HIGHT WANTS WINDS OF CHANGE IN CHICAGO

Two weeks ago in Bristol, Tennessee Robert Hight suffered his second first round defeat of the season losing to Johnny Gray in the opening session of the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The last time Hight was ousted after just one run on Sunday was the season opening NHRA O’Reilly Winternationals in Pomona. Hight is hoping his Auto Club Ford Mustang will react similarly to getting extra time off on race day.

Following Pomona Hight and his Auto Club Funny Car team went on a tear through the competition winning the next four races in a row and reaching the semi-finals at the fifth race. Hight won from coast to coast reaching the winner’s circle in Phoenix; Gainesville, Florida; Las Vegas; and Charlotte. The run propelled him to the points lead and has the former crewman turned driver ready to get back to the winner’s circle.

“The start of the season was unbelievable. I won four races in a row which only a handful of Funny Car drivers have ever done. In addition my teammates John Force and Mike Neff also won so in the first six races John Force Racing had six wins. Since then we have reached some finals but haven’t been able to get over the hump. I don’t think anything is wrong at JFR but I am ready to start winning races again, said Hight.

Heading into Chicago for the 15^th annual O’Reilly Rt 66 NHRA Nationals Hight has is goal set on winning for the first time in the Windy City. He reached the finals here twice losing to teammate John Force in 2006 and then dropping a heart breaker to Matt Hagan in 2010. John Force Racing has six wins in Chicago including last year’s race which Mike Neff won in dominating fashion. This race starts a tough five races in six weeks stretch that Hight would like to get underway with a win.

“Now it is going to get fun. We race five weekends out of six including the Western Swing. I love to be at the races and going rounds. I think you could look at this like a mini-Countdown. You want to win as many races as possible here to get ready for the real Countdown. The goal is to be at the top of the points but another goal is to be ready with a solid tune-up and some momentum,” said Hight.

For Hight this season has continued a streak of success for the driver and president of John Force Racing that started in 2005 his rookie season. Each season Hight has competed at the highest level he has won multiple races and has led the points at least once. This year with four victories he is one shy away from his personal best five wins in a season which he accomplished last year. Ironically it was his championship season of 2009 where Hight had one of his lower win counts winning just three times. All the wins came in the Countdown a pattern repeated by Matt Hagan last season.

“You want to win every race no doubt about it. I talk with Jimmy Prock all the time about dominating all season long. We got on a streak early this season and there are other drivers who are hot right now. We all know you need to also get hot in the Countdown. These races starting Chicago will be big for everyone to get momentum or keep momentum. I love the position we are in now as the points leader. I want to get my first Chicago win and then head to the next race in Norwalk and win there. Neff won both these race last year so it can be done,” said Hight.

One other piece of business Hight would like to take care of is joining the Funny Car 250 round win club. There are only a handful of current drivers who can say they won 250 rounds of Funny Car racing. They are multiple-time world champions, veterans and Hall of Fame contenders. With two round wins at the O’Reilly Rt 66 NHRA Nationals Robert Hight can join a group of current drivers with a minimum of 250 round wins that includes John Force (1,103), Tony Pedregon (503), Cruz Pedregon (451), Ron Capps (448) and Tim Wilkerson (261). Hight could achieve this feat in only 172 races (including Chicago) which is a pace of nearly 1.5 round wins per race. The only driver who has a better round win to race ratio is Force (1.85).

Rick Hendrick Builds Custom Engine for 2012 COPO Camaro

Motorsports legend revved up about high-performance drag racing

Rick Hendrick, owner of NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports and chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group, built the engine for his 2012 COPO Camaro at General Motors’ Performance Build Center today, as part of Chevrolet’s series of customer engine build experiences.

In 2011, Hendrick also took part in Chevrolet’s Corvette engine build experience.

“Last year’s Corvette engine build was such a memorable experience that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do it again with a COPO Camaro. As a Chevy enthusiast and collector, it’s a real privilege to do something like this,” Hendrick said. “I want to thank everyone at the Performance Build Center for having me back. It means so much to spend time with people who share my passion for cars and work so hard to produce some of the best engines in the world.”

In addition to the cand COPO Engine Build Experience, Chevrolet also has a Crate Engine Build Experience. These engine-building opportunities offer customers the convenience and assurance of purchasing a factory-engineered performance engine with the personal satisfaction of building one’s own engine for a project vehicle.

