NHRA
St. Louis: Robert Hight preview
HIGHT HEADS TO GATEWAY LOOKING FOR FIRST 2009 WIN ST LOUIS (April 27, 2009) --- Robert Hight is tired of being frustrated. He is turning over a new leaf heading into the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International ...
Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:52 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
HIGHT HEADS TO GATEWAY LOOKING FOR FIRST 2009 WIN
ST LOUIS (April 27, 2009) --- Robert Hight is tired of being frustrated. He is turning over a new leaf heading into the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway.
The 2005 rookie of the year and perennial championship contender has been off his game in 2009 opening the season with his longest winless drought of his career. Entering the seventh race of the season Hight hasn't even reached a final which has the former trap shooting champion at a loss. He isn't giving up or even coming close to that attitude
"I am not going to be discouraged about our situation anymore. I feel like I have been in a bad mood for a couple of races and I have to just get over it. I have one of the best teams in the NHRA. I have the best owner, John Force and the best teammates with Ashley (Force Hood) and (Mike) Neff. I know we will get this Auto Club Ford Mustang figured out and I am hoping that happens at Gateway this weekend," said Hight.
Last year at Gateway Hight dropped a semi-final round to teammate Mike Neff who appeared to have the Mustang to beat that day. That was the furthest Hight has advanced in Madison so he is looking forward to getting to his first GIR final and first final of 2009.
"In the past four seasons I had won at least one race by now. The longest I ever went before winning a race was 2007 when I won in Las Vegas then Atlanta and I had reached a final in Pomona and Phoenix that year as well," said the only Funny Car driver to have led the points at least once the past four seasons.
To put Hight's drought in perspective in his rookie year heading into GIR Hight had a win and runner-up, Houston and Atlanta, respectively. In 2006 Hight opened the season with a win in Pomona and a runner-up in Atlanta. Last season Hight again opened the season with a win in Pomona and a runner-up in Phoenix.
This year Hight has two semi-final finishes (Pomona and Las Vegas) to Ron Capps the current points leader to go along with three first round losses and one second round defeat. He is currently tied for 9th place, his lowest career position, with teammate Mike Neff in the Full Throttle point standings.
Still Hight knows that at any moment his fortunes could turn. In the past three races he has seen Funny Car drivers jump from the bottom of the Top Ten to near the top as teammate Ashley Force Hood made a big move following her Houston victory and rookie Matt Hagan (Las Vegas runner-up) and veteran Jack Beckman (Atlanta win) both leapt into second place after strong performances.
"I am hoping to get on a roll at St. Louis like Tim Wilkerson did last year. He got the win over Neff and then went to three more finals in a row it seemed. I have all the confidence in my team led by Jimmy Prock so I am feeling pretty good all things considered," said Hight.
-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 St. Louis: Jeg Coughlin Jr pre-event notes
Next article St. Louis: Shawn Langdon preview
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
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Brazilian GP
45 min
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
Marc Marquez's mind games with Jorge Martin: "If you're fast, you don't need team orders"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Marc Marquez's mind games with Jorge Martin: "If you're fast, you don't need team orders"
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