
So he had to ignore his admitted weakness for ice cream, cookies, and cake, and he has adhered to a punishing diet.
"I have been on a diet that sticks to 500-700 calories a day, mostly fruits and vegetables and lean protein," Hight said. "It is hard to deal with in the beginning, but after the first week your body adjusts and you are satisfied. I have always exercised and I am very active at the shop, so I haven't changed that much."
Force had warned Hight, not-so-jokingly, all last season to beware, that he was going to swipe the championship back from Hight. Force did. Now Hight has that lean-and-mean mentality that worked so well for Force last year as he earned his 15th series crown.
Force always is well aware that weight can be crucial. He whipped himself into shape, and he has driven a car stripped of its decals for that competitive advantage. And during the final races of the Countdown, when he battled Matt Hagan, he kept saying he couldn't understand why the sturdy Hagan -- who he said looked more like a Green Bay Packers fullback than a race-car driver -- had a quicker car.
So he sees Hight's new fighting weight as a sign he'll have an on-track fight on his hands. And his attitude is "Bring it on."
"It is always critical that we keep these cars on a diet," Force said. "His car was always lighter than mine, but he has dropped almost 20 pounds, so God bless him. He knows the drill and he knows what it takes. Weight is a big part of it if you are going to be on top and win. Robert knows the drill . . . and so do I."
Force said he never had to look farther than Hight and daughter Ashley Force Hood to find his two biggest on-track threats.
"After I won the championship in 2009, John was very proud. But he kept saying that in 2010 he was coming after me. Boy, was he right," Hight said. "Now I have been telling him that I am going to get it back in 2011.
"And the way I feel after losing some weight, I am ready," he said. "So is (crew chief) Jimmy Prock. The way we finished in 2010, he has been on a mission this winter to get the car back on track. We can't wait for Pomona."
The season will open in Pomona, Calif., with the Feb. 24-27 Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals at the Fairplex's Auto Club Raceway.
"With Ford Motor Company behind us and the engineers and the new stuff that is coming out, we (at John Force Racing) will be strong. But I will tell you right now, the kid that is starting to run and he has the Ford BOSS 500 engine behind him is Bobby Tasca. Hagan will be there again, and so will a bunch of them, but Tasca has a hot rod and it runs like ours. He is definitely one that you can put up in that group."
Testing will begin at Florida's Palm Beach International Raceway the first week in February. - Susan Wade
Auto Club Ford Mustang driver Robert Hight might have felt like he was fading from sight during the NHRA's 2010 Countdown. Despite winning four races last year, including three in a row and qualifying No. 1 at one-fourth of the events, he dropped in the Funny Car standings from second finally to eighth place.But the 2009 champion, impatient to reclaim the title from father-in-law John Force, literally is shrinking. He has lost 20 pounds. For that, he figured, Force owes him $20,000.
Huh?
It was just a joke, although the matter of weight is something he and his team are taking seriously. The truth is that his Mustang has been the one that needed to trim down.
"My car has always been close to the weight limit," Hight said, "but hopefully now, we can add weight that will help traction. We have always believed that to take a pound off of the race car, it is worth doing if the cost doesn't exceed $1,000. So I guess John owes me $20,000? Just kidding.
"There is some truth to the fact that if the driver is light and you don't have to have such light parts on the car, that it will be a more reliable car. Light parts fail eventually," he said.
However, Hight said he "just didn't feel comfortable in the car at the end of the season."
So he had to ignore his admitted weakness for ice cream, cookies, and cake, and he has adhered to a punishing diet.
"I have been on a diet that sticks to 500-700 calories a day, mostly fruits and vegetables and lean protein," Hight said. "It is hard to deal with in the beginning, but after the first week your body adjusts and you are satisfied. I have always exercised and I am very active at the shop, so I haven't changed that much."
Force had warned Hight, not-so-jokingly, all last season to beware, that he was going to swipe the championship back from Hight. Force did. Now Hight has that lean-and-mean mentality that worked so well for Force last year as he earned his 15th series crown.
Force always is well aware that weight can be crucial. He whipped himself into shape, and he has driven a car stripped of its decals for that competitive advantage. And during the final races of the Countdown, when he battled Matt Hagan, he kept saying he couldn't understand why the sturdy Hagan -- who he said looked more like a Green Bay Packers fullback than a race-car driver -- had a quicker car.
So he sees Hight's new fighting weight as a sign he'll have an on-track fight on his hands. And his attitude is "Bring it on."
"It is always critical that we keep these cars on a diet," Force said. "His car was always lighter than mine, but he has dropped almost 20 pounds, so God bless him. He knows the drill and he knows what it takes. Weight is a big part of it if you are going to be on top and win. Robert knows the drill . . . and so do I."
Force said he never had to look farther than Hight and daughter Ashley Force Hood to find his two biggest on-track threats.
"After I won the championship in 2009, John was very proud. But he kept saying that in 2010 he was coming after me. Boy, was he right," Hight said. "Now I have been telling him that I am going to get it back in 2011.
"And the way I feel after losing some weight, I am ready," he said. "So is (crew chief) Jimmy Prock. The way we finished in 2010, he has been on a mission this winter to get the car back on track. We can't wait for Pomona."