“Building an engine is a time-honored tradition in hot rodding, and this program allows enthusiasts to enjoy that magical do-it-yourself feeling, while still enjoying the value of a GM Powertrain-engineered and factory-warrantied engine,” said Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “For hands-on hot rodders, these programs truly enable them to say they did it all when it came to building their project. There’s nothing else like it in the industry.”

In March, Chevrolet announced it will build 69 COPO Camaros for 2012, the brand’s first purpose-built Camaro drag-racing specialty car designed to compete with the quickest in NHRA’s Stock Eliminator and Super Stock classes. National records for quarter-mile times in these contests are in the nine-second range. As such, the COPO Camaros are expected to be the quickest Camaros ever offered by Chevrolet.

“The COPO Camaro is going to shake up the sportsman drag racing ranks this summer and give Chevy fans a great new reason to cheer on the Bowtie,” Campbell said. “COPO builds off the strengths that have made the Camaro the best-selling sports car in America. And while it was developed strictly for the drag strip, the COPO Camaro is infused with the same performance pedigree that every Camaro shares.”

The 69-car production for the 2012 COPO Camaro matches the number of “ZL-1” COPO Camaros made in 1969. COPO stands for Central Office Production Order and was Chevrolet’s special-order system used by dealers to build high-performance models in the 1960s.

The new COPO Camaros will be built using factory “body-in-white” body structures produced at the Oshawa, Ontario plant that manufactures regular-production Camaros. They are the same body-in-white body shells available to all racers under Chevrolet Performance part number 19243374.

GEICO Top Fuel team will be ready for anything in Chicago

With the start of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals this weekend, no detail will be too small for the GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster team.

"We've been running really strong so far this year and it's definitely something to build on," Lucas said. "You hate to stub your toe here and there, but it's going to happen; it's a part of drag racing. There's no reason to think we can’t start a new hot streak in Chicago."

With two wins and four No. 1 qualifiers, Lucas and the GEICO team have a solid foundation to build from for the next stretch of races.

"There's no question we want to continue with the way we were running earlier this season," Lucas said. "This is the best car and the best team I've ever worked with and it's just a matter of time before we zero in on our hot weather tune-up."

Last time out in Bristol, the team could not adapt to wildly variable track conditions and did not qualify for the race. It was a harsh lesson learned for crew chief Aaron Brooks and the rest of the team. 

"We just got behind the track conditions there," Brooks said. "We can't really change our game plan too much because we've been running well all year. We just need to keep an eye on the track conditions a little better."

Chicago presents its own sets of challenges for Brooks. There will be two qualifying sessions at Route 66 Raceway under the lights instead of the customary singe session on Friday night.

"Depending on the weather, you can make a lot of power there," Brooks said. "There have been national records set at this track in the past. There's nothing you can do other than keep an eye on the forecast and to have a few plans ready to tackle those varying conditions."

MAVTV pro Bernstein hoping for rebound weekend in Chicago

With the disappointment at Bristol in the rear-view mirror, Brandon Bernstein and the MAVTV/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster team are looking forward to brighter days at this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.

Bernstein suffered his first DNQ in a long while at Thunder Valley last time out, but he and the crew are expecting that setback to be temporary.

"We feel confident it was a one-race, freak deal," Bernstein said. "The guys are going to be right back at it as soon as we hit Chicago. We've been working hard at the shop making sure everything is right."

Prior to Bristol, the MAVTV car had been on a roll going to two semifinals and finishing runner-up in the previous three races. Bernstein had worked his way from 11th place in the season standings to seventh. He now sits eighth, 31 points behind Shawn Langdon.

"We know we can still run with anybody," Bernstein said. "You brush not qualifying in Bristol off and you move on."

The Route 66 Nationals are a relatively quick dash from the Morgan Lucas Racing shop, which Bernstein said is good for keeping everyone on the crew fresh, especially with the grueling Western Swing looming next month.

"It's kind of nice to have these next two races close to home," Bernstein said. "The guys are able to get back to their homes and their families, because once we hit the West Coast the summer run is on."

This weekend is also the eve of the re-launch of Bernstein's sponsor, MAVTV. On July 4, the cable network will unveil its "American Real" programming, which aims to better serve the entertainment needs of America's heartland.

