The very formidable and multi-car John Force Racing team took full advantage during the first round of NHRA’s 6-race Mello Yello playoff series.

And it was Auto Club of Southern California driver Robert Hight making the most of the timely opportunity when (during the NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway) he sped to victory in what was an all JFR championship round pairing.

Faced with the task of racing four Countdown to the Championship drivers – Hight beat them all to score his third victory of the 2017 season and vault into the Funny Car points lead.

The fuel FC final at zMax was all JFR with Robert Hight edging out Courtney Force…

Hight dispatched No. 3 Matt Hagan in the first round, No. 5 Tommy Johnson Jr. in the second, and No. 8 J.R. Todd in the semifinals before beating No. 6 – and John Force Racing teammate – Courtney Force in the final round.

“What’s awesome is the lineup of drivers today that we beat,” Hight said. “Every round we had a Countdown competitor. These Chevrolets are back. This is an unbelievable way to start the Countdown.”

Hight came into the six-race Countdown second in points, but his second-round victory vaulted him to the top of the standings.

The victory was the 40th of his brilliant career and his third in the last six races. Over that span, Hight and his Chevrolet Camaro SS have also set the national record in elapsed time (3.793 seconds at Brainerd, Minn.) and speed (339.87 mph in Sonoma, Calif.)

And now, Hight and his team have the points lead.

Robert Hight’s victory was his 3rd of the 2017 season

“That’s amazing,” Hight said. “We got up to No. 2 in the regular season, and when Ron (Capps) went out early we had to capitalize. You know those guys are going to have some wins in this Countdown, but when they go out early we had to take advantage and we did.

“It was just a perfect day. You can only dream of a day like this and script it.”

Hight qualified No. 6 and started the day by taking out Hagan with a run of 3.927 seconds at 326.95 mph – a pass that was low of Round 1. He then faced No. 3 qualifier Johnson Jr. in the second round, but as Johnson faltered, Hight sped to the semis with a run of 3.951 seconds at 328.22 mph.

Todd, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals winner, was up next, and it was a terrific race. The two left within .001 seconds of each other, with Hight’s pass of 3.985 seconds at 325.14 mph narrowly edging Todd’s 3.999-second run at 315.19 mph.

That put Hight against Force’s Advance Auto Parts Chevy, which qualified No. 1 and showed plenty of speed on Sunday. Hight bumped his Chevrolet into the staging beams and left with an outstanding .019-second reaction time – and he was never headed, winning with a run of 3.943 seconds at 328.86 mph.

“You have nothing to lose in the final,” Hight said. “You have to get after it. It was a good light and a good run. We hadn’t been in the left lane all weekend, and I was a little worried about that going into the final. That was a big run for us.

“We didn’t have our best qualifying, but we had a great day when it counted. This is probably one of the toughest race days I’ve had with every round a Countdown competitor. It was cool to get to the final with Courtney. You look at it and say you can’t lose. We definitely earned this one.”

Event Essentials:   NHRA Carolina Nationals (Sep. 15-17th, 2017) 

Runner-up Courtney Force qualified #1 and set low ET of the event at 3.891 secs

Posted with files by Lee Montgomery & Bruce Biegler
Photos by Gary Nastase