Hight wins first Winternationals in eight-years

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher 

Robert Hight won the first Funny Car race of the 2019 season at the 59th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented ProtectTheHarvest.com on Monday. The race was postponed a day after persistent rain on Sunday. 

The Yorba Linda, California native defeated Jack Beckman in the final round at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California. He went 3.881 at 329.75 mph to get the win.

The Norco, California native went 3.880 at 329.42 mph. 

Hight snaps Matt Hagan’s streak of two straight wins at the Winternationals. The last John Force Racing Funny Car to win this race was in 2014 when living legend John Force won. 

This was Hight’s first win to begin the season in eight years. 

In prior rounds, Hight held a 22-18 advantage over Beckman. In addition, Hight held a 7-3 advantage over Beckman. 

Hight was the leader off of the starting line, before Beckman started to pull away from him. At the 330-foot marker, Beckman had a 0.005 second lead. 

The AAA of Southern California pilot then started to inch closer than took a narrow win by four feet. 

Beckman was right there with Hight all the way to the finish line. Hight won by 0.0073 seconds. 

This is Hight’s 46th career win.