On a day filled with track records, Robert Hight set two in Funny Car, powering to the provisional No. 1 position on Friday as the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returned to Route 66 Raceway for the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK Performance.
Mike Salinas (Top Fuel), Bo Butner (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the sixth of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
The opening round is also set for the first NHRA Pro Stock All-Star Callout after the drivers made their selections on Friday. Points leader Dallas Glenn, who is seeded first, got the opening pick and selected five-time world champion Erica Enders. Matt Hartford followed by picking Troy Coughlin Jr. and Kyle Koretsky tabbed Aaron Stanfield as his first-round opponent. That set Cristian Cuadra and Camrie Caruso as the final first-round pairing, as four KB Titan Racing cars will take on four Elite Motorsports cars to kick off the callout.
Debuting a new look on his car, Hight made the quickest Funny Car run in 2023, going 3.831s at 335.07mph in his 11,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools/Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS and shattering the previous track record he set in 2017. If it holds, it would be his first No. 1 qualifier this season and 78th in his career at the NHRA’s first race in Chicago since 2019. Coming off a victory at the most recent event in Charlotte, Hight turned in an incredible performance on Friday.
“That actually surprised me,” Hight said. “(Crew chief Jimmy Prock) kept saying in Charlotte there was so much more left in this car and sure enough there was. It was such a smooth run and when it’s that smooth it doesn’t feel that fast. What’s amazing is to come back to a track we haven’t raced at in that many years and to pick up right like that is pretty impressive.”
Cruz Pedregon’s 3.889s at 327.59mph put him in the second spot and J.R. Todd’s 3.906s at 333.00mph was third best of the session.
Salinas dipped into the 3.60s to lead the way in Top Fuel, rolling to the No. 1 spot with a pass of 3.686s at 333.41mph in his 11,000-horsepower Gerber Collision & Glass/Scrappers Racing dragster. If it holds, it would give Salinas his first No. 1 spot of the season. The veteran has enjoyed success at Chicago over the years, qualifying No. 1 at NHRA’s last appearance at the track in 2019 and also finishing as the runner-up.
“It was really good. We’ve worked really hard on the car the last few weeks,” Salinas said. “The last time we raced here, we were the No. 1 qualifier and the run we made tonight, we did that three times in testing. We know we have a great car, and we just have to carry this over to tomorrow and then Sunday. I think there’s going to be some really good runs tomorrow because the track is really, really good.”