Robert Hight is accustomed to racing in a straight line to achieve his goals.
When it comes to the path he chose to become an NHRA Fuel Funny Car driver, however, his line resembled more of a road course than a drag strip. There was no big time sponsor to buy him a ride from the get-go. In fact, he hadn't even drag raced before.
What Hight had done was wipe tires, washed dirty parts and even changed spark plugs. He graduated to disassembling steaming engines and even volunteered to drive the team's hauler from race to race.
Hight couldn't have been any lower on the totem pole when he joined John Force Racing in the early 1990s. If his career story were a movie script, it would be a film of rags to riches.
"Never. Never, ever saw driving in my future," Hight admitted. "I always believed that you need to dream big. When you're a little kid and want to be a baseball player or a fireman, at some point you have to look at reality, but I also think if you put a lot of hard work into it and a lot of effort you can get there."
Hight's positive attitude, when coupled with his penchant to digest large amounts of data fed to him by Force's in-house tuning legends Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly, quickly caught the eye of the boss. Well, he did drop a line mentioning he'd be interested in giving driving a try, as well.
A nine-year journey culminated in Hight getting sent to Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, and a promotion to test driver. A year later, he replaced Gary Densham behind the wheel of the team's third car and earned Rookie of the Year honors. Five years later, he was world champion.
Hight was a sponge, learning the nuances of a Funny Car, taught to him by the man he'd eventually replace. Make no mistake, it was Densham who crafted Hight into a champion and not drag racing's most prolific Funny Car driver.
"Gary Densham was very good at teaching and helping me as a driver," Hight said. "John Force is a great driver, but sometimes it's a little hard for John to explain what's going on because it just happens naturally to him. Fortunately for me, I had Gary Densham there who could watch a run, and I could come back and talk to him. He really helped me through a lot of the learning curve of a driver."
While driving his way to 37 wins in 57 final rounds should be enough validation for Hight to realize he chose the right vocation, it was the words of a drag racing legend who drove the point home.
Hight ran across drag racing legend Ken Veney, who was more interested in the driver's Saturday night engine explosion than anything else. The data Hight conveyed only confirmed what Veney believed all along.
"He looked at me and said, 'If I had to compare you to a driver, I'd compare you to Mike Dunn,'" Hight explained. "If I were to come back in the sport again today, this is the kind of driver I would want. Somebody to understand the car."
Veney was voted as the No. 46 all-time NHRA drag racer back in 2001 and was drag racing's seventh-winningest driver at the time of his 1985 retirement. Veney also won 13 NHRA races with four drivers.
"Ken Veney was an innovator, one of the first guys to ever build billet cylinder heads and, according to Austin Coil, was the first guy he'd ever seen with laid back headers," Hight said. "The conversation with him just made me stop and think of how our sport has progressed and I think a lot of people forget about these geniuses like Ken Veney, Dale Armstrong and Austin Coil. Those guys are the reason our cars are running the way they do today."
Just being able to talk to Veney was an honor for Hight, but being commended was the icing on the cake.
"It's pretty cool that I can even have a conversation with this guy given how knowledgeable he is," said Hight. "Then to hear him compliment you goes beyond cool."
If Hight could see himself through the eyes of others, he'd see going from a crewman to a championship driver is the epitome of cool.
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Bobby Bennett is the Publisher/Editor of CompetitionPlus.com, a leading independent online drag racing magazine, since 1999. For the latest in dragster news worldwide, visit www.competitionplus.com or follow on Twitter @competitionplus
