With no PRO-organized testing this year, some teams have hit the track at Gainesville already.
“Ultimately, it’s the fans who get the benefit,” Schumacher said. “We give ’em a good show, give ’em some good side-by-side racing, because we know the track a little better. The people who will suffer a little bit are the people who can’t test there.”
For Funny Car driver Robert Hight, his John Force Racing team’s preseason testing and opening the season at Gainesville is the first step in salving his psyche. Hight won 58 of his 72 eliminations rounds and scored eight victories in 12 final rounds a year ago while leading the standings virtually all season, only to have Ron Capps deny him his fourth championship by three points.
“It was a tough one to get over,” Hight said. “I’m hungrier than ever. After a year like last year and how it ended, we definitely have something to prove. Can’t wait to get back in (the car). I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I want to go down the track the first time and pull the parachutes. I don’t want to make a 330-foot run just to check something out and see how things are going. I want to pull the ’chutes the first run.”
Neal Strausbaugh, crew chief for Tony Stewart Racing Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, was excited about the opportunity to test several different times throughout February at Gainesville — a luxury no one had with the conventional schedule.
Justin Ashley and John Force, among others, have gotten to spend rare additional family time.
For Hight, the delayed start to the season helps him work on business matters as president of the four-team John Force Racing organization. But he knows it’s at the expense of having more valuable “getting-reacquainted” seat time in his Flav-R-Pac Chevy Camaro.
He said, “No doubt about three or four months off being in the car” make him feel out of synch at first. “It’s going to take a few runs to get up to speed,” Hight added. “These things accelerate so fast that it’s hard for your brain to process.”
The trick, Hight said, is to “try to be ahead of the car instead of the car being ahead of you. It’ll all start coming back. We’ll all be rusty, that’s for sure.”
R+L Carriers dragster owner-driver Josh Hart, who’ll be remembered forever for winning the Top Fuel trophy in his pro debut, made his mark at the 2021 season-opening Gatornationals. And he’s certainly pleased the NHRA decided to start the year at Gainesville Raceway, just 30 miles from his home and Burnyzz full-service classic-car business at Ocala, Fla.
“I have no idea why they did it, but I’m grateful it’s happening,” he said.
This story appeared in the March 1, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
