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Capps Reaches Semifinals at NHRA Winternationals
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By NAPA
Ron Capps and his
link hidden, please login to view Toyota GR Supra looked strong in qualifying at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, but the three-time Funny Car world champion didn’t have the Sunday eliminations results he was looking for after a final-round finish at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals two weeks ago. The No. 5 qualifier, Capps struggled to find traction on the starting line Sunday afternoon, leading to a first-round exit. Crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli tuned Capps to the quickest and fastest pass of Friday’s first qualifying session, a 3.877 E.T. at 335.40 MPH, to earn three bonus points. Capps had traction issues in the second session, but he came back on Saturday and ran a pair of 3-second passes, a 3.994 E.T. and a 3.901 E.T., to qualify fifth.
In Sunday’s first round of eliminations, Capps lined up against No. 4 qualifier Alexis DeJoria, No. 12 qualifier J.R. Todd, and No. 13 qualifier Buddy Hull to form the Funny Car Marquee Matchup. Capps drove into tire smoke after smashing the throttle pedal in his NAPA Auto Care machine
and wasn’t able to recover. He noted the team is still figuring out the characteristics of the new car they brought out earlier this month.
“Man, these weekends are tough,” said Capps, a four-time winner at zMAX. “I was so excited for Guido. We unloaded and went to No. 1 qualifier. It shows the hard work that our NAPA Auto Care team did testing Monday after Vegas. I’ve talked time and time again about how we have
to get ahead of the competition. Guido and our team could easily go off of what we ran last year, and we would probably win races and have a shot at a championship, but we’re looking to be better and that’s the sort of thing I love about this team.”
Capps, who’s in his third year as a driver and team owner, pointed out the off-track highlights of an otherwise challenging weekend.
“Obviously, Vegas was such a great race Friday through Sunday, and then you get to Charlotte and all the NASCAR fans came out and we almost sold the place out every day,” Capps said. “It was just an incredible crowd, and we love doing [these Four-Wide races]. We love especially doing it earlier in the year. We see the same fans when we come back in the Countdown for the second race of the playoffs.
“Had a blast all weekend with our Toyota crossover event, and then having my NAPA teammate, Christian Eckes, come hang out with us on Friday, which was a lot of fun,” Capps continued. “I was hoping to take the Wally to NAPA headquarters on Tuesday, but I’m looking forward to hanging out with my NAPA teammates, Brad Sweet, Chase Elliott, and Christian Eckes. It’s a fun event we do every year at headquarters, and then we’ll focus on going to Chicago.”
The Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will have a few weeks away from the track before the next stop on the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, the Route 66 Nationals, May 17-19, at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., outside Chicago.
Start / Finish: No. 5 / def. in first round
Points Standing / Total: No. 6 / 274 pts. (-125)
Next Race: May 17 – 19, Joliet, Ill., Route 66 NHRA Nationals
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By NAPA
In one of the closest Funny Car races in four-wide drag racing history, three-time world champion Ron Capps finished third in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals final round Sunday afternoon at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Driving the link hidden, please login to view Toyota GR Supra, Capps laid down a weekend-best 3.902-second pass at 333.00 MPH to come up just thousandths of a second short in a four-wide photo finish.
Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli worked their way through qualifying, steadily improving in each session. After a pair of 4-second passes on Friday, Capps laid down a 3.988 E.T. at 324.67 MPH to step up in the third session on Saturday. A consistent but slightly quicker 3.980 E.T. in the final session put Capps in the No. 11 position going into Sunday eliminations.
The first quad of Funny Car eliminations was a tricky one, but Capps came out on top. He and fellow Toyota driver J.R. Todd left first with identical .059 reaction times, then Capps held on to win with a 4.289 E.T. at 222.88 MPH over Todd, Dave Richards, and Daniel Wilkerson. Capps was first off of the starting line again in the second round, an advantage that helped him and his 3.932 E.T. finish ahead of Matt Hagan’s 3.938 E.T., Todd’s 3.951-second effort, and Jason Rupert’s 4.055 E.T.
Appearing in his 148th career final round, Capps cut his best light of the day, .056, and charged to his best performance of the weekend to reach the finish line third behind winner Bob Tasca III and runner-up Austin Prock. Capps finished less than a thousandth of a second behind Prock and just nine thousandths behind Tasca.
“What a drag race to watch as a fan,” said Capps, who’s won six times in Las Vegas. “I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am with our NAPA Auto Care team and what they’ve done with a brand-new car and a lot of the new parts that they’ve had to get used to. It usually takes teams a lot longer than this. I’m pretty bummed that we couldn’t win that round. I’m so happy we have our race car back, especially getting on a swing here where Guido is getting comfortable. I’m so happy about the car, but I’m so bummed at the same time. It’s going to take a little bit to digest.”
