POMONA, Calif. – Robert Hight couldn't have picked a better place to go from zero to hero.
Driving a John Force Racing Ford Mustang that shares a sponsor with the race track, Hight qualified No. 1 on Saturday in Funny Car for the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
And that was after entering the third – and final after rain wiped out the fourth – qualifying session out of the top 16.
"It's amazing how things can change so fast. Don Garlits said it best: 'You're only as good as your last run,'" Hight said. "We went in this morning not qualified and ended up going to the No. 1 spot."
Hight's top pass in his Auto Club Mustang was 4.060 seconds at 316.52 mph, wresting the pole from Don Schumacher Racing teammates Jack Beckman (4.068 at 315.71 mph) and Johnny Gray (4.098 at 313.15 mph), who were second and third, respectively.
The No. 1 qualifier was Hight's 40th of his career and third at the Winternationals.
"This would not have been a good place to lay an egg," Hight said.
But that's exactly what Hight's team did in the first two qualifying sessions. In Q1, Hight didn't even trip the beam because of a broken blower driveshaft.
"Everybody keeps telling me, ''At least it didn't happen on Sunday,'" Hight said. "The way I look at it, first off, it never should've happened, and why couldn't it have happened the last run in testing in West Palm.
"We put that behind us and went out the next run and shook. It was weak. We had some big, big decisions today."
With temperatures dropping for Saturday, Hight figured he and crew chief Jimmy Prock needed to "get after it."
"When you do that, you risk smoking the tires," Hight said. "This morning, it was pretty funny. I told John (Force) I'd be happy with a 4.05. He looked at me like I had two heads."
Hight will face Todd Lesenko in the first round of Sunday's eliminations. Lesenko qualified No. 16 with a run of 4.306 seconds at 277.03 mph.
Cruz Pedregon, who entered the 2011 season-finale here in championship contention, failed to qualify.
That happened three times in the final five races for GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel driver Morgan Lucas. But after hiring crew chief Aaron Brooks and co-crew chief Rod Centorbi in the off-season, Lucas has been flying in Pomona.
The defending Winternationals champion earned the fifth No. 1 of his career with a career-best pass of 3.783 seconds at 325.06 mph in Saturday's session.
"It felt really good going down the track, so I did look at the scoreboard," Lucas said. "I was so elated, I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. I mean 325 mph would have been a good speed to run to the quarter-mile.
"We anticipated it would run a 3.79, because we didn't know what the track was going to be like. It's such an exciting day for the whole team."
In Sunday's first round, Lucas will face No. 16 qualifier Rod Fuller, who slipped in the field with a run of 9.343 seconds at 74.55 mph.
Pro Stock champion Jason Line surged to the top of the charts Saturday with a pass of 6.535 seconds at 212.23 mph in his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac.
"We finally made a better run," said Line, who earned the 25th pole of his career. "There's definitely more left. It's always tough the first part of the year. We haven't tested at all. We kind of changed the way we do things over the last few years. We're very green right now, but we managed to get it done and go to the No. 1 spot. We're kind of picking up where we left off last year, so it feels really good."
Line squares off against No. 16 qualifier Grace Howell, who went 7.486 seconds at 142.91 mph, in Sunday's first round of eliminations.
