Capps Determined to Rebound from Body-Launching Explosion at Carolina Nationals
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By NAPA
Ron Capps and the
link hidden, please login to view Funny Car team delivered a standout performance Sunday at the NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, racing to the final round of the milestone 1,000th NHRA Funny Car event before a narrow loss to Matt Hagan. After qualifying No. 2, Capps ran a series of passes in the 3.80-second range, including low E.T. of the event, on the way to his 159th career final round. With the runner-up finish, Capps is now tied for the Funny Car points lead with Hagan following race three of the 20-race NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Funny Car’s first qualifying session on Friday was a challenging one for Capps and his fellow competitors, but with Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli turning the knobs, he charged to a 4.007-second pass at 314.17 mph in the second session. That was the third-quickest performance of the round, rewarding Capps with one championship bonus point and the provisional No. 3 position. By reaching the semifinals at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, which he ultimately won, Capps earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during Saturday qualifying. Capps left the line first against Paul Lee, but he started to lose traction and backed off the throttle. He then rebounded to a 3.919 E.T. at 330.88 mph in the final session to grab two more bonus points and climb up to the No. 2 position in the final qualifying order.
In the first round of eliminations on Sunday, Capps left the starting line ahead of young gun Dylan Winefsky, and though he lost traction, pedaled, dropped cylinders, and shut off early, he crossed the finish line first with a 4.977 E.T. Capps came back stronger in the quarterfinals, where he fired off low E.T. of the round, a 3.884-second pass at 332.34 mph, to defeat Alexis DeJoria. Capps and Antonelli lowered the boom yet again in the semifinals with a 3.863 E.T. at 330.31 mph – low E.T. of the event – to hold off rookie Jordan Vandergriff and his 3.889 E.T.
Following a quick turnaround to race under the lights in the 1,000th NHRA Funny Car final round, Capps lined up next to fellow multi-time world champion Matt Hagan for the 85th time in eliminations. The NAPA Auto Care machine moved off the starting line first, but Hagan pulled ahead at the finish line, with Capps recording a 3.893 E.T. at 334.32 mph to Hagan’s winning 3.876 E.T.
“You really couldn’t ask for a better final in a lot of different ways,” Capps said. “It was really mano a mano with both teams – ‘Stretch’ (Mike Knudsen, Hagan’s crew chief) and Guido and then Matt and me. I get up for racing Matt. He was a teammate of mine for a long time and I know how good he is. To me, that’s like a ‘Snake’ and ‘Jungle Jim’ race back in the day. You’ve got a great car, you get up there and you throw down, then you add the fact that it’s Pomona on a late Sunday night under the lights and the 1,000th win in Funny Car is on the line. There’s so many cool things about it. I’m bummed it didn’t go our way, but at the same time, we have a good hot rod, and we moved up in points. I’m just so proud of Guido and the guys.”
Capps will look to solidify the points lead at the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Series schedule, the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, April 24-26, at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina.
Start / Finish: No. 2 / def. in final round
Points Standing / Total: No. 1 / 251 pts. (tied)
Next Race: April 24-26, NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, Concord, NC
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By NAPA
Ron Capps and the
link hidden, please login to view Funny Car team turned chaos into a commanding victory Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park. The three-time world champion overcame a rocky start in qualifying and bounced back from an engine explosion in the quarterfinals to earn his 78th career national event Wally and his 10th since becoming a team owner in 2022. The veteran wheelman set low E.T. of all four elimination rounds, including the final, where he defeated second-year driver Spencer Hyde. Capps is now ranked third in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car points standings.
Capps’ weekend began with adversity in qualifying as he smoked the tires in both Friday sessions and went into Saturday outside the 16-car field. Crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli mastered the third session, guiding Capps to a 4.023-second pass at 317.79 mph to move into the top half of the field. It was also the second-quickest performance of the round, landing Capps two bonus points. Like almost every other Funny Car driver, Capps’ machine lost traction early in the fourth session and he locked in the No. 7 position for Sunday eliminations.
Capps kicked off race day in a big way, as he left first against three-time NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia Funny Car champion Jason Rupert and set low E.T. of the round with a 3.980-second pass at 323.19 mph to advance. Capps then led wire-to-wire in his second-round match against Daniel Wilkerson, winning with a 4.144 E.T. to Wilkerson’s 4.157 E.T. But just as Capps crossed the finish line, a massive engine explosion split his Funny Car body in half and sent him into the wall. The incident was eerily similar to the one Capps suffered at this race one year ago, but he managed to scuff the wall, saving the chassis. The NAPA Auto Care team thrashed to rebuild the car fitted with a spare body and made it to the ready line just in time for a semifinal race against defending event winner Paul Lee. The two drivers left the starting line together before Capps pulled ahead to win with a 4.124-second pass at 303.09 mph.
Capps went into the final round with lane choice over No. 1 qualifier Spencer Hyde. The NAPA Auto Care Funny Car led the way from starting line to finish line, posting another 4.124 E.T. at 303.23 mph for the win. It was Capps’ 77th Funny Car win and fourth at Phoenix, but this time, he hoisted a special diamond edition Wally to commemorate NHRA’s 75th anniversary season.