No. 6-ranked Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will get another shot at four-wide glory in two weeks at the East Coast edition of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 26-28, at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C.
Start / Finish: No. 11 / def. in Final Round
Points Standing / Total: No. 6 / 242 pts.
Next Race: April 26-28, Concord, N.C., NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
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By NAPA
As he celebrated 30 years as a professional drag racer, Funny Car superstar Ron Capps was looking forward to a long race day on Sunday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park. The three-time world champion entered eliminations in the No. 11 position on the ladder but made an early exit against Blake Alexander in the first round of competition.
Aboard his brand-new link hidden, please login to view Toyota GR Supra, Capps battled to gain a favorable spot on the ladder among a stacked Funny Car field. Typically, teams at this elite level within the sport will go through several test sessions with a new car before throwing it into the intensity of NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competition, so Capps, crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli, and the Ron Capps Motorsports team knew that they would experience some trial and error. His first qualifying effort went up in a puff of smoke, but his second attempt showed more promise as he powered to the finish line with a run of 4.020 seconds at 310.34 MPH. A loss of traction in the third qualifying round forced Capps to shut off early, marking the first time in 20 events for him to begin eliminations from the bottom half of the field.
“Building into the race we had the excitement of the 30 years. Having fans come up throughout the weekend and saying, ‘Happy Anniversary’ and things like that, it was fun,” began Capps as he recalled his weekend. “I always try to keep our NAPA fans updated as much as we can about what goes on with our team. We brought out a new chassis. It’s something we built in the off-season. Rather than testing first, we decided to do it in race conditions and that’s hard to do. But it reminds me a lot of our NAPA Auto Care people because I love this process of trying to take something and be the best with something so new. It’s like pulling your car into an AutoCare Center, you have a dash light blinking and technicians can attack that problem, and they don’t just snap their fingers and fix it. It’s a process, especially with today’s cars, as they try to figure out what the problem is. I love watching my NAPA Auto Care guys do the same thing. The car didn’t go down the track in the first run and to watch how many hours they put in trying to figure things out, it was really impressive.”
As Capps lined up against No. 6 qualifier Alexander, hopes were high as he has defeated Alexander seven out of the eight times they’ve faced each other in the first round of eliminations. Despite getting the starting line advantage, Capps ultimately came up short. Both cars lost traction early in the race resulting in a bit of a pedal fest to the stripe, but Alexander was able to get there first.
“There’s an upside and a downside to bringing a new chassis out at a race. It’s a gutsy move. But a couple of races down the road, I know that we are going to be much better because of it. And that’s also part of me having the utmost confidence in Guido and our NAPA Auto Care team. We didn’t qualify in the top half of the field, so we didn’t have lane choice. As we sat in the staging lanes, seeing dragsters winning only in the left lane made me pretty nervous and sure enough we got put in the right lane. That’s part of not qualifying in the top half. We still felt like we could beat them and that’s the confidence we had going up there. But it just wouldn’t hold, and we lost traction. I feel like I could have done a better job pedaling it. I should win those races, but we didn’t. But I feel like we’re going to have a great car for Vegas.”
Capps is currently fifth in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series points as he heads to the next stop on the tour, the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 12-14, where he is a six time winner at the facility.
Start / Finish: No. 11 / def. in first round
Points Standing / Total: No. 5 / 170 pts.
Next Race: April 12 – 14, Las Vegas, NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
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By NAPA
Three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps didn’t predict that a double-step and a red light in the second round would mark the end of his weekend on Sunday afternoon at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. When opponent J.R. Todd double-stepped while waiting for the tree to drop, Capps reacted early and turned on the red light in his quick and consistent
link hidden, please login to view Toyota GR Supra. Capps in his Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-tuned hot rod qualified third after consistently going down the track and making the third-quickest pass in all three completed qualifying sessions; Saturday’s fourth session was canceled due to weather. He picked up one bonus point in each of those sessions. It was Capps’ 3.871-second pass at 333.00 MPH in Friday’s second session that put him third on the final qualifying order.
In the first round of eliminations on Sunday, Capps left the starting line first against Jim Campbell and charged to a 3.870-second pass at 332.18 MPH to get the win over a tire-hazing Campbell. It was the second-quickest performance of the round and Capps’ quickest of the weekend, extending his record over Campbell to a class-record 18-0 and giving him lane choice in the second round.
