He Has Quickly Soared to a New Hight

Robert Hight sticks out like a sore thumb, the anti-Force to funny car driver-owner John Force’s 300-mile-a-minute monologues.

When 13-time NHRA champion Force chose Hight to succeed Gary Densham as his third driver, Force worried that his son-in-law -- Hight is married to Force’s oldest daughter, Adria -- couldn’t handle the interviews.

Hight is soft-spoken, humble, cerebral, willing to acknowledge mistakes. But he packs a wallop inside a nitro-fuel funny car. He is the first rookie in 16 years to lead the standings in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series. He’s 16 points ahead of Gary Scelzi, 86 ahead of Force.

“I don’t think I have any natural ability, or any natural talent,” said Hight, 35. “Maybe I’m cutting myself short.... I have to work at it. I honestly believe the race car I’m in makes me look pretty good because it’s fast, it does everything right and it’s easy for me to learn.”

The fast car is a credit to crew chief Jimmy Prock, and Hight has driven it to two victories, two runner-up finishes -- to Force and teammate Eric Medlen -- and a season-low three first-round losses. His 24-13 record is nearly as good as the 24-12 by Scelzi, a top-fuel champion as a rookie in 1997.

“I never realized how much pressure the driver or a crew chief were under when I was working on the car,” said Hight, a former trapshooting champion and a clutch specialist for six of Force’s 13 championships before becoming shop manager in 2001. “I still don’t know that it’s going to work out. I still don’t know that I couldn’t fail at this.”

Entering Sunday’s race in Brainerd, Minn., however, Prock -- and Hight -- are in a zone.

“He’s not searching for a tune-up, he does little tweaks and the car responds,” Hight said. “To get one of these nitro cars, as inconsistent as they can be, to do what he’s doing right now and respond to changes he’s making, it’s awesome. He has that car dialed in.”

Hight married Adria in 1999 and fathered Force’s first grandchild, Autumn, 11 months ago. He earned his license in May 2004, but it was January before Force chose him to drive the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang.

“Force didn’t hire him because he’s his son-in-law,” said Ron Capps, a teammate of Hight in 1995. “He’s a very smart, common-sense person, very talented, a quick learner. Not anyone can just jump in one of these. The reason he was hired to drive is that Force realizes how much talent he has.”

Force does too.

“Robert’s the real deal,” he said.

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NASCAR

This weekend may make or break four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. He has four victories in 12 starts on the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y., but a poor finish will almost certainly keep him out of the 10-race Chase for the Championship.

“Watkins Glen has been a good track for us in the past, but that doesn’t guarantee a good finish,” said Gordon, who started first and led 33 laps on NASCAR’s other road course, Infineon Raceway, only to finish 32nd because of transmission problems.

“We’ve run out of time, the pressure’s on, and we have to step up to the plate.”

With five more races to qualify -- including Sept. 2 at California Speedway -- Gordon is 14th, 87 points behind 10th-place Carl Edwards. In the first 10 races, Gordon finished lower than 15th twice; in the last 11, he has been 25th or worse seven times.

NASCAR’s youth movement took a hit this week. Jason Leffler, 29, was fired by Joe Gibbs Racing after being mathematically eliminated from the Chase. He will be replaced at Watkins Glen by Terry Labonte, 48.

Paul Tracy, the 2003 Champ Car World Series champion and a four-time winner of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, had a two-day test with Richard Childress’ Chevy team at Michigan International Speedway.

Tracy, who holds the track record at 234.949 mph in his Champ Car, may get a chance to qualify for next week’s GFS Marketplace 400, which would be his NASCAR debut.

Racing for the Champ Car championship in Denver on Sunday, Tracy is second in the standings to Sebastien Bourdais. His 28 career victories make him the leader among active drivers.

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Southland scene

Howard Haight of Upland won the top-fuel eliminator title at the eighth Goodguys Nitro Nationals for pre-1980 hot rods Sunday in Pomona. He ran a 6.242 at 239.10 mph in the finals. Larry Petit of Hawthorne took the funny car title.

Michael Yurick, a 35-year veteran in racing administration, will join California Speedway on Monday as senior director of operations. He will serve as the primary liaison with sanctioning bodies in coordinating event operations and logistics.

With four races remaining, only 86 points separate first-place Todd Southwell of San Marcos from fifth-place Rod Johnson of Canyon Country in the Lucas Oil Super Late Models, which run two 50-lap main events Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway. Altogether, there will be seven main events in six divisions.

Stock cars, as well as extreme trucks and SUVs, hornets and cruisers will race Saturday on the half-mile clay oval at Perris Auto Speedway.

Speedway motorcycle racing resumes on the one-eighth-mile dirt oval at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

Shav Glick is on vacation.