Distant Force
Appearing in just his fourth race as a professional driver, rookie Robert Hight sped to victory Sunday in the 18th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, beating boss and teammate John Force, the 13-time NHRA Funny Car Champion, in the semifinals and 1992 NHRA Champion Cruz Pedregon in the final.
Although he was unable to claim his eighth individual victory at Houston, Force did manage to move around Whit Bazemore and into the points lead in his bid for an unprecedented 14th series championship.
Force, who trailed Bazemore by nine points entering the event, drove his national record-holding Castrol GTX Start Up Ford past Bazemore’s Dodge in a heads-up race in round two, 4.781-4.818 seconds, to become the fourth different Funny Car leader in as many 2005 races.
Second year driver Eric Medlen recorded quick time of the event (4.764 seconds) in a round one victory over Tim Wilkerson before he and the Castrol SYNTEC Mustang dropped a narrow 4.820-4.850 decision to Pedregon.
Nevertheless, the weekend belonged to the 35-year-old Hight, a former Force crewman and world class trapshooter who qualified No. 1 for the second straight event in the Team Castrol/Automobile Club of Southern California Ford Mustang and then chopped down an impressive field to become the fifth different driver to win in a Team Castrol/John Force Racing Ford Funny Car.
In addition to claiming the Skoal Showdown No. 1 qualifying bonus, Hight’s team also won the Full Throttle pit crew challenge (which rewards qualifying consistency) and came away with a track speed record of 326.16 miles per hour.
Ashley Force, driver of the Castrol/Hot Wheels dragster, qualified third in the Top Alcohol Dragster class and reached the semifinals before losing to Duane Shields. It was the fourth time in as many appearances at the Houston track that the 22-year-old phenom got as far as the semifinals – and the fourth time she got no further.
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