CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
DODGE POWER BROKERS NHRA MILE-HIGH NATIONALS
BANDIMERE SPEEDWAY IN MORRISON, COLORADO
JULY 17, 2022
Team Chevy drivers take first step to sweeping the Swing
• Points leader Robert Hight claims fifth Funny Car victory of the season in Camaro SS
• Matt Hartford earns Pro stock victory in Camaro SS over No. 1 qualifier Aaron Stanfield
• Brittany Force secures fourth No. 1 Top Fuel qualifier honor in Chevrolet dragster
MORRISON, Colo. (July 17, 2022) — Robert Hight said “you can’t sweep the Swing if you don’t start here.”
It was a good start to achieving that goal for the driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS, who collected his fifth victory of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) season and 58th of his Funny Car career by defeating Bob Tasca III in the final at Bandimere Speedway.
The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series’ Western Swing continues this week at Sonoma, California – where Hight has won the past three times NHRA has visited (2021, ’19 and ’18) — and concludes at the end of the month in Kent, Washington. Sixteen-time NHRA champion John Force is the only Funny Car driver to sweep the three-race set (1994).
“Good job by this Auto Club team. Their back was to the wall all day,” said Hight, who increased his Funny Car points lead with the victory. “We didn’t have lane choice the last two rounds and that was a masterful job of getting this race car down the track. Jimmy (Prock) and Chris (Cunningham) did on a little tougher lane.
“To have five wins at this point in the season, it’s surreal. Everything is working from top to bottom and we’re just going to try to stay focused and keep working. It’s been a great first half of the season, but these next 11 are going to be even tougher.”
Matt Hartford earned his first Pro Stock win since May 2021 in Houston by defeating No. 1 qualifier Aaron Stanfield, driving the Janac Brothers Camaro SS, in the final.
“We came here in ’19 and we should have won the deal there, but Greg (Anderson) had a better car than us,” said Hartford, driver of the Total Seal Camaro SS. “But we came here this weekend, and we had a good platform and we qualified pretty well.
“We turned this car around in 20 minutes and we would not have been able to do it without the assistance of the KB Racing guys. They came over and jumped in and helped us.”
Hight, the No. 2 qualifier, defeated teammate and No. 3 qualifier Force, driver of the PEAK/BlueDEF Platinum Camaro SS, on a holeshot in the semifinals.
Brittany Force, who registered her fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season in the Flav-R-Pac/Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster, lost in the second round and remained second in the Top Fuel standings. Teammate Austin Prock, the No. 7 qualifier in the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster, also fell in the second round.
Mason McGaha, driving the Harlow Sammons of Odessa Camaro SS, defeated Pro Stock points leader and No. 2 qualifier Erica Enders in the first round. The last time Enders fell in the opening round – to Bo Butner in March at Gainesville – she went on to advance to five consecutive final rounds in the Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Camaro SS. McGaha had an .003 light to score the holeshot victory after Enders outran him 6.951 to 6.965 seconds.
“I’ve never been here before as a driver,” said McGaha, 20. “And I struggled with my lights. I tried to get amped up like I always do, and it worked out.”
Jay Storey of Andover, Kansas, was runner-up in Stock Eliminator in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro.
An interview with Funny Car winner ROBERT HIGHT, driver of the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS:
THIS WAS A LONG DAY.
“I love this place. Jimmy (Prock) and I have done a lot of winning here; it’s a fun place. And when you have a crew chief – a tandem of crew chiefs like Jimmy and Chris (Cunningham) – it’s amazing. Last year we came here and it was our worst race ever. We were horrible. But they really worked and thought about it for a year and came back and we just had a great race car all weekend.”
YOU WINNING THE SEMIFINAL ON A HOLESHOT AGAINST THE BOSS. IS THAT GOING TO CAUSE ANY FRICTION?
“No, we’re all good. Chevrolet was bound to be in the final, so you can’t lose at that point. Where you hate to race each other is early on. They have a great race car and they’re going to get their fair share of wins. Right now, things are just clicking for this Auto Club team.”
WHEN MATT HAGAN WENT OUT EARLY, YOU HAD TO CAPITALIZE AND YOU GOT EVERYTHING YOU COULD.
“Today we needed to make hay while the sun is out. It was a big day for us, and it would have been horrible to not take advantage of that. There are going to be a lot of battles. The points chase is going to move back and forth, and it’s a whole new ballgame after Indy when they reset the points. Hopefully, we’re not getting these wins out of the way too early and we still have some at the end when it counts.”
YOU’VE HAD PRETTY GOOD RESULTS AT SONOMA.
“I think we’ve won there the last three years, so we can’t wait to get to Sonoma.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner MATT HARTFORD, driver of the Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro SS:
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME.
“It has been a long time; we kind of stunk up the circuit earlier this year. I won more rounds today than I have all season. That’s the truth on how our season went. But we started to turn it around at Bristol, Norwalk started running better. Unfortunately kept coming up short in the second round. Here we had a fast car.”
THE HEAT OF THE RACETRACK, THE DIFFERENT CONDITIONS AFFECT EVERYONE. HOW DID YOU MANAGE?
“We were runner-up a couple of years ago (2019) here. We had a fast car on race day and it’s all because of my team. We have a great team, we have a great engine supplier. Ken Black makes sure we have as good of power as Greg Anderson. (KB Racing) has as much integrity as anybody I’ve ever met and it shows today with going to the finals.”
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, YOU WIN ONE RACE A YEAR. WOUYLD YOU LIKE TO BUILD ON THAT?
“That’s a good stat, but our next step is Sonoma. We’re going to go there, back to sea level. Denver closes everything up for Pro Stock, so it’s harder here. When we get to Sonoma, you’re going to see the performance differences from one to 16. If we can go there and qualify well, I think we have a chance. We won Seattle the last time we were there.”
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPIT
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, FLAV-R-PAC/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER: “Challenging weekend for our Flav-R-Pac team here at Bandimere Speedway. We struggled Friday qualifying and had some breakage on Sunday in the second round of eliminations. We still kept ourselves up in the points and brought home our fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season. Lucky for us we head straight to Sonoma for number two on this Western Swing.”
AUSTIN PROCK, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONTANA BRANDS/ROCKY MOUNTAIN TWIST CHEVROLET DRAGSTER: “Not the day this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team wanted, but we learned. Our car is close and just needs a few small changes and we can be dangerous. I made some progress in my department as well, I felt satisfied with my performance this weekend, which I haven’t in a while. have a good feeling about Sonoma. I’m glad my dad and Hight were able to make the day worth it, especially with NK Seeds and Frank Tiegs in attendance. We will celebrate their win for the John Force Racing team and get it done next weekend.”
FUNNY CAR:
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK/BLUEDEF PLATINUM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “As a team owner, as part of a team, anytime you come out of the day with someone in your camp winning, it’s a good day. Robert and that Auto Club team they’re on a roll, they’re the team to beat. But this PEAK team, we’re getting there, we’re right there. We’ve been consistent. Danny Hood and Tim Fabrisi, all these PEAK guys, they are working hard to get the job done and I just need to keep doing my job too.”
About Chevrolet
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