BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 8, 2025) – Ron Capps powered his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car to victory Sunday evening at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, making him the winningest NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series driver at the historic Bristol Dragway with eight wins. Already the leader in Funny Car wins, Capps went into the weekend tied with Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher as the win leaders across all four pro classes. It was Capps’ first win since the prestigious 2023 U.S. Nationals. With the final-round victory over recent first-time winner Paul Lee, Capps moved up a spot to fourth in the NHRA Funny Car points standings.
In the first qualifying session, Capps expertly piloted the NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra through a downpour near the finish line. After the NHRA Safety Safari dried and prepped the track, crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli found the right combination for track conditions and Capps launched his 12,000-horsepower Funny Car to the top half of the ladder with a run of 3.960 seconds at 324.51 mph, the second-fastest pass of the session.
On Saturday, Capps and the NAPA Auto Care team showed that consistency is key when they made another impressive qualifying effort with the third-fastest pass of the final session, a 3.978 at 326.56.
Beginning race day from the No. 3 position, Capps faced his former Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Matt Hagan, in the first round of eliminations. In one of the closest matchups of the round, Capps used a 4.05 E.T. at 316.90 mph to reach the finish line first ahead of Hagan and his 4.068 E.T. Capps didn’t have lane choice for his second-round meeting with J.R. Todd and ended up in the troublesome right lane, but Guido and the NAPA team flexed their ‘NAPA Know How’ yet again. Capps left the line ahead of Todd and charged to a 4.111 E.T. at 312.21 mph to move on to the semifinals, where he earned lane choice over Dave Richards. The semifinals saw Capps leave on Richards, who went into immediate tire smoke, while Capps coasted to a 4.371 E.T. after Antonelli shut him off due to dropped cylinders.
Just moments before the final rounds were set to take place, an unexpected rain shower soaked Bristol Dragway, delaying the finals into the evening. The track surface cooled in the process, giving Capps, Lee, and their crew chiefs the conditions needed to throw down the most thrilling side-by-side Funny Car race of the weekend in the final round. Capps launched first in the NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra and laid down the quickest pass of race day, a 3.957-second pass at 328.06 mph, to hold off Lee and his 3.967 E.T. at 306.88 mph.
“Anytime you win, it feels good,” said Capps. “We were set back pretty good with the Phoenix ordeal. A new car’s being built, but what I love about Guido is he had our backup car ready to run. We pulled it out four days later in Pomona and went right to No. 1 qualifier. I love how organized he is and how much he looks ahead. I love that he can throw down that 3.95, after the rain, not having lane choice. We got our first win for Toyota here with our organization (in 2022). We want to give them as many wins as we can going out this year. They’ve been an unbelievable partner. We doubled up for Toyota with Steve (Torrence, Top Fuel event winner). So we will celebrate for a couple of days, then put it away because we’ve got to get ready.”
Bristol was Capps’ first win in nine final-round appearances since his 2023 U.S. Nationals victory. With Antonelli at the helm, Capps kept the faith that he’d return to the winner’s circle after so many close calls.
“Even last year when people considered us struggling, I never, ever questioned Guido. Not once,” said Capps, who has two runner-up finishes this season. “We knew we had a big plan. There were clutch discs and a lot of things we knew we had to get right. After winning the championship (in 2022), we knew we had to get better. I knew we’d have times like last year where we’d struggle a little bit. As an owner, I watched Don Schumacher and Don Prudhomme go through that with different teams. I’ve always said to myself I’d try to handle it a certain way. This is just a payoff right here.”
Along with becoming the winningest pro driver at Bristol, Capps joined 16-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force as a driver to have eight or more wins at the same event. Force is one of the drivers Capps passed on his road to becoming the winningest Funny Car driver at Bristol.
“This is a grueling track,” Capps said. “Any time you can win more than John Force anywhere, it’s huge. I’ll be No. 2 to John Force in everything my whole life, but even when I’m dead and gone, it’s going to be people looking back at the record books, and to say we’re in the same era as John Force is going to be cool, but when you’re able to win this many times at a track that is so demanding on drivers and crew chiefs and teams, you feel like you won a championship when you win here.”
Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will carry their momentum into the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, the NHRA Virginia Nationals, June 20-22, at Virginia Motorsports Park outside Richmond.
Qualified: No. 3 (3.960 E.T. at 326.56 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 4.050 E.T. at 316.90 MPH defeated Matt Hagan 4.068 E.T. at 323.58 MPH
E2: 4.111 E.T. at 312.21 MPH defeated J.R. Todd 4.324 E.T. at 223.88 MPH
E3: 4.371 E.T. at 213.30 MPH defeated Dave Richards 10.217 E.T. at 85.82 MPH
E4: 3.957 E.T. at 328.06 MPH defeated Paul Lee 3.967 E.T. at 306.88 MPH
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
The post Ron Capps Becomes Winningest Pro Driver at Bristol Dragway with Eighth NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Victory appeared first on Ron Capp Motorsports.
