Story By: SARA SLAUGHTER / JOHN FORCE RACING – NORWALK, OH – Robert Hight and his Chevrolet Camaro SS, dawning the colors of Crowell Tools and Monster Energy, picked up their fifth win at the famed Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire match race at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park over the weekend.
The one-day event included testing, and two rounds of nitro Funny Car competition intertwined with exhibition runs and competition from plenty of fan favorites.
After two test sessions, Hight handled the Cornwell Tools Chevy to a 3.92-second pass at 322 mph lined up against Cruz Pedregon who ran 3.94 at 320. Hight’s run would be enough to advance him to the finals against Ron Capps. Hight would stay consistent with another 3.92-second pass at 325 mph over Capps’ 3.96 to win the 46th annual Night Under Fire event.
“This is always an exciting event. For the fans, for the competitors. You get some bragging rights. It’s also a nice little boost in confidence to do well,” Hight said. “It makes for a lot of weeks of back-to-back racing, but we love it, I love it. This Cornwell Tools team put in a long day and it paid off. The Bader Family always does an amazing job and John Force Racing is always proud to be part of an amazing night and it always feels better when you win.”
John Force, in a specialty-wrapped Night Under Fire PEAK Chevy Camaro SS, would start off with the quickest runs of the day at 3.88 and 3.89 seconds in the two test sessions. In qualifying, an on-track timing error would void Force’s run putting him in the secondary bracket. He would defeat Dale Creasy Jr. to claim fifth place. Force would run 3.894 seconds at 326 mph bettering Creasy’s 4.11 at 297.
The two Funny Car teams of John Force Racing will join back with their Top Fuel teammates for the Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park August 11-13.