HIGHT ROCKS CHARLOTTE; LOOKING TO GET ON ROLL IN DALLAS

John Force RacingRobert Hight Pre-Race PackageEvent: 24th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented Castrol Syntec, 2nd race of Countdown to 1 and 20th of 24 events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Site: Texas Motorplex, Ennis, Texas
Dates: September 24-27, 2009* * * *HIGHT ROCKS CHARLOTTE; LOOKING TO GET ON ROLL IN DALLAS “It’s a perfect time to be on this roll and continue the momentum that we have going on here. I’m excited about that, and as a race-car driver in any form of motorsports, the more you’re in a car every week, you don’t get out, there are no days off, I think you perform better. It just gets easier at least it does for me. I’m excited about going to Dallas this weekend and continuing this streak,�?? said Robert Hight.* * * *Team info at www.johnforceracing.comFollow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racingFollow John Force RaceStation store at www.twitter.com/JFRaceStationFollow Courtney Force at www.twitter.com/courtneyforce****The DriverRobert Hight, 40, driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, is entering the 2009 Countdown to 1 in the 10th spot. He clinched his Countdown to 1 spot by reaching the finals at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, a feat he accomplished for the fourth year in a row (two wins 2006 and 2008). He is the only Funny Car driver to have led the points each of the last four seasons. The 2005 winner of the Auto Club’s Road to the Future award that identifies the Rookie of the Year, he owns the two quickest 1000 foot times in Funny Car history (4.056 and 4.005 seconds) and well as the quickest quarter mile times in Funny Car history (4.646 and 4.636 seconds).* * * *Robert Hight By the Numbers:3 – Hight’s position entering the O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals, the 2nd Countdown to 1 race4 – Hight’s finish in the 2008 Full Throttle point standings5 – Number of points Hight edged out Cruz Pedregon for final Countdown position7 – Number of positions Hight jumped after first Countdown to 1 race in 200910 – Hight’s position entering the Full Throttle Countdown to 1 point standings * * * *Full Throttle Point Standings after 19 NHRA eventsFUNNY CAR – 1. Tony Pedregon, 2148; 2. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2147;3. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 2120; 4. Ron Capps, 2115; 5. Bob Tasca III, 2112; 6. Jack Beckman, 2103; 7. Tim Wilkerson, 2076; 8. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2070; 9. Del Worsham, 2053; 10. Mike Neff, Ford Drive One Mustang, 2045.TOP FUEL – 1. Cory McClenathan, 2162; 2. Antron Brown, 2152; 2. Tony Schumacher, 2152; 4. Larry Dixon, 2141; 5. Shawn Langdon, 2113; 6. Brandon Bernstein, 2098; 7. Spencer Massey, 2076; 8. Morgan Lucas, 2065; 9. Doug Kalitta, 2042; 10. Clay Millican, 2031.PRO STOCK – 1. Mike Edwards, 2198; 2. Jeg Coughlin, 2142; 3. Jason Line, 2136; 3. Greg Stanfield, 2136; 5. Allen Johnson, 2128; 6. Greg Anderson, 2092; 7. Kurt Johnson, 2079; 8. Johnny Gray, 2053; 9. Ron Krisher, 2040; 10. Rickie Jones, 2020.PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE – 1. Hector Arana, 2194; 2. Eddie Krawiec, 2185; 3. Andrew Hines, 2125; 4. Douglas Horne, 2121; 5. Karen Stoffer, 2094; 6. Matt Smith, 2093; 7. Shawn Gann, 2092; 8. Michael Phillips, 2085; 9. Craig Treble, 2072; 10. Matt Guidera, 2020. ****TRACK RECORDS:             Top Fuel - 3.820 seconds by Larry Dixon, Sept. ’08; 315.19 mph by Brandon Bernstein, Sept. ’08Funny Car - 4.063 seconds by Robert Hight, Sept. ’08; 304.67 mph by Melanie Troxel, Sept. ’08Pro Stock - 6.631 seconds by Jeg Coughlin, Sept. ’08; 208.26 mph by Warren Johnson, Sept. ’08Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.970 seconds by Eddie Krawiec, Sept. ’08; 191.92 mph by Krawiec, Sept. ’08(Top Fuel and Funny Car race distance is 1,000 feet; PS and PSM race distance is 1,320 feet) NATIONAL RECORDS:               Top Fuel - 3.771 sec. by Tony Schumacher, Oct. ’08, Richmond, Va.; 319.22 mph by Antron Brown, Sept. ’09, Indianapolis Funny Car - 4.023 sec. by Ron Capps, Feb. ’09, Chandler, Ariz.; 312.13 mph by Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, April ’09, AtlantaPro Stock - 6.528 sec. by Greg Anderson, Feb. ’09, Pomona, Calif.; 212.03 mph by Mike Edwards, March ’09, Baytown, TexasPS Motorcycle –6.860 sec. by Andrew Hines, May ’09, Madison, Ill.; 197.45 mph by A. Hines, March ’05, Gainesville, Fla.(Top Fuel and Funny Car race distance is 1,000 feet; PS and PSM race distance is 1,320 feet)**** Race Schedule:Friday, Sept. 25Top Alcohol Qual.         12:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.Nitro Qualifying:                        2:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 Top Alcohol Qual.         1:15 p.m.Pro Qualifying:             noon and 3:15 p.m.Top Alcohol Rnd 1        4:15 p.m.Sunday, Sept. 27Pre-race ceremonies      10:00 a.m.Final eliminations           11:00 a.m.* * * *Television:Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise 2 hours of qualifying highlights at 12:15 a.m. (ET)Sunday, Sept. 27,ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will telecast NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise 3 hours of final eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET). **** Team PR and Marketing Contacts:Dave Densmore, PR                  Elon Werner, PR                                 
