Robert Hight broke through in a big way at Bandimere Speedway, storming to a victory in the Mopar Mile-High Nationals.

The Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS driver has been fast during the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, earning two No. 1 qualifiers and racing to two final rounds. But he was still looking for his first victory of the season – until Sunday.

(Robert Hight scored an important and team relieving victory at the Mopar Mile High Nationals)

Hight beat Todd Simpson, Jack Beckman, Cruz Pedregon and Tommy Johnson Jr. to earn his 38th career win, his fourth at Denver and his first of 2017.

“It’s been awhile,” Hight said. “I think we’re back.”

Hight also extended an impressive streak, as he’s now won at least one race in each of his 13 seasons as a Funny Car driver. The Denver victory also locked up a spot in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, a special race held during the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.

(Courtney Force reset both ends of the track records at Bandimere Speedway during FC class qualifying)

“In the final, it ran 3.99, and that was a great run. It was boiling clutch dust in there, so it was happy.”

The winning pass was a 3.995 at 317.57 mph, and it came after leaving first again, this time with a .046 light.

And now Hight has a chance to sweep the Western Swing, the three-race stretch that includes Sonoma next week and Seattle the week after.

“Our performance is there,” Hight said. “We run really well, we qualify well. We just haven’t raced well on Sunday – and we haven’t had any luck. Today we got some luck, and we needed it.
“This is a big time of year, and my favorite time of the year – the Western Swing. I’m from the West coast, and it’s three awesome races, three great race tracks in a row. It’s a big deal to sweep the Swing and you can’t do that unless you win at Denver – and we did that.”

(Matt Hagan raced this great looking special edition Mopar 80th Birthday edition Dodge Charger at Denver)

Event Essentials:   NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals (July 21-23rd, 2017) 

For the second consecutive NHRA event – Tommy Johnson Jr placed runner-up

Posted with files by Lee Montgomery & Bruce Biegler
Photos by NHRA, Gary Nastase and Auto Imagery