HIGHT EAGER TO TAKE ON FOUR-WIDE RACE AT CHARLOTTE

TEAM CASTROL/JFR25THANNIVERSARY SEASON ROBERT HIGHTPre-Race Package for the inaugural NHRA 4-Wide NationalsMarch 25-28, 2010Zmax Dragway at ConcordCharlotte, N.C.Fourth race in the Countdown to the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Championship * * * *Become a fan of John Force Racing on FaceBook at www.facebook.com Follow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racing * * * *HIGHT EAGER TO TAKE ON FOUR-WIDE RACE AT CHARLOTTECHARLOTTE --- Six months ago Robert Hight was just happy to be in the Countdown to 1 as his Auto Club Ford Mustang team rolled to the starting line at zMax Dragway, the Bellagio of Drag Strips, in Concord, North Carolina. At the end of the race weekend Hight had his 12th career win and momentum that carried him to his first Full Throttle Funny Car World Championship. In that one weekend Hight moved from 10th to 3rd place in the Full Throttle point standings.As Hight and his team get comfortable at zMax Dragway this weekend they are feeling confident, excited and ready for a new racing format that has the entire drag racing and motorsports community talking. The Inaugural Four-Wide NHRA Nationals will get underway on Friday afternoon and for the first time at an NHRA official national event competition four professional drivers will power their Motorcycles, Pro Stock cars, Top Fuel dragsters or Funny Cars down the all-concrete race track simultaneously.While the goal will still be the same, get to the finish line first, Hight is still wondering how this race could be different from the traditional race.“They are changing the whole tree around. I get into Charlotte on Wednesday and on Thursday the NHRA wants us on the starting line with our car. They have two different versions of the tree for us to look at. We have to get out there and make sure that we can see out of this 2010 Ford Mustang and see what we need to see. I think there is one (Christmas Tree) that has stacked bulbs and one that has the bulbs all in a row,�?? said Hight. “You just have to adapt and stand on the gas first. I was doing a pretty good job of that (in Gainesville). I am actually looking forward to getting back on the track. A few racers came over and wanted to know what we had done to my Auto Club Ford Mustang to get it to react so well. We are getting them thinking which is good.�??Hight’s competitors have been thinking about him most of the off season since his dramatic charge through the ranks of the Countdown to 1 qualifiers in 2009. Hight won three of the six Countdown races and captured his first title and the 16th for John Force Racing in 20 seasons. For the former crewman it was more than a dream come true and the realization that he is now the champ is still sinking in.“I went to Homestead, Florida for the last NASCAR race of the season last year and there were fans yelling congratulations champ and I thought they were yelling at John(Force). It was cool to hear. A few weeks ago John and I went to Bakersfield for the March Meet and people were congratulating me a lot and yelling way to go champ. I loved spending time with the fans. This (Charlotte) is where my season turned around. It will be awesome. There were fans (in Gainesville, Fla.) that were at Charlotte last year. So many people brought me pictures from last year. I signed a ton and we’ll get to see a lot of those same people (this weekend). It looked like NHRA had a great turnout for the Gatornationals and I think the Four Wide race will bring even more people out to the track. I am really looking forward to all that.�??Hight will be looking to try and become the first driver to repeat as winner at zMax Dragway. There have been eight different professional winners during the two Fall national events held at the track.In Gainesville, Fla., at the famed Gatornationals Hight was looking to collect his first win of the season when his Auto Club Mustang smoked the tires in a second round match-up with eventual finalist Bob Tasca III. It was a disappointing end to the day but Hight knows that that problem is correctible and he can begin to make some positive moves in North Carolina this weekend.“We had to switch motors (in Gainesville) and they were just a little different. We scuffed a few pistons. We’ll figure it out. If we would have had our stuff together we could have run 4.04 or 4.03 easily. We haven’t hurt this much stuff in a long time. In the second round we just smoked the tires. It was just one of those deals. We’ll move on to the next one,�?? said Hight. “We’ll learn from it and get better. I am excited to go to the next race and race four wide in Charlotte. It doesn’t matter if you are racing one, two or three cars you just have to get there first. We haven’t been doing that yet but we’ll get her back.�??Hight is currently tied for 5th in the Full Throttle Funny Car point standings with Matt Hagan.  Castrol/JFR 25th Anniversary Flashback:             After a demoralizing DNQ in the 1987 season finale at Pomona, Calif., John Force returned to the same track four months later and qualified his Castrol GTX Oldsmoble No. 5 at the season-opening 1988 Winternationals. At the time, he could not have imagined that it would mark the start of one of his most amazing accomplishments.             Although he endured 11 DNQs in his first 10 pro seasons, it would be more than 20 years before he would again fail to qualify a Castrol GTX Funny Car for an NHRA national event. Force’s streak of 395 consecutive starts finally ended on April 14, 2007 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.              