This Week in Ford Racing:
November 18, 2009
Robert Hight claimed his first NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship
last weekend, giving John Force Racing it's 16th overall title in the
last 20 years, and 10th as a member of the Ford Racing family. Hight and
Force both participated in a Ford Racing teleconference earlier today to
talk about coming out on top in the 'Countdown to One.'
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH YOUR EMOTIONS THE LAST FEW MONTHS?
ROBERT HIGHT: "It's a great championship for all of us - Ford, John
Force Racing - it's been a few years since we've had it and we finally
got it back. It has been a crazy season. We struggled for two- thirds of
the season with my car and we were terrible. We could not get it right.
I remember back in Bristol when we didn't qualify, I made a statement at
the other end of the race track that, 'this team and this car were too
good, and we will contend for the championship at the end,' knowing that
the countdown is coming. But you start thinking about those statements
and you think, 'Man, maybe you're being a little bold,' because those
things can come back to bite you, but I really believe that. I believed
in my team and everybody, all of our sponsors believed in us. They
didn't put any pressure on us. They let us do what we knew how to do and
that helped get us through it. With the help of our teammates, Ashley
and her team, they carried John Force Racing for most of the year with
performance, but we adopted their engine combination and we got mine on
track just at the right time. That's kind of what winning a championship
under this countdown is all about is timing, and we couldn't have done
it more perfectly. We won the first two right out of the box and we won
half of the countdown races. We hadn't even been to a final before Indy,
which was the race before the countdown started, so we did get our car
on track at the right time at the end of the year. Hearing you say my
name and 2009 Funny Car champ, I'm still getting used to hearing that,
but I definitely like how it sounds."
WHAT HAVE THE LAST FEW DAYS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
ROBERT HIGHT: "Crazy. I'm starting to see what it's like to be John
and Ashley 365 days a year. They deal with a lot of the media around
here and it's exciting for me. It's something new. I'm learning, and I
definitely have them in my back pocket to help me and get me through it.
I'm so excited about going down to Homestead this weekend and trying to
cheer on the NASCAR drivers. Hopefully, one of the Ford guys can win
the last race. It's real important to win that last race in any form
of motorsports because it helps the off-season go a little better and
everybody remembers that last race and how well everybody competed and
their performance. So we're looking forward to getting down there and
watching a Ford guy win this weekend."
CAN YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC ON WHAT YOU DID TO TURN YOUR SEASON AROUND?
ROBERT HIGHT: "I can look clear back to last year. We had a real good
car and we contended for the championship right up to the last day, but
we didn't have any consistency with our engine. With these cars you burn
so much fuel. On one run it would drop a cylinder and that means it's
too rich, there's too much fuel in that cylinder. The next run you'd
take some fuel away from the cylinder and it would burn it up. It had
no tuning window whatsoever, it was one way over center or the other
way. So we changed our intake manifold and camshaft - the basic engine
combination to what Ashley's team was running and we haven't dropped a
cylinder since we put it in there, so it's very friendly and it's got
a lot of power. You've seen my car, it was running at least 308 miles
an hour plus every run, and that shows that all the parts are still in
great condition at the other end of the race track. One run there in Las
Vegas two weeks ago we ran 312.5 miles an hour and that, I think, is the
second-fastest speed ever in Funny Car at 1,000 feet, so we have a lot
to look forward to next year. With a little bit of refining, maybe, I
think you're gonna see a Funny Car next year run 315 miles an hour and
we definitely hope it's one of our new Ford Mustangs with the 2010 body
we're gonna unveil and debut next year. I think you're gonna see some
good things out of these Ford Mustangs from John Force Racing."
IS THIS A LITTLE EXTRA SPECIAL SINCE ROBERT IS FAMILY?