Capps met up with past world champion and fellow Toyota driver J.R. Todd in the second round. Todd double-stepped the throttle, leading Capps to smash the throttle pedal in his NAPA Auto Care entry. He hit it .037 seconds too soon, as the red light came on in his lane. The third-year team owner coasted to a 4.185-second run at 249.39 MPH knowing he was disqualified due to the red light.
“A heartbreaking Sunday race day, obviously, more so because we had such a great race car,” Capps said. “We were so well prepared for our NAPA Auto Care team to go down the track every single run we were here. Even the run that we lost, with all that went on at the starting line, this car still went down the track under power until they killed the ignition switch on me. It probably would have gone to the finish line, but we didn’t want to take a chance after the weird starting line scenario.”
Capps went into the weekend as a four-time Gatornationals winner who was attempting to tie former boss Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme’s record as the second-winningest Funny Car driver at the historic Florida track. He said the bizarre second-round incident spoke to the pressure that exists in the Funny Car class, especially at the season-opening Gatornationals.
“Obviously, we wanted to get another Gatornationals win, but that was so weird up there,” Capps said. “You’re so keyed up. It was a long delay for the starting line, which is great because I love that. It really makes everybody be on their toes. But when your right foot and your butt is strapped into 13,000 horsepower, you could cut the air with a knife. J.R. just made a mistake, and he felt terrible, but it’s nothing he did wrong. It’s just part of it. I tried to hold my foot, but I heard his car and reacted.”
Capps took comfort in the fact that he didn’t lose due to the performance of his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra. He’s confident the car’s consistency will carry over to the next race at one of his home tracks, In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
“It’s upsetting because of how good a car we had, but it’s also a silver lining leaving here,” said Capps, owner of Ron Capps Motorsports. “It makes it a little less agonizing because I know how good we are right now. We’ll just move on to Pomona with a great hot rod.”
Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will be back on track March 22 – 24 at the NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif.
Start / Finish: No. 3 / def. in second round
Points Standing / Total: 5th / 59 pts.
Next Race: March 22-24, NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, CA
How to Watch or Listen: FS1;
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By NAPA
Defending NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps is leaving Gainesville Raceway with the confidence that he has one of the quickest cars in the class yet again after a second-round exit at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals. The driver of the link hidden, please login to view Toyota GR Supra laid down the second-quickest pass of the event in the first round of Sunday eliminations before going up in smoke in the quarterfinals.
Capps and tuner Dean “Guido” Antonelli made a statement in Saturday qualifying, where Capps recorded the third-quickest pass of Q3 before laying down a 3.874 E.T. at 333.25-mph in the final session to claim the first No. 1 qualifier award of his sophomore season as a team owner and driver. It was Capps’ seventh pole position since forming Ron Capps Motorsports.
“(In the) last session, Q4, to go to the top and get the yellow hat is something we take very seriously,” Capps said. “It’s important to us to be able to fend off such great competition to steal the pole.”
Racing in front of a packed house on Sunday morning, Capps in his NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra fired off a 3.855-second pass at 334.57-mph to defeat Terry Haddock and set what was then low E.T. of the event. In the second round, Capps left first against fellow Toyota driver Alexis DeJoria but lost traction just after leaving the starting line.
“We felt great about race day,” Capps said. “(The weather) warmed up before second round and when I got back from the run and it smoked the tires, I told Guido how spoiled I was because we haven’t done that in a long, long time. We made a small clutch adjustment that caused us to smoke the tires, but we’re very, very happy with everything and I can’t wait to get going to the West Coast.”
Capps, a veteran of the NHRA nitro ranks, started the season with a new look and new body on his Toyota GR Supra Funny Car. There were personnel changes with the retirement of co-crew chief John Medlen after the Ron Capps Motorsports team won its first world championship as an organization at the end of the 2022 season. With one race under their belts, Capps and company are now ready to continue chasing Capps’ third consecutive world championship, and fourth overall, as the NHRA Camping World Series moves on to Phoenix.
“This last off-season was one of my favorites,” Capps said. “We had an extra month, and as an owner, it gave us a little more time to get everything together. Starting the season off with the Gatornationals was something I think the fans really love, and now I’m super excited to head West and get that string of West Coast races started. Couldn’t be happier with the way we started our season here. Test session went great on Tuesday. We brought out our brand-new 2023 Toyota GR Supra Funny Car body, and everything went according to plan.”
The early-season West Coast swing will begin March 24-26 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz.
Start / Finish: Qualified No. 1 / Defeated by Alexis DeJoria in the quarterfinals
Points Earned: 62
2023 NHRA Camping World Series Points Standing / Total: No. 6 / 62 pts. (-52)
Next Race: March 24-26, NHRA Arizona Nationals, Chandler, Ariz.
How to Watch or Listen: FS1;
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