“This is the coveted one right here,” Capps said as he held up the trophy. “You just think of the legacy and what’s gone into this. This is unbelievable. Thank you to Wally Parks, first of all. Katherine (Wooten) and everyone at NAPA, all the NAPA Auto Care people. We knew this was going to be a battle of attrition and dropped cylinders today. A couple of those runs, there was no way I would imagine that would have got us lane choice, but it did. It was like a bracket car. This win reminded me a lot of first my win in St. Louis [1997] because it was hot and we had 150-degree track temps there and we dropped cylinders all day but still won the race.
“You want to just take these (trophies) and chop them up into 6,000 pieces for all the different NAPA stores and NAPA Auto Cares,” he continued. “Carlyle Tools came on board and has done so much fun stuff with Maddi and me. NHRA, 75 years, it’s so awesome to win here. Everybody said I had bad luck, but look, we ended up winning. Monster Energy coming on board has been so much fun. Ron Capps Motorsports, we’re having fun right now.”
Next up for Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team is the NHRA Winternationals, April 10-12, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif., where he will also compete in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge. As a California native, it’s one of the tracks Capps calls home. He’s also won the Winternationals four times, most recently in 2021.
Start / Finish: No. 7 / winner in final round
Points Standing / Total: No. 3 / 151 pts. (-23)
Next Race: April 10-12, NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, Calif.
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By NAPA
A weekend of record high temperatures presented challenges for teams competing at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, but Rookie of the Year contender Maddi Gordon and her
link hidden, please login to view Top Fuel team adapted well and reached the semifinals for the second consecutive race Sunday afternoon at Firebird Motorsports Park. The Ron Capps Motorsports driver had the quickest car on the property on Friday and ultimately qualified a career-best fourth, setting up a promising race day in the heat. Gordon is now fifth in the Top Fuel points standings after the second of 20 races.
With crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching calling the shots, Gordon was the star of the first qualifying session on Friday morning as she fired off the only sub-4-second pass of the session, a 3.844-second E.T. at 329.42 mph. Though she didn’t improve in the second session, she maintained the top spot to end the day as the provisional No. 1 qualifier for the first time as a professional driver. Saturday brought Gordon’s first career Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, a race-within-a-race featuring the semifinalists from the previous event. It was a side-by-side race from stripe to stripe, but Gordon’s 3.806 E.T. came up just a tick short to two-time and reigning world champion Doug Kalitta and his 3.804 E.T. In the challenging final qualifying session, Gordon’s machine lost traction around half-track and coasted to the finish line, ultimately settling into the No. 4 starting position.
On Sunday morning, Gordon lined up against newcomer Jaren Mott. Gordon grabbed the starting line advantage and never looked back, powering to a 3.852-second pass at 324.98 mph to move on. Gordon then met up with 2025 regular season champion Tony Stewart in the quarterfinals. Though Stewart moved first, Gordon drove around him with an ultra-consistent 3.851 E.T. at 324.83 mph. In the semifinals, matched up with past world champion Shawn Langdon, Gordon started to lose traction down-track and coasted across the finish line behind Langdon. She did, however, earn a spot in the next Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge with her semifinal appearance.
“Rob and Troy have proven they know how to walk it down the hot racetracks,” Gordon said. “It’s not about applying all the power. It’s walking it through there, which can be harder than trying to slam down those fast runs at times. I’m just really, really happy. I was in the car just looking around, thinking, ‘There is nobody else I’d rather drive for than Ron (Capps), Rob and Troy, Chuck (Grospitch), everybody on our team, Carlyle Tools, and Monster Energy.
“My reaction times are getting a little bit more consistent in the .080s, and my dad and I worked on that on the practice tree this weekend,” continued Gordon, referencing her father, three-time NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion Doug Gordon. “As much time as the crew chiefs spend in the lounge making the race car go fast, I try to spend the same amount of time making me the best driver I can be. My reaction time on the starting line and my reaction time catching it when it smokes the tires or something like that is what’s going to make me a valuable driver, so that’s what I’m trying to work on.”
Gordon’s rookie season behind the wheel of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster will continue in three weeks at one of her home races on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the NHRA Winternationals, April 10-12, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, California.
Start / Finish: No. 4 / def. in semifinals
Points Standing / Total: No. 5 / 152 pts. (-24)
Next Race: April 10-12, NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, Calif.
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By NAPA
Ron Capps kicked off NHRA’s 75th anniversary season by qualifying his link hidden, please login to view Funny Car in the No. 1 spot to score the first Funny Car pole of the year at the NHRA Gatornationals. As a seven-time Gainesville Raceway finalist, Capps was looking to add to his four wins at the historic facility, but an upset loss in the opening round of eliminations Sunday morning ended his day early.
Capps qualified on the strength of his Q2 pass of 3.890 seconds at 334.07 mph and was the only Funny Car racer to dip into the 3.8-second range during opening weekend of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Knowing they were safely in the show, crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli and the NAPA team used Saturday’s remaining two qualifying rounds as test sessions to prepare for Sunday eliminations and felt they had a solid plan in place heading into round one against No. 16 qualifier John Smith. The three-time Funny Car world champion was first off the line but his machine started rattling the tires. He pedaled the car and got it to hook back up, but the ignition box was inadvertently shut off, allowing Smith to drive away with the win. While the early exit was a disappointment, Capps was not deterred and is eager to head to Phoenix for the Arizona Nationals and a chance to rebound.
“We left the Finals in Pomona at the end of last year and we already knew what we wanted to test to get better,” said Capps, who debuted as a multi-car team owner for the first time at the Gatornationals with the addition of Maddi Gordon and the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel team. “A lot of work was done at the shop with both teams, obviously getting the dragster together and ready for Maddi’s licensing and then the Funny Car team, we had a great game plan and it all came together. We made great runs in testing and Guido was very excited about coming to race under these warm weather conditions.
“Everyone had that decent shot Friday night, and obviously we were number one with that 3.89, which is always great. With the time change Saturday night and the track conditions the way they were, we figured first round was going to be pretty fast. But, typical Gainesville. I always say, the wins I’ve had here, you always feel like you’ve run multiple events in one day because it’s so demanding. It’s hot, humid, hard on the teams, hard on the drivers. And first round was tough, you never discount Paul Smith, that’s a car that will go down the track so you cannot make mistakes. We went out, rattled the tires. I started pedaling and got it going again, but unfortunately, the ignition box inadvertently shut off, and I was just a sitting duck out there and John Smith was able to drive around me. It’s a bummer, but the great thing is we know we’ve got a good hot rod. We’ve got a weekend off and then we’ll get right back at it in Phoenix.”
Up next for Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team is the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park, where Capps made his professional debut in 1995 while competing in the Top Fuel category.
Start / Finish: No. 1/ def. in first round
Points Standing / Total: 9th / 41 points (-74)
Next Race: March 20-22, NHRA Arizona Nationals, Chandler, Ariz.
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By NAPA
The new era of Kasey Kahne Racing officially began last week as Daison Pursley made his debut behind the wheel of the
link hidden, please login to view No. 9 at Volusia Speedway Park during the prestigious DIRTcar Nationals with the World of Outlaws. After an offseason dedicated to building KKR’s program around Pursley, the event marked the first opportunity for the newly assembled team to compete together. Team owner Kasey Kahne remains heavily involved in the pits alongside newly appointed crew chief Jarrett Martin, who stepped into the leadership role late last season. Returning for his third year with the organization, Tayte Williamson continues to serve as car chief and engine specialist, while Ryan Boyd joined the team as tire specialist following prior success working with Pursley.
The stacked field at Volusia featured 44 of the top sprint car drivers in the country, providing an early-season test for the NAPA team.
On Wednesday, Pursley qualified 11th in Group A among 22 in the group, placing the NAPA No. 9 sixth on the grid for the heat race. He maintained position to finish sixth, transferring to the Last Chance Showdown.
A strong run in the B-Main resulted in a fourth-place finish, locking Pursley into the 25-lap feature event with a 24th-place starting position.
The NAPA team delivered a fast race car. Pursley quickly charged through the field, advancing to 11th just 12 laps into the race before an ignition box failure forced him into the work area. The crew made rapid repairs and returned him to competition at the tail of the field.
Undeterred, Pursley again showcased impressive speed, climbing back through traffic to finish 13th — a great recovery that highlighted the team’s potential in its first outing together.
Thursday’s program was canceled due to inclement weather.
On Friday, Pursley timed in 15th in Group B, lining up eighth in the third heat race. He advanced two positions to finish sixth, narrowly missing an automatic transfer to the feature by one spot.
Starting fourth in the B-Main, the team elected to make adjustments to gather additional data on the new combination. The changes ultimately made the car more difficult to maneuver, resulting in a seventh-place finish and ending the night short of the feature event.
Armed with valuable notes from the previous nights, the NAPA No. 9 team responded on Saturday with speed in qualifying, posting the fifth-fastest lap in Group B out of 20 cars in that flight.
A fourth-place finish in the heat race secured a direct transfer into the feature, where Pursley started 14th. He maintained a strong pace throughout the event and advanced one position to bring the NAPA No. 9 home in 13th at the checkered flag.
Despite the challenges that come with launching the new program, the weekend proved productive for the Kasey Kahne Racing squad. The team showed consistent speed, gained valuable data, and continued building chemistry with each night on track.
With momentum already forming, the focus continues toward the High Limit Racing season opener, scheduled for March 12–14 at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. KKR plans to compete in additional World of Outlaws events in the coming weeks to further strengthen the program ahead of the High Limit championship campaign.
Start / Finish:
Wednesday, Feb. 4: 24 / 13
Friday, Feb. 6: 4 / 7 (B-Main)
Saturday, Feb. 7: 14 / 13
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