JOHN FORCE: "It really is. At the end of the day any one on this team
that can get a win, especially when it's family, Robert Hight, who has
earned that right for that championship, has fought for it four years,
and finally delivers. Jimmy Prock doing an excellent job. We're excited
for all the sponsors - Auto Club, but at the end of the day Ford Motor
Company because they've been our partner. When things were down. When
we lost Eric Medlen in '07 and then my crash, we've been a lot mental
around here and safety kind of took over, and safety is a priority, but
you've got to win too at the end of the day, and to put it all back
together and for Robert to bring the championship home, we're excited.
And then the clincher was Mike Neff winning in the Ford. Drive one. I
was so excited that I chased down Jesse (Kershaw) and Brian (Wolfe) and
I said it was an all-Ford motor, it was an all-Ford chassis, and it was
an all-Ford body. That car to go out there and win with Mike Neff, in
his second season, that was big for all of us. We were excited."
HOW PROUD WERE YOU TO SEE ASHLEY AND MIKE NEFF IN THE FINAL LAST WEEK?
ROBERT HIGHT: "I'll be honest, I'm still learning myself. I've helped
them out with their cars and that, but, basically, John is the coach and
John taught them. I feel very fortunate for the position John put me in
and I try to go out and help the two young girls - Brittany and Courtney
- but not really with their driving, with their cars and helping the
teams. But it was a very proud moment to stand on the starting line. I
actually have never got to be on the starting line for a final round
with team members. I've usually been in the race car, so I stood in the
middle because I didn't care who won. Once we knew that both of those
Fords got to the final, we couldn't lose. It was a win to round out
the year and it didn't matter to me who won, so I kind of stood in the
middle and watched the pedal-fest and lots of tire smoke and Neff got
the win light. It was pretty cool."
DIDN'T COURTNEY MAKE THE TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER FINAL?
JOHN FORCE: "Yeah, we were pretty excited and to watch Brittany and
Courtney both in the semi's out there fighting it out, and then they got
up to the other end and they were two sisters, but competitive. They
were yelling at each other from the seats of their cars when they stood
up. The one thought the other one sat on her, you know what I mean? It
was so exciting for me to see them competitive and then the one to go
onto the final - Courtney, which won the race at Seattle in the A Fuel
car. It's pretty exciting, and all the stuff this year. Working with the
Ford Fiesta and all the stuff she did. The commercials that the girls
put up and you can see on You Tube, and that they played at the Vegas
race, those are my girls doing their thing for Ford Motor Company. So
much of what we've been though it really makes me excited that my girls
are very aware of the loss of Eric Medlen, but without the work the Ford
Motor Company's engineers did, we couldn't have done this. I've said
it before - wouldn't have done it. And then to come back and win, and
I just thank God. Robert, Ashley finishing number two. Robert's logo
'Never give up. Never back down. Never lose faith.' You'll read it in
the USA Today this week Friday. You'll read it in the paper with Auto
Club and Ford. I've got my motivation and my fire back. I've got the
championship back where it belongs. I'm starting to worry about me as a
coach. These kids have taught me plenty."
AT THE START OF THE YEAR IF SOMEONE SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO WIN A
TITLE THIS YEAR, BUT ROBERT IS GOING TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP, ASHLEY IS
GOING TO WIN RACES AND BE SECOND, AND MIKE NEFF IS GOING TO GET HIS
FIRST WIN, I THINK YOU WOULD HAVE TAKEN THAT DEAL AT THE START OF THE
SEASON, RIGHT?
JOHN FORCE: "I have two emotions. Without a doubt, you did it. It's
about the next generation. Ford even asked me in a media conference
if I'm ready to pass the torch. I'm ready to pass the torch. Robert
Hight won, but I'm gonna come right back in 2010 and I'm gonna take
it back. I'm gonna make him earn that championship. He did this year,
but he's got to earn it again next year because I want it back. Ashley
wants it, she's hungry. Mike Neff, that's where we're all going. We're
really excited right now, it's just a lot of decisions have to be made
in the next few weeks. I'm gonna have meetings with Ford Motor Company.
