Robert Hight led Funny Car testing with a 4.03, 316-mph run. (Gary Nastase photo)

Former NHRA Full Throttle world champs Robert Hight in Funny Car and Tony Schumacher in Top Fuel posted the best numbers in a marathon Florida preseason test session that for some teams spanned five days as teams geared up for the NHRA Full Throttle season-opening O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries in Pomona, Feb. 9-12.

Hight recorded a best of 4.034 seconds at 316.67 mph Saturday in his Auto Club Ford Mustang, and Schumacher clocked a best of 3.76 with his U.S. Army dragster. Hight also posted a 4.071-second run at 315.49 mph.

“We’re really learning a lot,” said Hight. “We’ve got Ron Armstrong here helping us; kind of a new addition to our brain trust, and when you’re not tuning a car, you look at things a little differently. He really looked at some things and brought them to Jimmy’s [Prock, crew chief] attention, and man, it’s fixed this thing, so along with some of the new things that we haven’t run yet, I’m excited. Right now, pretty much everybody’s done testing, and we’re leaving here with low e.t. and top speed."

Hight’s teammate, fellow championship contender Mike Neff and driver of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, clocked a trio of impressive runs with passes of 4.058, 311.63; 4.076, 310.13; 4.088, 310.34; and 4.116 at just 282.07 mph.

Rookie Courtney Force, at the wheel of her primered Traxxas Mustang, squared off with her famous father during testing. (Ron Lewis photo)

John Force’s Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang received a major overhaul in the off-season, and according to crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli, the only two parts that carried over into 2012 from last season were the short block and Force. Throughout the day, Force’s Mustang stepped up in performance as the team worked through a number of issues. Force made a strong run with a 4.106 at 310.55 mph Friday.

The training of rookie driver Courtney Force continued as she made half-passes to again acclimate herself to her Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car and get used to the power of the Boss 500 motor. The highlight of her weekend came while squaring off against her famous father Saturday. Both cars launched hard but smoked the tires. In a dramatic pedalfest, the elder Force got to the finish line first as both Ford Mustang drivers were on and off the throttle going down the track.

Don Schumacher Racing’s seven-car contingent tested for six days.

DSR's Jack Beckman, in the Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T, was the second-quickest Funny Car driver during the test session with a best pass of 4.037, 312.35, a career best for last year’s second-place finisher. Crew chief Rahn Tobler was pleased with the outing, which closed with an impressive 4.09 at just 305 mph on seven cylinders.
 
"We're very encouraged after the whole week,” he said. "In the daytime we ran well, and we ran well at night. We're very happy. And the work is just beginning. We changed a lot of things when we came here, so we need to get more spares of that and configure our spare car to match this car."
 
Reigning NHRA Full Throttle champ Matt Hagan’s Aaron's Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T recorded a 4.062, 315.71 best in five days. Hagan and crew chief Tommy DeLago were pleased with their efforts, which culminated Saturday with a 4.123 at 307.23 mph.
 
"We learned everything we needed to, and the guys have worked so hard this week. There really wasn't anything else for our Aaron's Dream Machine team to accomplish," Hagan said. "I'm really happy with this new chassis DSR has put out here for us. It's worked really well."
 
DSR's Johnny Gray also found the 4.0-second range with his Service Central Dodge Charger R/T with runs of 4.084, 312.06 and 4.085, 311.99.
 
"This gets you back up to speed," said Gray. "When you don't drive these cars for a few weeks, you get behind; the car starts running you down the racetrack. You come out and make a few runs, and you get your brain back up to speed and get everything back in focus. Your brain starts keeping up with your car."
 
Ron Capps made it four for four for DSR floppers in the 4.0s after booting his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T to a 4.092, 308.92 Saturday. 

Two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon had a best run of 4.068, and Bob Tasca III also was impressive with a pass of 4.098, 308.64.

Former NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel world champ Schumacher, who did not win an event title last season, led the way with his Mike Green-tuned U.S. Army dragster, clocking a best effort of 3.761, 324.28.

"We've run pretty good," Green said. "We've tested everything on our list, and most of it worked. Things look really good. That certainly motivates us more. We have something to prove. It wouldn't matter if we didn't win any races as long as we win the championship. That's our goal. But winning races is part of it, and we plan to win a lot of races this year."

Spencer Massey’s FRAM dragster ran a week’s best of 3.792, 309.84. Massey, who won four races last year in his first season with DSR, drove a new chassis in Florida. It was the first one built for him by DSR.
 
"The plan was to just get down the racetrack," Massey said. "We've tested all week long and learned exactly what we needed to on the FRAM dragster. We didn't try anything new or exciting because what we had last year was obviously good and did an awesome job. We just want to get back on a streak like what we had in the middle of the year when we went 40 runs without smoking the tires. We're ready to go to Pomona right now. We could load up and go straight there and qualify. We're ready for it."

Teammate Antron Brown’s Matco Tools/Aaron's Dream Machine entry also was in the 3.7-second zone with a 3.794, 323.27.
 
"Overall, we had a great week down in South Florida," said Brown. "We just kept getting stronger as the testing went on, and I think my crew did a great job. It's time to go to work, and I'm ready. I feel really good, real relaxed."

Doug Kalitta ran 3.82, 3.83, and 3.84 before turning his Jim Oberhofer-tuned car over to Kalitta Racing teammate Dave Grubnic, who powered it to an impressive 3.78. Bob Vandergriff Jr. made a nice set of passes in his C&J Energy Services entry, including a pair of 3.8s and a pair of 3.83s, all at more than 322 mph. Also on hand Saturday were Terry McMillen, Hillary Will, and Clay Millican.

The Al-Anabi and Morgan Lucas Racing teams tested earlier in the weekend. Rookie Top Fuel pilot Khalid alBalooshi ran a best of 3.794 at a whopping 324.20 mph in the Al-Anabi gold entry, and Langdon’s silver entry ran 3.784 at 322 mph. Langdon also ran 3.817, 3.822, and 3.823. Lucas’ GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster made 15 passes and a number of runs between 3.79 and 3.82 under the guidance of crew chief Aaron Brooks, and new teammate Brandon Bernstein ran a 3.83 four times during the test as well as  3.84 and 3.86 with new crew chief Joe Barlam wrenching the MavTV/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster.

The 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season kicks off Feb. 9-12 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with the 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries. Click here to get your tickets.