NHRA
Englishtown: John Force Racing final summary
TEAM CASTROL FORDS OUT EARLY IN PRO CARE Rx SUPERNATIONALS When Ashley Force lost to brother-in-law Robert Hight in the first round of Sunday's 38th annual Pro Care Rx SuperNationals, it took away Team Castrol's best chance of a Funny Car victory ...
Published: Jun 26, 2007, 9:36 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
TEAM CASTROL FORDS OUT EARLY IN PRO CARE Rx SUPERNATIONALS
When Ashley Force lost to brother-in-law Robert Hight in the first round of Sunday's 38th annual Pro Care Rx SuperNationals, it took away Team Castrol's best chance of a Funny Car victory at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
Ms. Force, the 24-year-old daughter of drag racing icon John Force, had the best car on the grounds all weekend long, but couldn't close the deal, victimized by the failure of a $1 part, an intake manifold stud. That failure caused a misfire in the engine that slowed the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang just enoug h to let Hight squeak by for a first round win in the Team Castrol/Auto Club Mustang.
Hight, the surprising No. 14 qualifier after his second straight troubled weekend, was clocked in 4.938 seconds, quick time of the round. Ashley trailed at 4.949, 299.30 mph, ending a spectacular weekend on a very disappointing note.
Ashley, the front-runner in the race for the 2007 Road to the Future Award that identifies the NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year, was the only driver in the category to go A to B, under power, every time down the racetrack. That said, she wasn't around for the final round in which No. 1 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr. beat Tony Pedregon for the the championship.
Hight went out in round two when an ignition system failure left his Ford dead in the water against Tony Pedregon's Chevrolet.
As for John Force, he secured his best starting spot of the season (No. 2) and beat 2005 series champion Gary Scelzi in the first round before being upset by Tony Bartone in round two.
TEAM CASTROL Details:
JOHN FORCE, 58, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang
Qualifying position and performance: 2nd at 4.747 seconds, 325.57 mph.
Race results: Beat Gary Scelzi; lost to Tony Bartone.
Notable: Reached the second round for only the second time this season and
jumped four positions in the POWERade point standings.
Quotable: "It wasn't what we wanted, but it was better than what we've been
doing. At least I see a little spark from these guys now. We're not out of
it, not yet, but we've got to do some good in Norwalk."
ASHLEY FORCE, 24, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang
Qualifying position and performance: 3rd at 4.760 seconds, 321.19 mph.
Race results: Lost to Robert Hight.
Notable: Equaled her best starting position since moving up to Funny Car.
Quotable: "I never saw Robert. I heard 'Guido' (crew chief Dean 'Guido' Antonelli) say, 'good job, guys' so I really didn't know. You never want to run your teammate in the first round, but it happens. It was a good race but we just came up a little short."
ROBERT HIGHT, 37, Team Castrol/Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang
Qualifying position and performance: 14th at 4.893 seconds, 301.67 mph.
Race results: Beat Ashley Force; lost to Tony Pedregon.
Notable: Retained hold on No. 2 position in Skoal Showdown driver standings.
Quotable: "We think we found our problem. It's in the ignition system, so
we'll work to sort that out this week and get ready for Norwalk. It's great
that we've been able to sort out this problem before mid-season. Now I'm
ready for the Countdown."
-credit: jfr
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Englishtown: Steve Johnson final summary
Next article Englishtown: Vance & Hines final summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Robert Hight
John Force Racing confirms its return to action
NHRA
NHRA
John Force Racing confirms its return to action
John Force Racing pauses racing activities until 2021
NHRA
NHRA
John Force Racing pauses racing activities until 2021
Hight, Torrence are champions, Kalitta, Beckman take Pomona wins
NHRA
NHRA
Pomona II
Hight, Torrence are champions, Kalitta, Beckman take Pomona wins
Latest news
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
36 min
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
1 h
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 h
Palou pushes IndyCar’s IR-28 chassis to the limit in rugged Sebring test
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Why McLaren cannot fix its F1 car handling until 2027
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe