NHRA Funny Car Points Leader Hight: One Bad Weekend from 'Fifth or Sixth in Points'

• John Force says teammate Robert Hight could run away with title.

• Hight’s chief rival, Matt Hagan, said he “ready to rip people’s heads off. We’re going into battle and it’s a war."

• This weekend’s Betway Carolina Nationals is the second of six Countdown to the Championship races.

John Force is working furiously every day to do what it takes to earn 17th NHRA Funny Car championship.

However, he said after watching Robert Hight, his teammate and company president at John Force Racing, dominate last weekend in the first of six Countdown races, “Robert may just run away with it.”

But Hight, who has ruled the standings for most of the season and never has been lower than second place, isn’t about to assume anything.

“You know, we're dealing with fuel cars here, and they drop cylinders. There's clutch packs that are not 100% consistent," High said ahead of this weekend's Betway Carolina NHRA Nationals—the second race in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff. "You can go out there first round and smoke the tires with the same setup you ran [in the last qualifying session] and you just had an over-aggressive clutch pack in it and your day can be done. Now you could all of a sudden be fifth or sixth in points.”

Or, has Hight has said before, “Anything can happen when you put nitromethane in these cars.”

Just the same, Hight and his Automobile Club of Southern California Chevy Camaro team will be working this weekend at the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at MAX Dragway to repeat the commanding performance they had in the Countdown to the Championship opener. Points leader and No. 1 qualifier Hight won the Reading, Pa., event which he said before the playoffs is the one he regarded as “the most nerve-wracking” of the year.

“It’s one down five to go. We have to focus and try to get the same job done again. If you can do that early on, you’re going to put some pressure on these guys,” the seven-time winner said. “Seven wins is not going to get the championship. We’re going to have to get more than what we have and keep this rolling to win this championship. This is just getting started.”

He recognizes that his competition is stout. The three rivals immediately behind him—Matt Hagan, Ron Capps, and Force, in order—represent 21 championships.

“They're proven,” Hight said, “And once you've done something one time, there's an element of confidence that goes with that and you feel that you can do it again and again and again. The top five guys, they know how to get it done.”