Denswood Sports                     John Force Racing, Inc.               214-244-0008                             214-244-1184 denswood@aol.com                 Elon@johnforceracing.com        Chad Light, Marketing                Kelly Antonelli, Marketing           Andrew Hagstrom, SponsorshipJohn Force Racing, Inc.             John Force Racing, Inc.             IMG714-921-8123                             317-858-8900                             714.326.3450Chad@johnforceracing.com       Kelly@johnforceracing.com       andrew.hagstrom@imgworld.com Sponsor PR Contacts: Rick Lalor                                 Lori Anne Gola              Kevin KennedyAuto Club of SC                                    BP Lubricants               Ford Racing                
714-885-2085                             973-633-2393                 313-203-7108lalor.rick@aaa-calif.com                        lorianne.gola@bp.com kkennedy@pcgcampbell.com ROBERT HIGHTHIGHT ROCKS CHARLOTTE; LOOKING TO GET ON ROLL IN DALLASDALLAS, TX (September 22, 2009) --- It takes a long time to turn grapes into a fine wine. There is a point along the process where the fluid is not quite wine and not really grapes. It is in the final stages of becoming something special. That is the position Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team emerged last weekend at the 2nd annual NHRA Carolina Nationals. Labor Day weekend Hight raced to the final round at the largest and most prestigious race, the Mac Tools U.S Nationals, and then two weeks later at the first Countdown to 1 race Hight steamrolled the competition and captured his first win of 2009 jumping from 10th place in the Countdown to 1 to 3rd place. Just like that from a bunch of grapes to a fine wine. It appears to happen overnight but a good vintner will tell you it takes months and months plus lots of pressure. Hight know about pressure as he heads into the 24th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec. For the first seven months of the season Hight and his Auto Club team felt the pressure as the perennial championship contending team continually came up short week after week. Finally team owner John Force got involved and shook up Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock’s world. Force moved Hight to his Castrol GTX High Mileage team and under the control of his Hall of Fame crew chief tandem of Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. A two race experiment was cut in half when Coil was admitted to an Indianapolis area hospital before the final regular season race. Hight moved back to his original team where a new attitude permeated the pits. “I guess like John always says, its destiny. I would have still been in his car come Indianapolis had Austin Coil not been sick. With Austin not being there and him being in the hospital, John thought it would be best to go back with Jimmy Prock. The bottom line is, that I have been saying for a long time is that our car is close. We just have not had any luck, and we’ve had little things bite us, but we were never that far off. It just seemed like when John got in my car in Reading, Pennsylvania, that things finally came together for the team, and they have been rolling ever since,�?? said Hight.“I’m a big baseball fan and when I used to watch the Dodgers back in the ’80s, I’d watch the manager, Tommy Lasorda, and he would coach third base some of the innings. Last year when he came to the Auto Club Finals he was the grand marshal of our race and I asked him what was all that about, and he said you’ve got to just shake things up a bit. When the batter looks out there at the third base coach for signs, and it’s the manager, it probably gets their mind right,�?? said Hight an avid baseball fan. “Maybe with John being in the car and Jimmy tuning, I don’t know if he thought different or what, but that car has been on a string ever since. I’ve got to give it to John Force for making all this happen, and it was a great business decision too, because we have a lot of sponsors that give us a lot of money and to only have three of these cars in the Countdown, that’s not good enough for us. We had to do better than that.�??In Charlotte Hight picked up four valuable bonus points in qualifying by making the second quickest passes in the first and second qualifying sessions. The new 3-2-1 bonus points system for qualifying is something that has Hight and crew chief excited for the final five races of the Countdown to 1.