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Qualifying report

Hight leads way for JFR on Friday of pro winter warm-ups

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang continued their steady performance improvements.

Robert Hight

Robert Hight

NHRA

JUPITER, FL --- No one hoisted a trophy and there was no big check at the top end but that did not diminish the competitive fire on the first day of the 4th annual PRO Winter Warm-Up at Palm Beach International Raceway. Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang continued their steady performance improvements with a team leading elapsed time of 4.039 seconds at 315.56 mph in the second session on Friday.

Robert Hight
Robert Hight

Photo by: NHRA

“That run felt great. We have made a couple other runs in the 4.0s the past couple of days but with the fans in the stands and someone in the lane next to you it is just great to race. (Crew chief) Mike Neff and this Auto Club team have been testing a few things and we are focusing on the NHRA Circle K Winternationals.

It has been cold here but we are working around that and seeing some good numbers,” said Hight, the 2013 Chevy Performance U.S. Nationals winner.

Hight’s Funny Car teammates also put on an exciting show for the fans on Friday. Courtney Force and the Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car hazed the tires in both sessions but earlier in the day on Friday she lit up the scoreboard with a 4.06 second pass. 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion brought the crowd to their feet when he pedaled his Castrol GTX High Mileage Funny Car in both sessions shooting header flames above the roof of his 10,000 horsepower Funny Car. Force has consistently been in the 4.0s yesterday and today including a 4.03 second blast this morning.

“This is awesome to be back with drag racing fans. We won the championship last year and this was the first time for these folks in Florida to celebrate with us. That 4.03 this morning was a great run for this Castrol team and Robert has been running in the 4.0s and so has Courtney. We are all testing different things and then the brain-trust will get together and look at the data,” said Force.

“PRO does a great job with this event and thanks to team owners like Don Schumacher, Bob Vandegriff, Bob Tasca and Connie Kalitta, we have a great show for people to see. The Al-Anabi Dragsters ran great tonight and my daughter Brittany Force made a good 3.82 second run in the Castrol EDGE Dragster.”

The Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster driven by 2013 Auto Club Rookie of the Year Brittany Force made a strong showing during the exhibition runs posting elapsed times of 3.891 seconds and then improving to 3.824 seconds; fourth quickest of the second session.

The second day of the PRO Winter Warm-Up will continue tomorrow with runs at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

JFR

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