Robert Hight Staring Down NHRA Funny Car History at Brainerd

• Current points leader Robert Hight is trying to become just the fourth driver to win as many as four NHRA Funny Car championships (after John Force, Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme).

• Force, with his 11 wins at Brainerd, is the winningest NHRA Funny Car driver at any one track.

• Hight's next event win will make him the sixth Funny Car driver to win as many as seven races in a single season.

It's not often one can say that John Force and Robert Hight, who sit Nos. 1 and 3 on the NHRA Funny Car all-time wins list, are overdue for a victory at a given venue.

But that's exactly what both drivers could say about this week's stop at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway. Force hasn't won there since 2007. Hight hasn't won at Brainerd since 2015.

Hight, the current points leader, has six wins this year in his John Force Racing Auto Club Chevy Camaro SS and is on the cusp of two major career milestones:

• He's trying to become just the fourth driver to win as many as four NHRA Funny Car championships (after John Force, Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme).

• His next event win will make him the sixth Funny Car driver to win as many as seven races in a single season. Force has done so on seven different occasions while Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Ron Capps and Jack Beckman have done it once each.

“This Auto Club team is staying strong. We know the competition is tough out here, one weekend can change a lot,” Hight said. “We’ve stayed consistent, and we know we need a couple more wins to win the championship this year. I want the 60th, but I know it’s going to take win No. 62 or 63 to really get the job done. We’re on track and we just need to keep at it. I haven’t won much in Brainerd, so I think I’m due to visit the winner’s circle there this weekend.”

Hight, the current track record holder at 3.793 seconds and the holder of the national record of 338.00 mph (Aug. 18, 2017), has one win at Brainerd, that coming in 2015. A win this weekend—he turns 53 on Saturday, by the way—would be his 60th career event win.

As for teammate John Force, Force also has a history at The Zoo. He's an 11-time winner at Brainerd, but the last of those wins was back in 2007. Force, with his 11 wins at Brainerd, is the winningest NHRA Funny Car driver at any one track.

The 16-time Funny Car season champ Force is also due, as they say.

“I’ve got a lot of history at Brainerd, done well there," Force said. "Last weekend, we came in second, had some luck and made some mistakes, but we’re in a good spot. This Peak team, we’ve got our spot to chase a championship, that’s what it’s all about.

“Can’t win a championship without winning some races, we’ve come close the last couple weeks, time to capitalize, get the job done. We’ll be good.”

Elimination finals for the NHRA Brainerd event are Sunday (3:30 p.m. FOX TV).