FORMULAONE ABU DHABI LINE UP

Pos	No.	Driver	Sponsor	Car
1	1	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone	Mercedes
2	15	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault
3	14	Mark Webber	Red Bull	Renault
4	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn GP	Mercedes
5	22	Jenson Button	BrawnGP	Mercedes
6	9	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic	Toyota
7	5	Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	BMW
8	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	BMW
9	16	Nico Rosberg	AT&T	Toyota
10	12	Sebastien Buemi	Red Bull	Ferrari
11	4	Kimi Raikkonen	Marlboro	Ferrari
12	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Panasonic	Toyota
13	2	Heikki Kovalainen	Vodafone	Mercedes
14	17	Kazuki Nakajima	AT&T	Toyota
15	11	Jaime Alguersuari	Red Bull	Ferrari
16	7	Fernando Alonso	ING	Renault
17	21	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India	Mercedes
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India	Mercedes
19	8	Romain Grosjean	ING	Renault
20	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Marlboro	Ferrari

NHRA/Coughlin will start Vegas race from 11th slot

Coughlin will start Vegas race from 11th slot

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 31) — Reigning back-to-back Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will try to win his eighth race of the season and third straight at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from the No. 11 position after posting a best pass of 6.688 seconds at 206.35 mph during qualifying for the ninth annual Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.
Like most of the racers in the class, Coughlin made his run of record in Friday’s cooler evening session. His Victor Cagnazzi Racing team swapped engines Saturday morning looking for a little extra horsepower but eventually elected to return to Friday’s set-up.
“We’re trying to chip away at it,” the 61-time national event winner said. “We thought that motor under the bench would pick us up a tad but it just didn’t produce so we switched back to the engine we used yesterday.
“We won our last race in Indy from the bottom half of the field so it can be done. The field is pretty bunched up here so I think we’ll have a good shot. We’re certainly going to give it our best shot.”
Coughlin will open eliminations against veteran Allen Johnson, who qualified sixth with a 6.679 at 206.61 mph. The two men have split their four previous meetings this year.
“Allen has been strong all year and he doesn’t make any mistakes,” Coughlin said. “He’ll be a good test for us right from the start.
“Our thought process at this point is really focused on stuff that will make us better next year. We had a great season up until the Countdown to 1 started and that’s when we needed to be at our best and it just didn’t happen for us this time. The last few years it was exactly the opposite for us. That’s racing.”

THIS WEEKS SCHEDULES

NHRA Full Throttle Series

Las Vegas NHRA Nationals
Oct. 29-Nov. 1
Las Vegas Motor Speedway

• Eliminations: Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2 and ESPN360.com)
• NHRA RaceDay Sunday: 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
• Qualifying: Saturday, 11:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Formula One

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Sunday, Nov. 1, 6 a.m. ET (Speed)
Yas Marina Circuit

NHRA/JOHN FORCE RACING AT LAS VEGAS NATIONALS

THE DRIVERS

JOHN FORCE, 60, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang
Friday qualifying: 11^th at 4.144 seconds, 293.09 mph
Bonus qualifying points: 0
Quotable: “We are doing the best we can. Coil, Bernie and John Medlen are working hard and we’ll see improvement. Robert and the Auto Club Mustang came out swinging.” – JOHN FORCE

ASHLEY FORCE HOOD, 26, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang
Friday qualifying: 13^th quickest at 4.163 seconds, 303.23 mph
Bonus qualifying points: 0
Quotable: “The good thing is here in Las Vegas the conditions tomorrow should be good and we ran a 4.16 in the first session today. Tomorrow we should have a chance to duplicate that and get right back in the show.” – ASHLEY FORCE HOOD

ROBERT HIGHT, 40, Auto Club Ford Mustang
Friday Qualifying: 3^rd at 4.065 seconds, 308.71 mph
Bonus qualifying points: +4 (Quickest in Q1 and third quickest in Q2)
Quotable – “We earned four points today and there is nothing wrong with that. My guys have all done a great job. We are going to tune from this.” – ROBERT HIGHT

MIKE NEFF, 41, Ford Drive One Mustang
Friday qualifying: 9^th at 4.128 seconds, 299.66 mph
Bonus qualifying points: 0
Quotable: “This track is in real good shape and we expect to have good conditions tomorrow. We get two more shots and we’ll try and pick it up a little bit.” – MIKE NEFF

NHRA/ROBERT HIGHT LEADS JFR FRIDAY AT LAS VEGAS

AUTO CLUB’S ROBERT HIGHT LEADS JFR FRIDAY AT LAS VEGAS  

LAS VEGAS –- Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang grabbed four valuable qualifying bonus points as they raced to the provisional No. 3 qualifying position at the 9^th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals today.