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In the first qualifying session, Capps expertly piloted the NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra through a downpour near the finish line. After the NHRA Safety Safari dried and prepped the track, crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli found the right combination for track conditions and Capps launched his 12,000-horsepower Funny Car to the top half of the ladder with a run of 3.960 seconds at 324.51 mph, the second-fastest pass of the session.
On Saturday, Capps and the NAPA Auto Care team showed that consistency is key when they made another impressive qualifying effort with the third-fastest pass of the final session, a 3.978 at 326.56.
Beginning race day from the No. 3 position, Capps faced his former Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Matt Hagan, in the first round of eliminations. In one of the closest matchups of the round, Capps used a 4.05 E.T. at 316.90 mph to reach the finish line first ahead of Hagan and his 4.068 E.T. Capps didn’t have lane choice for his second-round meeting with J.R. Todd and ended up in the troublesome right lane, but Guido and the NAPA team flexed their ‘NAPA Know How’ yet again. Capps left the line ahead of Todd and charged to a 4.111 E.T. at 312.21 mph to move on to the semifinals, where he earned lane choice over Dave Richards. The semifinals saw Capps leave on Richards, who went into immediate tire smoke, while Capps coasted to a 4.371 E.T. after Antonelli shut him off due to dropped cylinders.
Just moments before the final rounds were set to take place, an unexpected rain shower soaked Bristol Dragway, delaying the finals into the evening. The track surface cooled in the process, giving Capps, Lee, and their crew chiefs the conditions needed to throw down the most thrilling side-by-side Funny Car race of the weekend in the final round. Capps launched first in the NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra and laid down the quickest pass of race day, a 3.957-second pass at 328.06 mph, to hold off Lee and his 3.967 E.T. at 306.88 mph.
“Anytime you win, it feels good,” said Capps. “We were set back pretty good with the Phoenix ordeal. A new car’s being built, but what I love about Guido is he had our backup car ready to run. We pulled it out four days later in Pomona and went right to No. 1 qualifier. I love how organized he is and how much he looks ahead. I love that he can throw down that 3.95, after the rain, not having lane choice. We got our first win for Toyota here with our organization (in 2022). We want to give them as many wins as we can going out this year. They’ve been an unbelievable partner. We doubled up for Toyota with Steve (Torrence, Top Fuel event winner). So we will celebrate for a couple of days, then put it away because we’ve got to get ready.”
Bristol was Capps’ first win in nine final-round appearances since his 2023 U.S. Nationals victory. With Antonelli at the helm, Capps kept the faith that he’d return to the winner’s circle after so many close calls.
“Even last year when people considered us struggling, I never, ever questioned Guido. Not once,” said Capps, who has two runner-up finishes this season. “We knew we had a big plan. There were clutch discs and a lot of things we knew we had to get right. After winning the championship (in 2022), we knew we had to get better. I knew we’d have times like last year where we’d struggle a little bit. As an owner, I watched Don Schumacher and Don Prudhomme go through that with different teams. I’ve always said to myself I’d try to handle it a certain way. This is just a payoff right here.”
Along with becoming the winningest pro driver at Bristol, Capps joined 16-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force as a driver to have eight or more wins at the same event. Force is one of the drivers Capps passed on his road to becoming the winningest Funny Car driver at Bristol.
“This is a grueling track,” Capps said. “Any time you can win more than John Force anywhere, it’s huge. I’ll be No. 2 to John Force in everything my whole life, but even when I’m dead and gone, it’s going to be people looking back at the record books, and to say we’re in the same era as John Force is going to be cool, but when you’re able to win this many times at a track that is so demanding on drivers and crew chiefs and teams, you feel like you won a championship when you win here.”
Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will carry their momentum into the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, the NHRA Virginia Nationals, June 20-22, at Virginia Motorsports Park outside Richmond.
Qualified: No. 3 (3.960 E.T. at 326.56 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 4.050 E.T. at 316.90 MPH defeated Matt Hagan 4.068 E.T. at 323.58 MPH
E2: 4.111 E.T. at 312.21 MPH defeated J.R. Todd 4.324 E.T. at 223.88 MPH
E3: 4.371 E.T. at 213.30 MPH defeated Dave Richards 10.217 E.T. at 85.82 MPH
E4: 3.957 E.T. at 328.06 MPH defeated Paul Lee 3.967 E.T. at 306.88 MPH
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA SUPERGRIP Thunder Valley Nationals
The post Ron Capps Becomes Winningest Pro Driver at Bristol Dragway with Eighth NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Victory appeared first on Ron Capp Motorsports.
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