NHRA's Hight Hopes for Shootout at Infineon Raceway

SONOMA, Calif. July 20, 2005; John Force and Gary Scelzi are prone
to characterize their battle for the NHRA POWERade Funny Car
championship as a "shootout."  However, in a real "shootout," Force and
Scelzi wouldn't stand a chance against Robert "Top Gun" Hight.

A world-class marksman, Hight, who tops the Funny Car standings entering
this weekend's event in Seattle, has used the powers of concentration he
developed as a trapshooting champion to emerge as the runaway leader in
the race for the 2005 NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year award.  Moreover, at the
wheel of the 330 mph Automobile Club of Southern California Ford
Mustang, the 35-year-old native of Alturas, in far Northern California,
is one of the favorites, along with Force and Scelzi, in the FRAM
Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway, July 29-31.

Remarkably, until he climbed into the cockpit for the first time last
February, Hight never before had driven competitively in a vehicle of
any kind.

Considering his lack of experience, there was a time when the rookie
would have been happy simply to qualify for all 23 races in the series.
However, after winning in just his fourth start, Hight was forced to
re-assess his position.
 
"At the start of the year," he said, "my main goal was to qualify for
all 23 races, but my goals have changed a little bit.  Now I know I'm in
a car capable not just of winning races, but of winning the
championship.  That puts a little more pressure on me, but, hopefully,
I'm up for it."

Although, as the son-in-law of drag racing's biggest winner (he is
married to Force's oldest daughter, Adria, and is the father of the
13-time champion's only grandchild), he was immediately in the media
spotlight, Hight credits crew chief Jimmy Prock for keeping him there.

 "Jimmy's unbelievable," he said.  "He's really got a handle on the
tune-up and it doesn't seem to matter what the conditions are.  I'm just
the guy lucky enough to drive."

As a trapshooter, Hight won a California championship at 15 and once was
offered the opportunity to try out for the U.S. Olympic shooting team.
Instead, he opted to follow his racing dream. 

Nevertheless, he is one of the few shooters in the world to have
accomplished a shooting "grand slam:" perfect scores in all three
disciplines - 200 straight targets at the standard 16-yard distance, 100
straight at the maximum handicap distance of 27 yards and 100 straight
in doubles.

At Infineon, he'll settle for four straight.  That would be enough to
get him into the Winners' Circle for a second time.

WHAT: Big O Tires Racing Season Presents: FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals,
presented by Supercuts

WHEN: July 29-31

WHERE: Infineon Raceway

2004 WINNERS: Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel); Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car); Greg
Anderson (Pro Stock); and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Bike)

TICKETS: 800-870-RACE, www.infineonraceway.com
<http://www.infineonraceway.com/> , www.ticketmaster.com
<http://www.ticketmaster.com/>