Robert Hight powered the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS to his fifth win at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on Sunday. His winning 3.861-second pass at 329.58 mph marked his 54th career victory. Making his return to the Top Fuel ranks, Austin Prock took the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster to a runner-up finish while Brittany Force and the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team had a semifinal appearance. John Force and the PEAK / BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SS team had a short race day making a first-round exit.

With Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham at the helm of his Auto Club Chevrolet, Robert Hight was nearly perfect all weekend. Qualified in the No. 2 position coming into race day, Hight first laid down a 3.890-second pass at 328.86 mph to defeat Jason Rupert’s 4.361 at 231.02. In the second round, Hight would handle the Auto Club Chevy to a 3.893-second run at 331.20 mph for the win over Tony Juardo and his 8.647 at 84.98.

In the semifinals, Hight would match-up with Funny Car veteran Matt Hagan. The Auto Club Chevy had a clean pass of 3.861-seconds and 331.20 mph while Hagan would record only a 4.026 at 317.64. Hight would take on new team owner and reigning Funny Car world champion Ron Capps in the final round. Despite some extracurricular excitement on the starting line, Hight and Capps would have a stellar side-by-side drag race. Hight would edge Capps with a 3.861-second pass at 329.58 mph to Capps’ 3.882 at 333.82.

“It’s pretty tough,” said Hight about having to gain composure after his car body clipped the injector while being closed during pre-stage. “I saw Trevor (Huff) off to the side and he didn’t look like he was hurt. Trevor is all right. You’ve got a job to do so I just followed Jimmy (Prock) and he said to come on in and stage. You have to gather your thoughts. He put the body down and hooked the injector. Never had that happen. When the win light came on, the first thing I asked – I didn’t even care if we won – was whether he was okay.

“I knew it was going to be a great race against Ron Capps. If you looked at our last qualifying run last night, it was four thousandths apart (Capps in the other lane). It was neck and neck all day long. It’s one of many battles, the first race of the year. To get the job done is a big day. We’re going to have a lot more of those this year,” Hight said. “The guys have stayed focused, worked really hard. If you look at our runs in testing and our runs here, I think this Auto Club team has found it. I’m happy. We have more consistency than we had last year. I can only see it getting better.”

Event Essentials: Lucas Oil Winternationals  (Feb. 17-20. 2022) 

Posted with files by Sarah Slaughter & Bruce Biegler
Photos by Dave Ostaszewski