“We are one big team. Neff and (crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) really work together closely all winter. The set ups on these Mustangs are very similar. We just struggled a little bit. Jimmy has been tweaking it,” said Hight. “I really give Jimmy a lot of credit for coming here this weekend and sneaking up on it. He knew he could run big numbers but on the night runs we played it safe. We made eight great runs. When we needed it the most Jimmy pulled it out and he had some confidence and he got Neff. We made my chassis in the fab shop this winter and it is identical to Neff’s. It is unbelievable to drive it leaves straight and it is so nice.”

Hight set the first record of his career this weekend setting the national speed record at 316.45 mph.

“The speed record is huge. I have never set a record before. I have made the quickest runs at 1000 feet and quarter mile but I never backed them up. I know the speed record is no points but there are some bragging rights. It is great to have that record with the Auto Club Ford.”

“We threw the kitchen sink – and more – at Hight in the finals, but it was too much,” said Beckman. “We thought we would need more car than we had in the third round to beat Robert, but ended up spinning the tires.”

The loss of traction resulted in a 5.615-second pass at 152.66 miles per hour, well behind Hight’s 4.092 at 314.90.

Beckman achieved finals status by using a .057-reaction-time advantage to make up a 4.157 to 4.137-second ET disadvantage in a first-round holeshot victory against Jim Head.

Melanie Troxel was Beckman’s quarterfinals quarry, whom he defeated, 4.144 at 311.85 versus 4.150 at 306.46, setting up a semifinal match with Cruz Pedregon, fourth in the points race.

In the preceding round Pedregon had a huge fire and the third round ended up a single run when his car did not start. His crew was working on the car at the starting line, but it was to no avail.  (Chris Haverly photo)

Beckman ran a 4.116 at 308.78 to try and gain lane choice against Hight in the finals.

Matt Hagan drove the DieHard Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car into the quarterfinal round at Bristol. Hagan followed four solid qualifying runs, which put him in the number-two starting position, by defeating Paul Lee in the opening round of final eliminations. His 4.148-second, 305.70-mph pass earned him a second-round match with Jeff Arend.

The warming track, thanks to an appearance by the sun after a storm delayed the start of racing by four hours, helped produce a pedalfest between Hagan and Arend, with the latter maintaining traction a bit longer in the run and winning the round. Hagan’s pass of 5.340 at 268.60 was not enough to catch Arend’s 4.653 at 278.52.

“All in all it was a decent weekend,” he said. “We made a lot of progress. We had good, solid runs Friday and Saturday and then in the first round today. Tommy DeLago (crew chief) has really got a handle on this car. What happened in the run against Jeff happens; that’s drag racing and we are just going to stay after it!”