John Force, Robert Hight swap Funny Car teams

Published Mar. 9, 2017 12:42 p.m. ET

Samuel Reiman

John Force Racing is undergoing a major change just two races into the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Funny Car drivers John Force and Robert Hight will be switching teams, just a few months after a major shakeup took place at the championship-winning drag racing team during the offseason.

Beginning with next weekend’s Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Florida, crew chiefs Jimmy Prock and Mike Neff will move to Robert Hight and John Force’s Funny Car teams respectively.

Additionally, co-crew chief Chris Cunningham and crew members who started the season with Force will be moving along with Prock to Hight’s team, while co-crew chiefs Jon Schaffer and Jason McCulloh, along with Hight’s former team members, will move to Force’s team.

“I never do anything on the spur of the moment,” said John Force. “I take days to think it out. But after doing a show for PEAK in Phoenix, for Chevrolet in Chicago and talking to (famed crew chief) Austin Coil, I had some time to think. My race cars are moving ahead. They’re running big numbers; we’re still trying to find that consistency.

“I came into the shop in Brownsburg and met with the teams and all the guys in the machine shop, the fab shop and the paint shop. I looked at the pictures on the wall, looked at Jimmy Prock and Robert Hight in winner’s circle photos, I looked at pictures of me and Jimmy Prock, I looked at pictures of me and Neff, I looked at pictures of me and Jon Schaffer and Jason McCullough – and all of a sudden, it just felt right.

“I went home, slept on it, woke up the next morning, and it felt right. The cars are all doing good, but to put Robert Hight back with Jimmy Prock, who he won the championship with, and to put me back with Mike Neff, who I won the championship with – and Jon Schaffer and Jason McCulloch, who I won four races last year with – it just made sense.

“I called in the crew chiefs, asked them what they thought, and we came to an agreement to make the swap. Change is good. Austin Coil always told me change is good, even when things are going right. This will build us stronger in the long run.”

Hight won the 2009 championship with Prock as his crew chief, while Force won the 2010 title and seven races with Neff as his.

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