Robert Hight will be reunited with crew chief Jimmy Prock more quickly than team owner John Force had anticipated, the result of steps taken Thursday after Hall of Fame crew chief Austin Coil was forced to bow out of this week’s 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil for health reasons.

Coil, the architect of the John Force Racing dynasty that has delivered 15 series championships and 180 NHRA Funny Car victories in the last 25 seasons, checked himself into an Indianapolis hospital after becoming ill Wednesday. He will remain hospitalized under observation for four to five days while doctors conduct a battery of tests.

As a result, Hight, who had been on temporary assignment to the team anchored by Coil and Bernie Fedderly, will be back in his original chassis with his original Automobile Club of Southern California crew when qualifying begins Friday at O’Reilly Raceway Park.

A top-five finisher in each of his first four seasons with John Force Racing Inc., Hight is the defending U.S. Nationals champion and has been to the final round at the world’s oldest, largest, richest, and most prestigious drag race three straight years.

Meanwhile, Force also will return to the car in which he began the season after reaching the semifinals two weeks ago in a Prock-prepared Ford.

“I wanted Robert to go into the biggest race of the year with confidence, and I decided that putting him back with Jimmy Prock was best,” Force said. “That’s the team he’s been with, and I showed at Reading that Jimmy’s car is starting to come around.

“I’m going back with Bernie,” Force said. “He’ll run my car with help from ‘Guido’ [Dean Antonelli, crew chief on daughter Ashley Force Hood’s Castrol GTX Mustang] and the rest of my brain trust. That’s why we’ve trained backups at every position, so that when someone goes down, we don’t miss a step.

“Even though he’s in the hospital, Coil will be involved in all the decisions. He told me he’s going to be fine. At the end of the day, the best medicine for Coil is for us to go out and win a drag race.”