Though there were great stories from qualifying in all of the Pro classes, I think it would be fair to say the story of the day was Robert Hight, who is fighting for his playoffs life, qualifying No. 1 in Funny Car. Hight was understandably excited and had a lot to say when he came up to the press center to meet the media, so much so that it wouldn’t all fit in the story recapping today’s action. So here are some more quotes and quips from Hight’s press conference.
Yep, that sounds like John: “After I ran low e.t., John [Force] said, ‘I want to switch cars again.’
Who are all of you?!?!: “I was joking that I didn’t recognize anybody up here because it’s been a while since I’ve been up to the press room to talk.”
There’s no place like home: “I had a great time driving for Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderley in Reading. We went a couple of rounds, but this car that I’m driving with Jimmy Prock, that’s like your couch; it just feels right, it’s home. When I got in there tonight and they strapped me in, it just feels like that’s my car. There’s lots of little differences between the cars, and I didn’t feel quite as comfortable in John’s car. We did fine with it, but this is home.”
Get well soon: “We wish Austin Coil a speedy recovery and get back out here with us because we miss seeing him, and we need him out here.”
A big confidence boost: “That was huge for my confidence because your confidence can go up and down so quick in this sport. Putting John in my car last week and him going down the track five runs in a row, you start thinking, ‘Whoa, maybe it’s me, the driver.’ But I’ve been saying all year long, ‘We’re not that screwed up, we’re not that lost, we’re close to breaking through. We’ve just had some bad luck, bad parts, and we’ve changed a lot of things.’ Looking back on it, we never should have changed anything. There’s always going to be the breaks and things that go wrong, but it does mess with your confidence. This was huge tonight, going down the track and being low e.t. in Jimmy’s car and being a perfectly straight run.”