“It’s big. It’s huge. My crew chief, Jimmy Prock, never needed any incentive to try to set low ET every round, but this gave it to him. We’ve got to be smart about it. It’s like trying to go up and hit a home run. If you go up and swing for the fences, you usually don’t do it. If you just go up make good contact it seems to carry the ball, it’s the same way with drag racing. If you try to run low ET and set a record, it usually doesn’t happen. It happens when you’re going down the track good and you just tune it up a little, that’s when things come together,�?? said Hight. “It’s very important in qualifying that you go down the track three or four of the runs. Sometimes, I believe that it’s not bad if you smoke the tires during one round of qualifying, trying a little too hard, then you kind of know what your boundaries are. You have to be smart and go down the track.�??Finally Hight is returning to a track where he has a bittersweet relationship. In 2006 Hight stood in the winner’s circle only to chalk up a DNQ in 2007. He is looking forward to getting on another all-concrete race track to show off the tuning skills of Prock and the Auto Club team.“I’ve had good and bad luck in Dallas. I’ve won there before and two years before I failed to qualify when John had his big accident. Dallas is the first of its kind. It’s an all-concrete track. It’s been in existence for over 20 years and is still in great shape. You see a lot of the tracks like Charlotte now that are going to concrete, no asphalt. It’s great and if we get some good conditions it’s going to be fast. That’s definitely what my Auto Club Ford likes. We like to tune this thing up and try to run in the oh’s,�?? said Hight.At the end of the day hopefully Hight will be sipping the sweet nectar of the success from the winner’s circle and a further move up the Full Throttle point standings. ####COUNTDOWN STATSJohn Force Racing drivers head to head statistics with the rest of the Countdown to 1 qualifiers. Updated to include Charlotte stats                                                AFH                 JF                    MN                  RH1. Tony Pedregon                   5-11                 53-23               3-6                   6-13                 67-532. Ron Capps                          6-6                   41-21               2-3                   12-8                 61-383. Ashley Force Hood             -----                  3-3                   1-4                   4-3                   8-104. Bob Tasca III                       5-1                   3-3                   2-3                   2-2                   12-95. Jack Beckman                   3-3                   5-9                   2-2                   4-5                   14-196. Tim Wilkerson                     3-6                   25-8                 4-8                   6-5                   38-277. John Force                          3-3                   -----                  3-1                   8-7                   14-118. Del Worsham                      8-3                   44-21               0-1                   11-5                 63-309. Mike Neff                            4-1                   1-3                   -----                  3-3                   7-710. Robert Hight                      3-4                   7-8                   3-3                   -----                  13-15Totals                                      40-38               182-99             20-30               56-51John Force Racing drivers head to head statistics final rounds only with the rest of the Countdown to 1 qualifiers.                                                AFH                 JF                    MN                  RH1. Tony Pedregon                   0-3                   12-10               0-0                   0-3                   12-162. Ron Capps                          0-2                   7-5                   0-1                   2-0                   9-33. Ashley Force Hood             -----                  0-1                   0-0                   0-1                   0-24. Bob Tasca III                       0-0                   0-0                   0-1                   0-0                   0-15. Jack Beckman                   1-1                   1-1                   0-0                   1-1                   3-36. Tim Wilkerson                     0-2                   2-2                   0-2                   0-0                   2-47. John Force                          1-0                   -----                  0-0                   0-2                   1-28. Del Worsham                      0-1                   6-6                   0-0                   0-0                   6-79. Mike Neff                            0-0                   0-0                   -----                  0-0                   0-010. Robert Hight                      1-0                   2-0                   0-0                   -----                  3-0Totals                                      3-9                   30-25               0-4                   3-7         Get team info here: www.johnforceracing.comFollow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racing