I'm gonna have meetings with Auto Club and Castrol, but we're excited
because we got the trophy back in the building. It's just exciting. Yes,
I am happy for these kids and it couldn't have played out better. The
fact that I did not win a race this season, well, too bad. At the end
of the day I wanted it for all my sponsors, I wanted to keep the streak
going, but the priority was to win the championship and Robert Hight
got it done. And Ashley, a woman, in a Ford Mustang coming in number
two, that wasn't too shabby, and she won the big race at Indy - her and
Robert in the final there and that was huge."
MIKE NEFF WON WITH A FORD MOTOR. THAT'S GIGANTIC IN DRAG RACING.
JOHN FORCE: "Haven't run the Fords in the fuel ranks in 25 years and
when Ford said, 'Let's build a motor,' we unveiled it at SEMA and it was
a big hit, and we went out there with it. It ran low e.t. a few times.
Mike Neff was in two or three finals with it and had some bad luck, but,
at the end of the day, he delivered at Pomona in a tire-smoking final.
Ashley hit the wall in the other lane, but, at the end of the day, we're
all Fords but we got it. I was so caught up with the championship and
Mike Neff winning, that I even forgot it was an all-Ford car and that is
what we've worked so hard for. Even if it's called an NHRA-spec motor,
it was built by the designs at Ford and the Eric Medlen project in Indy,
and we got her done. We got it done and that's it, and now it starts all
over. Don't worry about me. I'm in the gym. I was in there last night -
every night. I'm back in shape and I'm fixing my race car. It's got some
problems, but I've got three good cars around me now that can help me.
I'll get back in championship form."
DID YOU FEEL YOU WERE LETTING THE TEAM DOWN EARLY IN THE YEAR AND WAS
THERE A LOSS OF CONFIDENCE?
ROBERT HIGHT: "No, there really wasn't. I will say this, my confidence,
you start thinking about things. When John and I switched cars in
Reading, Pennsylvania - Maple Grove - and he went out and went to the
semi's and they could have won that race, they were doing well. And I
got over to Coyle's car and it smoked the tires, kind of like what mine
had been doing. That's when you start thinking, 'Wow, maybe it is me.'
But the truth is that most of the time it's the race car. These crew
chiefs don't get enough credit. It's tough to make these things run and
there's a lot of parts, and a lot of everything has to be just perfect
and that's what makes winning this championship so special because it is
so hard. And there are so many other good teams out there, so to come
out on top is huge. Through it all, it just took a lot of hard work
and believing in everybody around you and not giving up. That's what
John has taught us all these years, but I do know that leaving Reading,
Pennsylvania I was starting to think, 'Maybe it's me.'"
JOHN FORCE: "I never thought it was Robert and I told him that. The
reason I went over there was to evaluate the people. You read the books
on big companies, but when a company is failing you look around and
you say, 'Is anybody sick? Is anybody going through a divorce? Does
somebody's kid have a problem?' You look for reasons. You got there and
all of a sudden something changed - something caused it. Is anybody on
medication? I asked a lot of questions that needed to be asked and we
found some things, but it was never Robert Hight. If I ever had a guy
dead- on, it's Robert Hight from the day he walked in this camp over 15
years ago. I'm proud of him and I'm proud because he got my race cars
back where they belong - in championship form."
WAS IT HAPPINESS OR RELIEF AT INDIANAPOLIS THIS YEAR?
ROBERT HIGHT: "It was definitely happiness for me because, I'll be
honest, I knew we could get in the countdown. We were only a couple
rounds back, so that was attainable, but my car still hadn't shown the
performance that it needed to to win the championship. If you're not
in that countdown, then Ford and Auto Club, they're not getting the
media coverage and the press they deserve and they pay for, so it was
definitely exciting and made me happy to get in there. Did I think we
were gonna go on and win half the races in the countdown? No, I didn't
think we'd get it turned around like that."