"We're excited about the 'American Real' launch," Bernstein said. "It's going to be really cool and a great way to get the public to get to know more about MAVTV."

Al-Anabi Racing Team NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals Preview

Langdon prior to Joliet: 

“The Al-Anabi car is definitely running better; that’s a fact.  The car is able to make stronger runs when we need them, and we’ve been making better runs on race day making good runs consistently.  That’s been a key to our continued improvement.  Everyone knows how competitive Top Fuel is this year. We made a good run in the second round at Bristol; it just wasn’t good enough.

“Going to Chicago, this team obviously knows how to run well at Route 66 Raceway. They won this race the last two years so that’s pretty good history.  We have night qualifying both Friday and Saturday nights which will be good because the last couple of races, that Friday night run has been pretty critical for making the top half of the field.  Now we’ll have a little bit of a backup Saturday night in case we have a problem on Friday.

“We really want to qualify for the Traxxas Nitro Shootout at Indy(U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis) in September, and to do that we need to win a race; there’s only one more spot for a Top Fuel race winner so we need to win this weekend, and get that last spot.  Our Al-Anabi car will have a good shot to win it if we’re in it.  If we can get a win, it’ll get us into the Traxxas Shootout, get the monkey off our back and let us go attack the rest of the season.”

AlBalooshi prior to Joliet: 

“I am happy that both Al-Anabi cars are making some very good runs.  This tells me that our team is still getting better and better and that soon everything will be OK. Shawn’s car made very good runs at the last two races, and we all work together so I know that we are getting closer and closer to racing that will make Sheikh Khalid proud of everyone’s hard work.  I thank Sheikh Khalid for this opportunity, and I thank everyone on the Al-Anabi Team for his hard work.”

Everything falling in line for MAVTV's Brogdon as car switch approaches

After a recent surge in the Pro Stock class, Rodger Brogdon might not want to give up his MAVTV Pontiac GXP in favor a new Chevy Camaro when it comes online in time for the Western Swing.

"There been some real positive things going on with our engine program in the last couple of weeks," Brogdon said. "I'm anxious to get back on the track and see what happens next.

"This has been a fast car for us – it's the car we set the national record with. There have already been a few people approach me wanting to buy it, but I'm not sure if I'll want to sell it when the time comes."

After some hiccups earlier in the season, Brogdon has regularly qualified in the top half of the field at the last handful of races. It's put him into position to win some rounds and solidify his eighth place spot in the class standings.

"We're going to continue with the progress we've made with this car," Brogdon said. "We'll try to win some rounds and if we get some breaks, win a race. The key is to have everything together when we reach the time for the Countdown (playoffs)."

The MAVTV team will be working double time the next few weeks as the team prepares the transition to the new car.

"I anticipate that it's going to take 25 runs to get the Camaro completely where we want it," Brogdon said. "You hope it will test well from the get-go. The guys will do a lot of the little stuff in the shop, like aligning the front end, before we even take it out. There are lots of little things, and they take a lot of time.

"The new car won't run like the (Pontiac) right at first. It's going to take some time to find out what it likes."

Making the Countdown cut at forefront of Morgan's mind

Veteran drag racer Larry Morgan continues his quest to get the Lucas Oil Ford Mustang into Pro Stock's Countdown to the Championship, the NHRA's version of the playoffs.

Heading into this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Morgan is just outside of the Full Throttle top 10, a ranking he needs to attain to make the Countdown. He's currently in 11th place, 15 points behind Ron Krisher for the final spot.

"We're making progress," Morgan said. "We're qualifying, which is good. Now we need to take that next step and get up into the top half of the field and win rounds every weekend."

Getting close to the top eight in qualifying might also help Morgan avoid past world champion Mike Edwards, who has bounced Morgan in the first round in three of the last four races. Morgan's best qualifying effort of the season has been 11th, which he accomplished at Phoenix and Houston.

Pro Stock drivers are rarely 100 percent satisfied with the performance of their cars, and Morgan has been zeroed in on the clutch of his Mustang as a source of improvement.

"I'm trying to figure out the problem," Morgan said. "We're feeling good about the power in the engine, but we've been burning through the clutch. We're going to go up to Norwalk (Ohio) and do some testing before we go to Chicago.

"I don’t think our parts are junk, but we have been having some issues. We're hoping the test straightens things out and we'll be strong when we get to Chicago."