{"id":44909,"date":"2017-10-16T09:22:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T16:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=44909"},"modified":"2018-08-16T12:33:40","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:33:40","slug":"force-hight-and-line-challenge-nhra-points-leaders-at-aaa-texas-nhra-fallnationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/force-hight-and-line-challenge-nhra-points-leaders-at-aaa-texas-nhra-fallnationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_44914\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44914\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"44914\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/force-hight-and-line-challenge-nhra-points-leaders-at-aaa-texas-nhra-fallnationals\/winnerscircle-texas-fallnationals\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1800,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1508107041&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Credit: NHRA Media&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"size-large wp-image-44914\" src=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WinnersCircle-Texas-FallNationals.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: NHRA Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship battle just got a little more interesting at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals, at Texas Motorplex. The fourth of six playoff events left fans awestruck as the current point leaders fell to their respective challengers and left us all wondering: Who will come out on top at the upcoming 2017 season finale?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top Fuel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"44910\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/force-hight-and-line-challenge-nhra-points-leaders-at-aaa-texas-nhra-fallnationals\/brittany-force_win\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1800,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1508087213&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44910\" src=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Brittany-Force_Win.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The John Force Racing team seemed to have all the answers this weekend at the 32nd annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals. Despite points leader Steve Torrence racing to a No. 1 qualifying position, the East Texas native saw his high hopes diminish when his Capco Contractors dragster lost control after crossing the finish line during the second round of final eliminations.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-uBzS6VUiMs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Although Torrence pulled off the win during this round and walked away uninjured, his winning Top Fuel dragster wasn\u2019t so lucky. Torrence\u2019s misfortune would give Brittany Force, the daughter of famed Funny Car driver John Force, the chance to pull off an astonishing victory after defeating Terry McMillen, Doug Kalitta and even Torrence in a backup car before moving on to Sunday\u2019s final elimination round against Shawn Langdon.<\/p>\n<p>After piloting her Monster Energy dragster to a Texas Motorplex elapsed-time record of 3.681-seconds at 326.87 MPH to defeat Shawn Langdon and his Global Electronic Technology dragster\u2019s 3.693-second pass at 326.56 MPH, Force earned her third victory of the season and moved into second in the points standings behind Torrence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot needed to happen this weekend and it all seemed to work in our favor,\u201d said Force. \u201cWe had to take on Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence, the two people in front of us in the standings. While everyone has been struggling trying to take them down, I felt confident in this team and the fact that we were going to turn those win lights on because that is what we needed to do. This is a huge win that gives us a chance to continue climbing the ladder to the 2017 Top Fuel Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Funny Car<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"44913\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/force-hight-and-line-challenge-nhra-points-leaders-at-aaa-texas-nhra-fallnationals\/robert-hight_win\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1800,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1508096383&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44913\" src=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Robert-Hight_Win.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Much like his teammate, John Force Racing Funny Car driver Robert Hight also took down the Funny Car point series leader at Texas Motorplex. On his way to an astounding victory, the No. 1 weekend qualifier took down Jim Campbell, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/2017\/10\/09\/alexis-de-joria-retirement\/\">Alexis DeJoria,<\/a> who announced her retirement following the 2017 season, and Tim Wilkerson. While Ron Capps took down Hight\u2019s teammates John Force and Jack Beckman on his way to the final elimination round, his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge was unable to come out on top.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Hight\u2019s 3.877-second pass at 332.24 MPH in his AAA Texas Chevrolet Camaro SS defeated the reigning Funny Car world champion and gave the John Force Racing driver his third win at Texas Motorplex and his fourth win of the 2017 season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was just the win that we needed,\u201d said Hight. \u201cWe were 44 points back going into the final round and, had we lost, that would mean that we would be 64 points back. Winning brought this number back to 24, which is a little over a round with two races left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Hight now sits only 24 points behind the Funny Car reigning point champion, he will have to keep up this momentum going into the upcoming 17<sup>th<\/sup> annual NHRA Toyota Nationals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pro Stock<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"44911\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/force-hight-and-line-challenge-nhra-points-leaders-at-aaa-texas-nhra-fallnationals\/jason-line_win\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1800,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1508073050&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44911\" src=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Force, Hight and Line Challenge NHRA Points Leaders at AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jason-Line_Win.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While John Force Racing drivers earned victories in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car divisions, KB Racing driver Jason Line found himself in the winner\u2019s circle for the second time this season and 27<sup>th<\/sup> time of his career at Texas Motorplex.<\/p>\n<p>After racing past Alan Prusiensky, Texas native Alex Laughlin and Brian Self on the way to his third final round of the season, Line bested Ray Skillman driver Drew Skillman after running a 6.548-second pass at 211.20 MPH against Skillman\u2019s red-light start.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe picked up at the perfect time,\u201d said Line. \u201cHopefully I am giving Greg Anderson, Bo Butner and everybody else something to think about for the next couple of weeks. If we didn\u2019t win here this weekend, the chances of winning the championship were going to be slim to none. Now, we actually have a chance at this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Line earned a podium finish this weekend, he continues to sit behind point leader and teammate Greg Anderson and Bo Butner in the Pro Stock point standings going into Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues with the 17<sup>th<\/sup> annual NHRA Toyota Nationals, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, October 26-29, 2017. Stay tuned to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/\">RacingJunk.com<\/a> for all your NHRA coverage!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship battle just got a little more interesting at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":44912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029,3399,22],"tags":[424,1619,161,512,41,7,1632,440,1329],"class_list":["post-44909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","category-nhra","category-event-coverage","tag-brittany-force","tag-ellen-richardson","tag-event-coverage-2","tag-jason-line","tag-news","tag-nhra","tag-racing","tag-robert-hight","tag-texas-fallnationals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/lead-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-bGl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44915,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44909\/revisions\/44915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}