Hight top Funny Car qualifier at Texas Motorplex

ENNIS, Texas (AP) — Robert Hight powered to the Funny Car No. 1 qualifier Saturday at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex.

In the final Funny Car qualifying session, Hight made a 3.871-second pass at 332.84 mph to overtake points leader Ron Capps for his eighth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 57th of his career. Hight will race Jim Campbell to open eliminations on Sunday.

“The last few races have been good,” said Hight, who now has three consecutive No. 1 qualifiers. “I wasn’t expecting that run. Jimmy Prock just has a good handle on this car hot or cold. I saw the scoreboard light up down there and I couldn’t believe it ran a .871. It blew me away. That was a backbreaker and it was kind of a turning of the tables for the weekend for us. Capps was going to gain some points on us going into race day. As it turned out we gained two on him. It all adds up in the end.”

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Bo Butner (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also earned No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the fourth of six events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.

East Texas native Torrence secured the Top Fuel No. 1 qualifier with his 3.682 pass at 327.51 during Friday’s qualifying that held up through Saturday to earn Torrence his third No. 1 qualifier of the season, 16th of his career and first at his hometown track. He’ll face off against Blake Alexander in round one.

In Pro Stock, Butner raced a 6.588 at 208.94 during the second qualifying round on Friday to secure his fifth No. 1 of the season and eighth of his career. Butner will line up against Shane Tucker when eliminations begin.

Krawiec, the Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader, secured his fourth No. 1 of the season and 37th of his career with his 6.860 pass at 196.53 from the first round of qualifying on Friday. Krawiec will face David Hope in the first round.