JOHN FORCE: "Let me tell you something, if you're focused on happiness,
you're getting behind. You've got to have that gut ache. When Robert
locked up the championship he was very emotional. I never saw that side
of Robert. I don't want to embarrass you Robert, but I never saw him
cry. I thought, 'What the hell is wrong with him?' I thought somebody
said something. I was ready to fight, but it was just the emotion. Then
he told me an hour later, he said, 'I've got a gut ache, John. I don't
understand it. I should be all happy.' And I said, 'Well, why? What are
you thinking about?' He said, 'I just won and I'm already thinking about
next year.' I said, 'Well, Robert, you've got it right because if you
want to think about now and what you've accomplished, do that. But your
brain has to go to next year.' And right now, for our vacation, we're
not going on vacation. Robert and I and a handful of the crew chiefs,
we're gonna stay and figure out where we're going. The shark always has
to swim, and that ain't something you can teach somebody. They either
got that gut ache and it's where they came from. They don't want to go
back. Robert doesn't want to go back to that little town of Alturas
(Calif.), I don't want to go back to that trailer house in Bell Gardens
(Calif.). We want to go on and keep winning because that's what makes
us tick, and he's got that built in him, and you can't give that to a
driver. That's what I'm so excited about. This company will go on when
my days are done."
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT DRIVING A TRUCK AND WHAT WAS THE HARDEST
PART?
JOHN FORCE: "My dad was a trucker and my dad called it 'romance with
the highway.' In the early days, and truckers still are to me, are like
race car drivers. They handle the roads. They haul the big loads and
drive big off-highway trucks. Certain men were picked to do a special
job, just like in race cars, but I always had a romance with the highway
and I love to drive. I fly now because of corporate America and I have
to be at appearances and board room meetings to run the company, but
when I get down mentally and I can't get right and I feel like I'm being
left behind, I get in the truck with Robert, we get in there with the
team - put the potato chips and the Coca-Cola and the coffee on the
dashboard and we hit that highway because that was our upbringing in
this sport. Robert lived in the truck for 15 years. I lived in the truck
for 20 years before I got out because that was taking you to the next
race. There's another job besides just driving the car and it's just
the love you have. I have so many guys on the showcar circuit that will
come over and say, 'You always make time for us, and a lot of drivers
don't. We're just somebody else that does a job for the company,' and
I tell them, 'No, because you're where we came from.' Between Robert
and I we drove the truck. We lived out there. We did the displays and
carried the Ford brand or Auto Club to the next level. You guys are
the ones that took us outside of the race track and helped us build
our names and the brand. I'm wound up today because I ain't wound down
since we locked up that race and the championship. It's just an exciting
time for me. My wife even says I'm smiling again. I've been miserable.
But those guys are in the trenches. We can't wait to get down there
with you guys at Homestead. We're gonna root for our Ford guys. We're
gonna do what we do, and I'm bringing me the new Full Throttle NHRA
champion. Now Robert is so modest, he's humble and he's the real deal.
I said, 'Robert, you're gonna down there and we can walk in with these
NASCAR guys and we can share the day with them,' and we can't wait to
get there."
WHAT TRAITS DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE AS A CHAMPION? CAN YOU DEFINE THEM?
ROBERT HIGHT: "Not really, it's hard. When I look around and you see
how hard it is to win a championship, you see how many great drivers
out there that haven't won championships, and I'm still trying to be as
good a driver as those guys. They've been on great teams and haven't got
it done. I don't really look at myself. I look at the people that John
Force has put himself with and that's Ford and AAA - all of these people
and the crew chiefs. We have four teams that work together. They help
each other, even when we race each other between rounds. We look at each
other's data and, yeah, you definitely want to win but you still help
each other and you don't ever get too far ahead, you stay together as
a team. That's really what I think it takes to win this thing and I'm
just glad we got it done, but, like John said, it all starts again and
we've got to get it back. One thing that was really cool is we've been
with Ford 13 seasons and this is our 10th championship. That is huge.