Hight made the quickest run of the first session right out of the trailer and then followed that run up with the third quickest run of the second session a solid 4.06 second pass. He is right behind the pair of Don Schumacher owned Funny Cars, rookie Matt Hagan (4.030) and veteran Ron Capps (4.041). Those two runs surprised Hight but he was looked at the big picture at the end of the day.

“Honestly I didn’t think anyone would run that quick. I thought you would have to run 4.05 to be low qualifier. Wrong. Whatever those guys are doing they have it figured out. They are swinging for the fences and we are inching up on it. It is not like we are going out there smoking the tires. We are going down the track. We can tune from what we are doing. I would like to have one more shot at it tomorrow night. With 27 dragsters and over 20 funny cars we will be at the end of the pack. We should have a good shot at another night session like this. We are going to make the best of it,” said Hight.

The additional four points were four more than second place Ashley Force Hood earned, three more than third place Tony Pedregon earned and two more than fourth place Ron Capps earned.

MEMPHIS MOTORSPORTS PARK CLOSEDD

On behalf of all NHRA, fans and sponsors, we are very disappointed to learn about Dover Motorsports Inc.’s decision to close Memphis Motorsports Park. We had been in discussions with the management team at Dover Motorsports regarding the track’s future in recent weeks and were aware that this action was a possibility. We appreciate the great support we received from the fans throughout the western Tennessee region as well as the cooperation from all those who worked at the facility.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Dover Motorsports group and conducting the national event at Gateway International Raceway at St. Louis. At this time, the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing  Series schedule for 2010 will be reduced to 23 events

HIGHT’S CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS HANG IN BALANCE IN VEGAS, AGAIN

ROBERT HIGHT

HIGHT’S CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS HANG IN BALANCE IN VEGAS, AGAIN

LAS VEGAS, NV (October 27, 2009) — The second Las Vegas stop on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series has been a cruel mistress for Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team.

In 2007 Hight was vying for his first championship and posted the number one qualifying time only to have his Mustang break during the burnout in the first round. The loss opened the door for eventual champion Tony Pedregon to distance himself from Hight for the championship.

Last season Hight was locked into a tight battle with Cruz Pedregon and Tim Wilkerson for the championship. He once again qualified No. 1 and he raced to the final round where he was defeated by eventual Funny Car world champion Cruz Pedregon.

In both years Hight was sitting in the No. 3 position in points coming into The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This year Hight is rolling into Las Vegas in the No. 1 position in points, 13 points ahead of teammate Ashley Force Hood, 48 points ahead of Tony Pedregon and 63 points ahead of Ron Capps.

The lead does not give Hight a ton of confidence but he likes this position with two races remaining. He is also looking forward to the possibility of getting another championship for John Force Racing

“I’m very excited about it. We’ve kind of gotten spoiled over here over the years. This team won 12 straight championships, with Tony and John. Then, there was a year that we lost, and now the last two, so we definitely want to get John Force Racing and these Ford Mustangs back in the top where we belong. We feel that we work harder than the rest of the teams out there, and we need to win,” said Hight. “This championship needs to go back to where it belongs, and that’s kind of where we’re at, you know? Not trying to be greedy or anything else, but we work hard here, Ford works hard, all of our sponsors, and as long as it’s one of the two of us, I’m excited. It’s probably less pressure when you’re racing one of your own teammates than having to go out there and race another one of those cars.”

Hight has had the textbook up and down season in 2009. He turned his championship hopes around racing to the finals at the Mac Tools US Nationals and then winning the first two races of the Countdown. His positive attitude was the one constant for Hight.

“I never gave up, that’s for sure. The whole team never gave up. It probably made it easier having Ashley doing so well. She was kind of carrying the load for the whole team. But the way this whole team works is we help each other, we work together, and we knew that if we got too lost and what we were doing wasn’t working that we could go over with Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas’ help, and probably get our car to run similar to theirs – and that’s actually what happened,” said Hight.

“(Team owner) John (Force) kind of put that all together. I think John changing drivers clear back in Reading, Pennsylvania, had something to do with that. You know, I’m a big baseball fan, and I follow the Dodgers, and I used to watch Tommy Lasorda, and he would go out there and he would coach third base. You know, the manager never does that. But I asked him about it last year when he was the Grand Marshal at Pomona, and he said, ‘You’ve just got to shake things up. When that batter looks down there at third base and sees a regular batting coach, he’s not thinking. But, if he looks down there and sees the manager, his boss, he’s probably going to perform a little better, and it just shakes things up. (Crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) looking in there at John, and John looking out at Jimmy, I think for whatever reason it worked, and my car turned around that weekend.”