The second-longest streak in history was 303 successive starts by Pro Stock veteran Warren Johnson. The longest active streak is a mere 167 by former Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson. In the fuel categories, Tony Schumacher has qualified for 157 straight races. * * * * EVENT OVERVIEW:             John Force has made a habit of winning historically significant NHRA drag racing events, so it would be ludicrous NOT to establish the 14-time Funny Car Champion as the pre-race favorite in the inaugural 4-Wide Nationals.             Force won the one-of-a-kind 50th annual NHRA Nationals at Pomona, Calif., in 2001 and the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals contested on the same track just a month ago. He also won the inaugural Winston Showdown in 1999, a special event in which Funny Cars raced against Top Fuel dragsters at Bristol, Tenn. It earned him the biggest payday of his career ($210,000).                Furthermore, Force won the last Winston Funny Car Championship and the first POWERade Championship and was the owner of the car in which Gary Densham won the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis in 2004 and in which Robert Hight won the first Full Throttle Championship last season.             Add to that the fact that Force already has four-wide experience, having been one of the four participants in a special exhibition during last fall’s Carolinas Nationals, and that the winner of that race, Mike Neff, now is one of the crew chiefs on the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, and it’s not difficult to make a solid case for the 60-year-old icon.  * * * *JFR RACING HISTORY AT ZMAX DRAGWAY:            Wins – 1, by Robert Hight for the Automobile Club of Southern California at the 2009 Carolina Nationals.            Notable #1 – The massive main grandstand at Zmax Dragway has been designated the John Force grandstand by track owner Bruton Smith.            Notable #2 – Mike Neff edged John Force for a narrow victory last September in a special four-wide match race held in conjunction with the fall event at Zmax Dragway, a unique facility that boasts not two, but four all-concrete quarter mile lanes, side-by-side-by-side-by-side. * * * *PRO POINTS (Current 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Series point standings):FUNNY CAR– 1. John Force, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, 280; 2. Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger, 226; 3. Jack Beckman, MTS Dodge Charger, 219; 4. Bob Tasca III, Quick Lane/Motorcraft Ford Mustang, 205; 5. Tie, Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, and Matt Hagan, Diehard Dodge Charger, 181 each; 7. Tony Pedregon, Quaker State Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 180; 8. Tim Wilkerson, Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang, 177; 9. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 149; 10. Del Worsham, Al Anabi Toyota Solara, 128.TOP FUEL – 1. Tony Schumacher, 266; 2. Cory McClenathan, 255; 3. Larry Dixon, 239; 4. Doug Kalitta, 230; 5. Antron Brown, 194; 6. Shawn Langdon, 169; 7. Steve Torrence, 160; 8. Morgan Lucas, 140; 9. Brandon Bernstein, 137; 10. David Grubnic, 120.PRO STOCK – 1. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 363; 2. Allen Johnson, Dodge Avenger, 231; 3. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GXP, 221; 4. Jason Line, Pontiac GXP, 200; 5. Ron Krisher, Chevrolet Cobalt, 162; 6. Greg Stanfield, Pontiac GXP, 157; 7. Rodger Brogdon, Pontiac GXP, 147; 8. Ronnie Humphrey, Pontiac GXP, 137; 9. Bob Yonke, Pontiac GXP, 135; 10. Jeg Coughlin Jr., Chevrolet Cobalt, 134.PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE – 1. Eddie Krawiec, Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson V-Rod, 119; 2. Shawn Gann, Master Cam Buell, 94; 3. Karen Stoffer, GEICO Suzuki, 84; 4. Hector Arana, Lucas Oil Buell, 76; 5. Craig Treble, Team Scream Suzuki, 75; 6. David Hope, 58; 7. Andrew Hines, Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson V-Rod, 54; 8. Steve Johnson, Wyotech Suzuki, 53; 9. Junior Pippin, PiranaZ Buell, 36; 10. Matt Smith, NitroFish Suzuki, 33. * * * * TELEVISION (all on ESPN2, all times Eastern Daylight):Qualifying – Saturday, March 27, 9-11 pmNHRA RaceDay – Sunday, March 28, 10 amRace Highlights – Sunday, March 28, 5-7:30 pmRepeat race highlights – Wednesday, March 31, 3-5 am            * * * *NEXT EVENTS (2010 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship):23rd annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals, April 9-11, Houston, Texas11th annual SummitRacing.com Nationals, April 16-18, Las Vegas, Nev.14th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, April 30-May 2, Madison, Ill. (St. Louis)30th annual Summit Southern Nationals, May 14-16, Atlanta, Ga.22nd annual O’Reilly Summer Nationals, May 21-23, Topeka, Kan.13th annual UA Route 66 Nationals, June 3-6, Joliet, Ill. * * * *CONTACTS:For John Force Racing, Inc.:Elon Werner                             Kelly Antonelli                             Chad Light214-244-1184                           317-858-8900                               714-921-8123elon@johnforceracing.com               kelly@johnforceracing.com       chad@johnforceracing.comFor BP/Castrol:Dave Densmore                       Lori Anne Goladenswood@aol.com               lorianne.gola@bp.com
214-244-0008                           973-633-2393 For Ford Racing:Kevin Kennedykkennedy@pcgcampbell.com313-203-7108For the Auto Club of Southern California:Rick Lalorlalor.rick@aaa-calif.com714-885-2085* * * *For additional information or photos, contact one of the representatives above or go to www.johnforceracing.com or www.nhra.com.  * * * *