The season will open in Pomona, Calif., with the Feb. 24-27 Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals at the Fairplex's Auto Club Raceway.
"With Ford Motor Company behind us and the engineers and the new stuff that is coming out, we (at John Force Racing) will be strong. But I will tell you right now, the kid that is starting to run and he has the Ford BOSS 500 engine behind him is Bobby Tasca. Hagan will be there again, and so will a bunch of them, but Tasca has a hot rod and it runs like ours. He is definitely one that you can put up in that group."
Testing will begin at Florida's Palm Beach International Raceway the first week in February. - Susan Wade
“If I’m looking at the past two seasons; if I could put together the first half of last year with the last half of 2009 then it’s a season like John Force had in 2010,” Hight said. “When you have a season like that you’re going to win championships so that’s what our main goal is this year; to be steady all year long.”
Not that his title defense was a slug, there were some impressive moments as Hight won four out of five finals and qualified No. 1 six times. However, as important as these feats were, in the championship picture, they didn’t mean a whole lot outside of an invitation to the dance.
In the six Countdown to 1 championship events, Hight emerged winless losing in the first round five times and failing to qualify once.
“It was probably one of my best seasons though if we’re just talking about wins,” said Hight. “I had four wins and that’s the most I’ve ever had in a season. We went to four finals in a row and won three of those races in a row and lost the fourth one. So it was a good season; but the way the Countdown system is we definitely didn’t do what you’re supposed to do and that’s pick the right time to win.”
It’s a huge understatement to point out that Hight was extremely frustrated by the time the season finale in Pomona rolled around.
“I was very frustrated because I knew we were better than that,” Hight said, his voice emphasizing the point. “What was frustrating is that we went out and tested before Indy and it ran just perfect and during qualifying at Indy I had the best car there. If you take the five qualifying runs I had the best car in qualifying. But we went out and lost in the first round.
“Then we went to Charlotte and the throttle cable breaks first round. Then on Monday we test and get four perfect awesome runs. Even John said ‘Oh s***’ after watching this car because he was afraid. He said if that thing runs that way for the rest of the year it’ll be hard to stop those guys. Even though he’s happy for us in seeing us do well, he felt some pressure watching me run.
“Then we go to the next race and we’re a first round loser. We just couldn’t win a round. Then you go to Las Vegas and you don’t qualify. It was just like everything that could go wrong did go wrong I think maybe we were just trying too hard.”
Even though he was more than pleased to watch father-in-law John Force drive to an emotional 15th championship, Hight wanted to be in the mix battling to defend his title.
While there would be those who will always reference the controversial Indianapolis race in 2009 that put him in the championship, Hight planned to race Force down to the wire and if Force won, then he earned it. If not, he was going to cherish defending his championship.
“It would have been just like 2009 when I was battling my teammate Ashley Force right down to the wire,” said Hight. “There’s a lot less pressure than when you are battling another team out there because if you screw up then that championship is going to go to another team. If it’s you and your teammates racing it out, there’s not as much pressure because one of you is going to bring home the title. We just have fun racing each other with a little less pressure. I missed it because I really wanted to be in that position with Matt and John.”
Even though his championship defense was not to his liking, Hight found a reason to smile, even if to be proud of someone who has given him so much in life – John Force.
“We saw last year the John Force of old, he’s back,” cautioned Hight. “There is no reason for anyone to think that it would be the last good year he’ll have. I’d be willing to bet that 15 isn’t where he’s going to stop in terms of championships. And I know that Robert Hight is not going to stop at one. I’m ready to get back out there and fight it again. I can’t think of anything that would be more fun than going down to the wire with my teammates and that’s our goal but it’s not an easy goal to achieve.”
To achieve the goal, Hight, an avid baseball fan and former catcher, understands he might have to adjust his approach in the proverbial drag racing batter’s box. If he and tuner Jimmy Prock’s racing style could be likened to a baseball player, they are homerun hitters of upper deck proportions. The only downside to that status is most homerun hitters strike out a lot. They’ll have 30 homeruns and 30 strikeouts.
Hight lknows he needs to stop swinging for the fence with every run, becoming more of drag racing's version of the legendary Ted Williams, a .400 average hitter. Howewever, he hopes he never tires of the upper deck shots.
On the other end of that spectrum, Hight's record personafies the rough and tumble character of nitro Funny Car racing.
“What’s funny about that is it just shows how hard the sport is in general. Maybe it’s Funny Cars too,” Hight said. “When this team is on and we’re putting on a lot of runs in a row we can do it whether we have good conditions, bad conditions or a combination of both. It’s just that sometimes things go right and you have to make a few changes. Jimmy Prock is one that is never happy. He always looks at every run as what he could do better. We never sit still, we are always trying to fix or improve upon something. What happens when you start doing that - you can get a little lost. You can change too many things.
“I believe that is what got us (last season) but he definitely has taken a step back and looked at it and figured out what we need to do. We went over every race and how we lost. Then we went over when we won and what we were doing well. We are trying to find a clutch pack that we don’t have to change all year. We had to change discs throughout the year and that changes things. It’s just one thing after another.”
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