Imagine an existence where the father-in-law is the boss.
Welcome to Robert Hight’s world.
Hight is the driver of the Team Castrol/Auto Club Ford Mustang Funny Car owned by drag racing legend John Force—and married to Force’s oldest daughter, Adria.
Last year, he finished in second place in the NHRA Powerade standings, trailing only his boss and father-in-law. Hight started from No. 1 a category-best nine times in ’06, and produced three victories.
He won the season-opening CarQuest Winternationals in Pomona, and then opened September with back-to-back wins at the prestigious Mac U.S. Nationals in Clermont, Ind., and the O’Reilly Fall Nationals in Ennis, Texas.
Hight made his series debut in 2005, winning twice, and leading the standings for a five-week run after the midway point of the season. He finished the year in fifth place.
After working as the clutch specialist on Force’s Castrol GTX Funny Car for six championship seasons (starting in 1995), Hight left the tour in ‘01 to become the Facility Manager for John Force Racing. In ‘04, while continuing to oversee JFR shop operations, he served as the team’s official test driver. In that capacity, he logged more than 30 quarter-mile runs, most of them in Monday test sessions following NHRA national events.
Few rookies had been better prepared for the rigors of the pro tour. Not only was Hight familiar with all the mechanical aspects of a 7,000-horsepower Funny Car and with the sacrifices that must be made in pursuit of the ultimate goal, he had made as many runs in testing as some rivals make in a season of NHRA racing.
Under the watchful eye of crew chief Jimmy Prock and the instruction of the man he succeeded in the Auto Club Ford Mustang, Gary Densham, Hight posted several 4.70-second quarter-mile times at speeds exceeding 320 miles per hour during those test sessions prior to his rookie season.
Additionally, he was already a master of two of the disciplines most critical to drag-racing success: concentration and reaction.
Hight is a champion trapshooter, and he believes the skills he developed in mastering that sport, especially hand-eye coordination, is a major benefit to his driving career.
Hight grew up in the small northern California town of Alturas, and worked at Tognotti’s Speed Shop in Sacramento while attending college. Upon graduation, he began earnestly seeking a job in racing.
He first worked for Roger Primm on a Top Fuel dragster tuned by veterans Frank Bradley and Terry Manzer, and driven by Del Worsham. That led to an introduction to Bernie Fedderly, one of Force’s co-crew chiefs, who subsequently offered him what he characterized as “the best job in racing.”
During his first two years with the team, Hight literally lived at the shop, a situation that accelerated his high-speed education. It was that time that he connected with his future wife.
Although he always envisioned a driving career, Hight didn’t actively pursue that dream until one of his former crewmates (and current teammate), Eric Medlen, made the transition in ‘04.
Hight inherited a Funny Car that won eight times in the previous four seasons, and maintained that pace with his two victories in ‘05.