News Director 
Story By: SCOTT SMITH / NHRA – TOPEKA, KS – Robert Hight is the current No. 1 qualifier for Funny Car after only one qualifying session due to inclement weather at the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties at Heartland Park Topeka.
Steve Torrence (Top Fuel) and Bo Butner (Pro Stock) are also current No. 1 qualifiers at the eighth event of 24 on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.
Hight powered his Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car to a 3.826-second pass at 337.66 mph to set the national speed record for the category during the lone qualifying session of the day.
“We just had killer conditions today,” Hight said. “You always run big records, big speeds and big E.T.’s here in Topeka. The racing surface is unbelievable. We’ve been creeping up on this for a while; it was just the perfect storm today.”
Current world champion Ron Capps is in second after his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T ran a pass of 3.870 at 325.22. Matt Hagan is third with a 3.885 at 332.51 run in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T.
Torrence leads qualifying with his run of 3.682 at 328.54 in his Capco Contractors dragster. He is coming off back-to-back wins at Charlotte and Atlanta.
“With the weather conditions that we have here it was very imperative to go out and make a good lap,” Torrence stated. “We saw quite a few cars go out and smoke the tires and knew the conditions were going to be conducive to go out and run well.”
Brittany Force and the Monster Energy dragster are second with her pass of 3.730 at 392.02 and three-time world champion Antron Brown is third with a 3.748 at 326.87 run in his Matco Tools dragster.
Butner holds the Pro Stock top spot after running a 6.613 at 207.78 in his Jim Butner Auto Chevrolet Camaro. He most recently won at Atlanta and is currently second in points.
“We’ve had a good run,” Butner said. “I’ve had a good car and a lot of great support, but our Camaro is fast.”
Jeg Coughlin Jr. in his JEGS.com / Elite Performance Chevrolet Camaro is in second with a 6.616 at 207.62 and veteran Greg Anderson ran a 6.632 at 207.21 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro for third.
Qualifying for the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties continues at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka.
