Robert Hight ended the two-day PRO Winter Warm-Up Saturday night with a thundering, 4.034 seconds at 316.67 mph run, which was the quickest and fastest Funny Car run of testing. Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang were also the quickest Funny Car in the first session posting a 4.071 second run at 315.49 mph.
"I know we have at least one more day, but I'm hoping maybe two more days that we can play around," Hight said. "We're really learning a lot. We've got Ron Armstrong here helping us; kind of a new addition to our brain trust and when you're not tuning a car, you look at things a little differently. He really looked at some things and brought them to Jimmy's (Prock, crew chief) attention and man, it's fixed this thing, so along with some of the new things that we haven't run yet, I'm excited."
On the Top Fuel side, Spencer Massey showed the kind of power that nearly led him to the class championship a year ago.
On Saturday Massey clicked off a 3.818 at 322.27 mph and followed it up with a blistering 3.792 at 309.84 mph, his best run of the entire test session.
Massey, who won four races last year in his first season with DSR, drove a new chassis in Florida. It was the first one built for him by Don Schumacher Racing.
"The plan was to just get down the racetrack," Massey said. "We've tested all week long and learned exactly what we needed to on the FRAM dragster. We didn't try anything new or exciting because what we had last year was obviously good and did an awesome job.
"We just want to get back on a streak like what we had in the middle of the year when we went 40 runs without smoking the tires. We're ready to go to Pomona right now. We could load up and go straight there and qualify. We're ready for it."
The PRO Winter Warm-Up got off to an exciting start with John Force squaring off with his youngest daughter Courtney Force for the first time. The standing room only crowd at Palm Beach International Raceway was eager to see one of the future stars of the sports race the winningest driver in history. They were not disappointed as both Force's launched hard but smoked the tires. In a dramatic pedalfest the elder Force got to the finish line first as both Ford Mustangs were on and off the throttle going down the track.
"That was pretty exciting, getting ready to race side by side with her and watching her learn. I was learning too," John said. "Her Traxxas Mustang Funny Car and my car, we're both struggling. We have complete new combinations and some new crew players, but we'll work it out. She got some night racing in, more of it, more side by side and that's experience that she needs."
PRO WINTER WARM-UP RESULTS
FIRST SESSION
FUNNY CAR: John Force, Castrol GTX HIGH MILEAGE Ford Mustang; 6.876 sec., 97.13 mph def. Courtney Force, Traxxas Ford Mustang, 7.836 sec., 94.84 mph. Tim Wilkerson, Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Ford Mustang, 4.174 sec., 271.46 mph def. Johnny Gray, Service Central Dodge Charger R/T, 9.471 sec., 73.94 mph. Jeff Arend, DHL Toyota, 4.180 sec., 286.19 mph def. Robert Tasca III, Quick Lane Shelby Ford Mustang, 7.560 sec., 79.57 mph. Ron Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T, 4.092 sec., 308.92 mph def. Mike Neff, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 9.860 sec., 71.88 mph. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 4.071 sec., 315.49 mph def. Cruz Pedregon, Snap-On Toyota, 4.096 sec., 310.05 mph. Matt Hagan, Aaron's Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T, 4.123 sec., 307.23 mph def. Jack Beckman, Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T, 9.248 sec., 83.07 mph
TOP FUEL: Hillary Will (solo), Dote Racing dragster, 4.217 sec., 231.75 mph. Clay Millican (solo), Parts Plus dragster, 4.538 sec., 174.93 mph. Bob Vandergriff Jr., C&J Energy Services dragster, 3.830 sec., 322.58 mph def. Terry McMillian, Amalie Oil/UNOH dragster, 3.938 sec., 269.89 mph. Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster, 3.800 sec., 322.96 mph def. Dave Grubnic, Optima Batteries dragster, 3.824 sec., 320.20 mph. Spencer Massey, FRAM dragster, 3.818 sec., 322.27 mph def. Antron Brown, Matco Tools/Aaron's dragster, 3.821 sec., 317.72 mph.
SECOND SESSION
FUNNY CAR: Johnny Gray, 4.085 sec., 311.99 mph def. Mike Neff, 9.601 sec., 75.21 mph. Jack Beckman, 4.096 sec., 305.70 mph def. Courtney Force, 11.705 sec., 40.16 mph. Bob Tasca III, 4.098 sec., 308.64 mph def. John Force, 4.213 sec., 297.88 mph. Cruz Pedregon, 8.126 sec., 83.75 mph, def. Jeff Arend, 11.307 sec., 74.56 mph. Robert Hight, 4.034 sec., 316.67 mph def. Ron Capps, 4.242 sec., 308.92 mph.
TOP FUEL: Clay Millican, 4.538 sec., 172.54 mph. Hillary Will, 4.063 sec., 275.11 mph. Bob Vandergriff Jr., 3.871 sec., 311.41 mph def. Terry McMillian, 3.931 sec., 304.19 mph. Dave Grubnic, 3.789 sec., 322.96 mph def. Antron Brown, 9.273 sec., 7.78 mph. Spencer Massey, 3.792 sec., 309.84 mph def. Tony Schumacher, 9.495 sec., 79.56 mph.