For a little bit there was started getting a little spoiled and started
getting down on ourselves because we hadn't won in a couple of years,
but that's the attitude you have to have to get back and get the job
done. That's a big percentage -- .770 - 13 years and 10 wins. I don't
know that anybody has ever done that."
JOHN FORCE: - "Robert, loving baseball growing up - the Dodgers - he got
to meet Tommy Lasorda a couple of years ago. He loves the cheer of the
crowd even though he's not a ham like me, but he loves being out there
and being competitive. One of the things I never understood when Robert
came into the race car is he was so good out of the box and I thought,
'You know, it took me 15 years to figure out the Christmas tree and how
to learn focus,' and Robert had an opportunity. He could have gone to
the Olympics as a skeet or trap shooter and he gave me a tape one day
because I was struggling with the lights and I listened to this tape and
it trains you how to focus. I realized Robert is a shooter who learned
how to focus on that Christmas tree that most drivers have to learn, and
you can tell yourself how to do it, but until you just understand it,
it's about focus, and he had that natural ability. That's what put him
at the top of his game and, at the end of the day, he's probably one or
two in the standings in lead times because he was so dang good because
he had that focus. And the other thing, I walk in the shop at midnight,
I come back in from a show and he just come back from Bakersfield, and
he's sitting in one of the race cars out here. That's what I did 20
years ago, except I was drinking a beer and sitting in the car because
I love it. He was down here just keeping his focus. He's got the right
stuff to do this again. He will win more championships."
WHAT KIND OF REFINING ARE YOU PLANNING ON THE CARS?
ROBERT HIGHT: "We're gonna have the Ford engine in all the cars next
year, and one thing that's really exciting is that new 2010 Ford Mustang
body. Basically, the John Force Ford Mustangs have been the fastest
speed at every race and with this new car, I think we have the same
amount of downforce with less drag, so it honestly should go faster. You
might see one of these cars run 315 next year. We're always looking at
how to make these things better, but also stay on safety. I think one of
the biggest accomplishments we've made here, and it has all to do with
Ford, is after John and Eric's accident, we only had about three months
to completely redesign the chassis that had never been proven, never
been down a race track, and we went out and won the 2008 Winternationals
with it, and it was competitive last year. We went down to the last
day with a chance to win that championship last year, so I think that
was a huge accomplishment for what John Force Racing and Ford, working
together, did."
JOHN FORCE: "I just want to say that at the banquet Robert made a
statement about Ford Motor Company. He said, 'Our race teams are gonna
be OK. We have great support from Ford Motor Company, but Ford Motor
Company is gonna be OK. They're gonna make it without a stimulus package
from the government.' And I really sat there and thought about that and
I thought, 'I'm looking at my own stimulus package because I've got help
- all of my sponsors staying alive in this tough economy in the next few
years, maybe longer. We're gonna do that together if we work together.
In the meetings I've had with Brian Wolfe, safety is critical, but also
winning at the end of the day because Ford Motor Company is all about
winning. That's their roots. That's where they came from, when Henry
Ford built his first car to be competitive. But if you look at the new
cars Ford has put out, that Ford Taurus is unbelievable with a great
price tag. They're going it right. They made change and they saw the
future. They adapted and they're gonna survive, and in this economy John
Force has had to make changes. I've got guys that are older, that I
don't want to retire them because they're the history of this company,
but I'm bringing in new help. I'm gonna freshen them up and I'm gonna
keep this thing on a budget, and we will continue to build safety with
Ford, and we will continue to deliver championships with Ford. That is
our word here at John Force Racing. (Mark) Fields, (Jim) Farley and
(Ken) Czubay - when I meet with these guys - all they talk about is
where this company is going and they're taking us with them, and we
delivered for them at John Force Racing a championship this season and
we're gonna deliver more."
-credit: ford racing