One thing is for sure Hight will be focused on going rounds and taking care of business this weekend. At the Las Vegas event press conference Hight was relaxed and looking forward to getting back to the track.

“I hated having so much time off. I would like to race every weekend. Getting back to the track with my guys will be a lot of fun and we are going to race hard for this championship,” said Hight.

NHRA/JFR drivers at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

JFR drivers at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

                                 Races     Starts     Finals     Wins      Won-Lost

Robert Hight 
LV Nationals           4              4             1             0             3-4
All LVMS events     9              9             2             1             11-8
FAST FACT: No. 1 qualifier in the Las Vegas Nationals the last three years, he moved beyond round one for the first time last season, reaching the final round before losing to eventual series champion Cruz Pedregon.  He is the track record holder for both the quarter mile and 1,000 foot distances (4.677 and 4.043 seconds, respectively).

                                     Races     Starts     Finals     Wins      Won-Lost

Ashley Force Hood
LV Nationals           2              2             1             0             4-2
All LVMS events     5              5             2             0             8-5
FAST FACT: When she reached the finals in 2007, she became the first woman to compete in an NHRA Funny Car final round.  She followed up by reaching the finals at the spring race in 2008.  

                                      Races     Starts     Finals     Wins      Won-Lost

John Force
LV Nationals           7              7             2             1 (2006) 10-6
All LVMS events     17           15           2             1              17-14
FAST FACT: In the first round of the 2001 race, was victimized by an unusual double DQ precipitated by rival Bob Bode, who left the starting line before the system was activated, prompting Force to follow him.  Under a rule revised following the incident, he would have advanced.

                                     Races     Starts     Finals     Wins      Won-Lost

Mike Neff
LV Nationals           2              2             0             0             1-2
All LVMS events     4              4             0             0             1-4
FAST FACT: As a driver, has yet to win a racing round in the Las Vegas Nationals and has won just one in four overall appearances at LVMS.  He will see double duty this week and in the season-ending Auto Club Finals, serving as both driver and crew chief on the Ford Drive One Mustang.

NHRA/FULL THROTTLE STANDINGS

Full Throttle Point Standings after four Countdown to 1 races and 22 NHRA events

FUNNY CAR – 1. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 2362; 2. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2349; 3. Tony Pedregon, 2314; 4. Ron Capps, 2299; 5. Tim Wilkerson, 2280; 6. Jack Beckman, 2276; 7. Bob Tasca III, 2259; 8. Del Worsham, 2227; 9. John Force, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, 2216; 10. Mike Neff, Ford Drive One Mustang, 2203.

TOP FUEL – 1. Tony Schumacher, 2427; 2. Larry Dixon, 2380; 3. Cory McClenathan, 2359; 4. Antron Brown, 2346; 5. Brandon Bernstein, 2307; 6. Morgan Lucas, 2269; 7. Shawn Langdon, 2254; 8. Spencer Massey, 2225; 9. Doug Kalitta, 2218; 10. Clay Millican, 2093.

PRO STOCK – 1. Mike Edwards, 2524; 2. Greg Anderson, 2396; 3. Jason Line, 2373; 4. Jeg Coughlin, 2292; 5. Greg Stanfield, 2276; 6. Allen Johnson, 2244; 7. Johnny Gray, 2233; 8. Ron Krisher, 2222; 9. Kurt Johnson, 2184; 10. Rickie Jones, 2020.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE – 1. Hector Arana, 2420; 2. Eddie Krawiec, 2392; 3. Michael Phillips, 2255; 4. Matt Smith, 2253; 5. Andrew Hines, 2249; 6. Douglas Horne, 2210; 7. Karen Stoffer, 2159; 8. Shawn Gann, 2157; 9. Craig Treble, 2136; 10. Matt Guidera, 2020.

NHRA/DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MIKE NEFF NOT A LONGSHOT AT LAS VEGAS

DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MIKE NEFF NOT A LONGSHOT AT LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS, NV (October 27, 2009) — Heading into Las Vegas Mike Neff and the Ford Drive One are still technically in contention for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship. Funny Car is the closest category of the four NHRA professional classes with 159 points separating Neff in 10^th place from teammate Robert Hight in 1^st. A team can pick up 150 points in one event so with two national events left on the schedule a strong Vegas showing by the Ford Drive One team could shuffle the Funny Car deck.

Neff controls his own destiny behind the wheel and under the hood. For the fourth time this season Neff will be spearheading tuning duties on the Ford Drive One Mustang as well as piloting it down The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Earlier this year Neff pulled double duty when crew chief John Medlen missed Phoenix and Gainesville to have heart condition evaluated in Indianapolis. He raced to a runner-up finish in Phoenix and qualified No. 5 in Gainesville.