AUTO CLUB'S ROBERT HIGHT WANTS TO HEAT UP IN TOPEKA
TOPEKA (May 25, 2009) --- Robert Hight has had limited success at
Heartland Park Topeka in his past four appearances. He has three No.1
qualifiers and three times he has raced to the semi-finals. Last year the
2005 Rookie of the Year stumbled qualifying 7th and losing in the first
round to Gary Scelzi.
2009 has been a frustrating year for Hight, the only Funny Car driver to
have led the points each of the past four seasons. He is currently 12th
in the Full Throttle point standings the lowest level of his career. In
the past six races Hight has a semi-final (Las Vegas1) appearance, four
first round losses and a DNQ at Bristol Dragway.
At the Las Vegas event Hight was masterful on Saturday during qualifying
laying down some of the quickest elapsed times of the day. Since that day
Hight's team has struggled to grab the same clutch magic that made
him one of the most formidable drivers in the recent Funny Car memory.
In Hight's short career he has 29 No. 1 qualifiers to his credit
which places him 6th all time (tied with Whit Bazemore) in the category
and only five No. 1s behind Tony Pedregon for 5th place. Hight is also in
the Top 15 for final round appearances and wins. All these statistics
mean almost nothing to the former world class trap-shooter who bases his
success on how he performed in the previous round.
Following his rare DNQ at Bristol Dragway Hight and the Auto Club Ford
Mustang team spent the next day testing and figuring out how to find
success that will catapult him not only back into the Top 10 but into
title contention.
"We had some things go wrong. We also didn't do a good job.
This wasn't a real indication of how good this team is. We have
been in the fight for the championship every year. Auto Club, Ford, Mac
Tools, BrandSource they don't pay us to perform like this. We have
to get our act together. We will. I have a great team behind me. I
wouldn't trade them for anyone. We are going to get through this.
We will be in contention for this championship later on I promise,"
said Hight.
Following his day of testing Hight was optimistic and ready to get to
Topeka.
"(Crew chief) Jimmy Prock figured a few things out and we were
making progress with every run in Bristol (during testing). It is all
about getting track time. That is one thing that has hurt us this season;
the weather and our inability to capitalize on some of the successes we
have had this season. We have a championship caliber team and we will
show people what we are made of the next couple of races."
-credit: jfr
