MADISON, Ill. (Oct. 02, 2022) – Robert Hight and the AAA Missouri Chevrolet Camaro SS team raced to a career best eighth win of the season, 61st of Hight’s career and third at World Wide Technology Raceway Sunday at the NHRA Midwest Nationals.
Coming in as the No. 1 qualifiers, Robert Hight and the AAA Chevy had the added bonus of a bye run in the first round. The AAA Missouri Camaro would run into tire smoke around half track and click off going only 4.076-seconds and 238.60 mph. Matched with veteran racer Tim Wilkerson in the second round. It would be a clean side-by-side drag race with Hight driving around Wilkerson for win. Hight would have the quickest pass of the round at 3.903-seconds and 330.72 mph bettering Wilkerson’s 3.972 at 326.24.
In the semifinals, Hight would take on season-long rival, and No. 2 in the points, Matt Hagan. Hight would maintain his consistency taking the AAA Chevy to a 3.913-second pass at 327.59 mph to defeat Hagan’s 3.945 at 330.31 sending Hight to the finals to face reigning world champion Ron Capps for the 80th time in their careers. Hight would have the starting line advantage with a .041-second reaction time to Capps’ .059. Capps would put up a fight to chase down Hight but ultimately, Hight’s 3.911-second pass at 331.61 mph would get the hole shot win over Capps’ 3.908 at 330.47.
“You definitely can’t be racing defensively, you have to be on the offensive, have to be pushing it to the edge every round, every run and I really feel I have the best guys in my corner to do that. Every weekend the competition gets tougher and tougher, every round is important and huge. This AAA Missouri team, they just keep digging,” Hight said. “That final round was a 40-point swing, if we had lost, Capps would only be a handful of points behind us. Don’t get me wrong though, that 46-point lead isn’t a security blanket either. We still need to be focused and this team is up for it. We don’t need to change anything, just keep doing what got us here. What we’ve been doing all year has worked. We just need to keep steady; we can’t stress and hopefully more wins will come from it.”
Not only was it Hight’s eight win of the season, the 61st of his career and third at World Wide Technology Raceway, it was also a milestone win for John Force Racing. It was the 300th professional NHRA victory of John Force Racing’s existence. Hight also won the 200th John Force Racing victory against then teammate Mike Neff in Topeka, Kansas 2011.
The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship continues with the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex just outside of Dallas, October 14-16.
Unofficial NHRA Countdown to the Championship Top 10 Points Standings
FUNNY CAR – 1. Robert Hight, Auto Club of Southern California Chevy Camaro SS, 2404; 2. Ron Capps, 2358; 3. Matt Hagan, 2301; 4. John Force, 2290; 5. Bob Tasca III, 2234; 6. Alexis DeJoria, 2187; 7. J.R. Todd, 2185; 8. Tim Wilkerson, 2175; 9. Cruz Pedregon, 2159; 10. Jim Campbell, 2085; 11. Blake Alexander, 2064.
See the full recap of the day posted by NHRA.com staff:
See Sunday's photo gallery at nhra.com:
Unofficial Camping World points standings:
Content: John Force Racing PR / NHRA / RPM
Photo: JFR (Gary Nastase, Auto Imagery) / NHRA / RPM