When the NHRA Mello Yello series rolled into Sonoma last weekend, John Force Racing's Robert Hight was ready to make history. With his qualifying pass on Saturday, he became the first NHRA driver to top 339 mph in any professional NHRA category. Hight grabbed a near perfect run to solidify a four-hundreths quicker time than the field over the four qualifying sessions at a record 339.87 mph in his Southern California/California Highway Patrol Chevrolet Camaro SS. Unfortunately, you don't win a Wally for speed records and Hight was eliminated by Tim Wilkerson and failed to make the final round.
At the 30th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, Robert Hight returned to the winner's circle for the second time in three weeks by eliminating Tommy Johnson Jr. Although the entire John Force Racing team has shown the speed to win at every event this year, this was only the third win this season. Hight added a double-dose of consistency at the Northwest Nationals running solidly in the three-second range all weekend to give John Force Racing its 250th National win in Funny Car. Team owner John Force is the by far the winningest driver at Seattle with eight National victories to his credit.
In the Top Fuel division, Antron Brown reached the final round for the 85th time in his career and for the fourth NHRA Mello Yello race in a row. Brown's opposition came from Terry McMillen who had taken down Leah Pritchett in the semifinals with a 3.822 ET, as well as eliminated points leader Steve Torrence earlier in the day. In his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster, Brown laid down a 3.776-second pass at 326.48 mph for his fourth victory of the season and his second in the last three events. In Pro Stock, Drew Skillman beat Erica Enders by just .0006 second for his third Wally of the 2017 season.
NHRA drivers and teams have a weekend off before heading to the mid-west for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota starting August 17th through August 20th. See you there!
