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NHRA
NHRA: Hight Tops Friday
Force's pack of Ford Mustangs swept the top three spots at Gainesville Raceway with defending class champion Robert Hight sweeping into the top position.
Craig Wack  | http://www.go2Geiger.com  |  Posted March 12, 2010  
Robert Hight's 4.060 at 310.13 mph put him atop the Funny Car field. (Go2Geiger.com)
Morning rain cut the first day of the 41st annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals to just one round of qualifying on Friday, but the wet conditions couldn't slow down the John Force Racing Funny Cars.

Force's pack of Ford Mustangs swept the top three qualifying spots at Gainesville Raceway with defending class champion Robert Hight sweeping into the top spot in the Auto Club Mustang.

"With the threatening weather you really don't know what to expect," Hight said. "A lot of guys went out and shook their tires. (Crew chief) Jimmy Prock has a great handle on this race car, and it gives me confidence to see in his eyes that this car is going to go down the track."

Other provisional No. 1s were Tony Schumacher in Top Fuel, Mike Edwards in Pro Stock and Junior Pippin in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Hight's pass set track records for both ET and speed with a 4.060 at 310.13 mph, but he's not planning on resting easy.

"We ran into big problems here last year, but we learned a lot," Hight said. "That's why I'm not going to get overly confident. This sport is very humbling, you can change in a hurry. We're not changing a whole lot, just refining what we have."

Force ran a 4.093 at 307.72 mph and Ashley Force Hood ran a pass of 4.094 at 308.99 mph.

Mike Edwards continued his dominance in Pro Stock with a 6.610 second lap at 208.97 mph in the Interstate Batteries Pontiac. Saturday, he'll be shooting for his 13th straight No. 1 qualifier, while trying to put the finishing touches on the Phoenix race, which was cut short due to deteriorating track conditions.

"We figured the track would be pretty good even through it rained all day," Edwards said. "Unfortunately we weren't able to get all the runs in, but tomorrow the weather seems a lot better.

"Tomorrow we'll be doing two things at once. It's different, and it's going to make our mindset a little different."

Schumacher also made a double track record in the U.S. Army dragster with a run of 3.823 at 318.02 mph, and said despite all the potential setbacks, the track held up well.

"The track was fine," said Schumacher. "There was room in the car, it was a nice, easy run down the racetrack. I'm kind of surprised other cars didn't do it also.

"This is a big race. It's like Indy and Pomona. People spend extra time and energy to win this race. I don't know how we're able to dig deeper than we normally dig."

Pippin was probably the surprise of the day by running a 6.959 second run at 190.14 on his Piranha-Z Buell.

"That was the first pass I made on it since Pomona last year," Pippin said. "We're really happy and surprised. It felt good. I short-shifted a couple of gears, so there's still a little more in it."

Kurt Busch's drag racing debut was a victim of the poor weather. Super Gas qualifying was canceled on Friday, but is expected to be picked back up on Saturday.

Pro qualifying for the Gatornationals continues on Saturday with two rounds, weather permitting.



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Craig Wack

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