Robert Hight defeated a slew of veteran drag racers on his way to winning one of the most sought after titles available — the 50th Anniversary Amalie Motor Oil 50th NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

The two-time world champion and his Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team put together a series of four 3.8 passes to pick up his 47th career victory, fourth at the Gatornationals and second this season.

“This is huge. This is my fourth time winning here now. This is a big one. The 50th, there will only be one of these. It seems like my boss, John Force, always wins the big races. We’ve had a 50th anniversary race for NHRA at Pomona in the summer and the big race with Winston Showdown Battle back in the day when he ran the Superman car. He just seems to win all the cool races but I finally got one,” Hight said. “This is a cool race to win and especially with everybody at this race. Anybody of ‘whose who’ of drag racing was at this event. A lot of the people I’ve looked up to growing up as a kid were here and, now, I’m here holding the trophy and they’re watching me. It’s kind of a cool thing.”

First in Hight’s path to victory was long time racer Terry Haddock whose quickest run of the weekend at 4.234-seconds and 284.03 mph wasn’t enough for the 3.869-second, 331.94 mph set-up crew chiefs Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham put into the Auto Club hot rod.

Next in line for Hight was 2016 world champion Ron Capps who got into trouble early on the quarterfinal pass. Capps was up in smoke at the hit, reaching about 60-feet before having to shut off. Hight was un-phased, crossing the finish line at 3.870-seconds and 330.88 mph.

His two round wins would line him up with a familiar foe this year, team owner John Force.

While Force had been putting on a show of his own on race day, his 3.942-second pass at 324.12 mph was no match for Hight and the Auto Club Camaro’s stout 3.852-second run at 331.20 mph. The duo has faced each other in eliminations each of the first three races in the 2019 season. At the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix just two weeks ago, Hight delivered a second-round exit to the 16-time champ. At the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., Hight would defeat Force in the semifinals and go on to win the race.

In the finals, Hight faced-off with Tim Wilkerson. Wilkerson was the No. 2 qualifier making it the first time in the 50-year history of the race that the top two Funny Car qualifiers would meet in the final round. Hight had the starting line advantage, even if by accident, and left Wilkerson behind who went up in smoke and had to shut off. Hight took home the victory with a 3.867-second pass at 331.61 mph.

As Hight’s second win of the season and with three No. 1 qualifiers under his belt, the two-time world champion isn’t holding back his excitement for the season ahead.

“I’ve never seen a fuel car so consistent as what I have right now, especially a Funny Car. If you take last night’s qualifying run and the first two rounds, they were two thousandths apart for all three runs. Then we broke out basically in the semis at a .85 then back to an .86 in the final round,” explained Hight. “Jimmy Prock is on it. He and Chris Cunningham are really happy with the clutch package we have and they keep talking a lot about how my car ran in 2017. It just responds and it repeat so that’s a good sign. We have enough of these clutch parts to go all year long. It’s not like midway through the year we’re going to have to switch a combination. We’re going to refine it and hopefully it gets better and better.”

(John Force set top speed of the meet in FC at 331.94 mph)

Posted with files by Sara Slaughter & Bruce Biegler

Tommy Johnson Jr provided the most dramatic incident of the event during the final qualifying session.

Racing his Ford Mustang – Tim Wilkerson had a superb final round placing.

Event Essentials:   NHRA Amalie Motor Oils Gatornationals  (Mar. 14-17, 2019) 

(Fan favourite racer – “Fast Jack) Beckman – went to the “final four”)

FC class racing did get off to a rather auspicious start when Gary Richards had this wacky incident during the first Q run.

Photos by Bruce Biegler – Dave DeAngelis – Randy Anderson

To view more Funny Car event photos from Gainesville link to our event gallery : HERE