Ron Capps Walks Away from Violent Crash in Opening Round at NHRA Arizona Nationals

CHANDLER, Ariz. (March 23, 2025) – A high-speed explosion at Firebird Motorsports Park sent Ron Capps into the retaining wall in the first round of eliminations at the NHRA Arizona Nationals Sunday morning, destroying Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car. Capps emerged from the wreckage unscathed, though, in a testament to the safety advancements in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series nitro ranks. It was a dramatic first-round exit for Capps, who raced to a runner-up finish at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals and then won the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge of the season on Saturday.

Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli went to the top five in Friday’s opening qualifying session with a 3.995-second pass at 314.90 mph to sit fifth. He moved up a spot with a 3.912 E.T. at 323.50 mph in the second session to end the day in the No. 4 spot. Thanks to his final-round finish at the season opener, Capps took part in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge in the third qualifying session. He laid down a 3.988 E.T. at 314.24 mph – the fifth-quickest pass of the session – to defeat Alexis DeJoria. In the final qualifying session and the #2Fast2Tasty final round, Capps and opponent Matt Hagan left the starting line together before Capps powered to a winning 3.989-second pass at 318.24 mph. It was Capps’ fourth #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge win.

Qualified fourth, Capps met up with No. 13 qualifier Blake Alexander in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations. Capps moved first and held the lead to the eighth-mile mark, but an explosive fireball erupted shortly thereafter, sending the NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra across the track and into the left-side retaining wall just before the quarter-mile mark. With most of the body blown off the chassis, Capps brought the car to a stop and got out of the seat under his own power.

“Guido was set up to go 3.92 or 3.93 and I hit the gas and didn’t see Blake. It was running great, just like yesterday in the final round,” Capps said. “It just happened so fast. In the car, I feel like it just smoked the tires a little bit, and then ‘kaboom.’ All of a sudden it was a convertible, but there was a lot of fire in my face, and I was just trying to get it to settle down. I was kind of bouncing around, and then it wanted to go left. I didn’t have much steering, and it was going hard left and I knew I was still traveling pretty fast. In my head, I’m like, ‘This is not gonna be good,’ so I just braced, honestly, and I didn’t expect to be awake after it hit the wall. It hit the wall, and I was still awake and there was still some fire. I got on the brakes and got it to stop. The ‘chutes were already out, so NHRA safety did its job.”

Capps continued to praise a number of individuals and groups that have focused on improving the safety aspect of the 11,000-horsepower Funny Cars, including Antonelli, chassis builders Precision Built Race Cars (PBRC), Simpson Safety, and the engineers at John Force Racing. Over the 18 years since JFR driver Eric Medlen was killed in a testing accident, Force and his team have continually studied and made improvements to the driver’s compartment in Funny Cars, especially in the head padding area. Following Force’s devastating crash in Virginia last year, Capps and Antonelli installed brand-new, upgraded head padding between the Gainesville and Phoenix races.

“I wanted to get out of the car and find John Force right away and just thank him,” Capps said, “because unfortunately, Eric Medlen started this with the head padding when we lost Eric, but then with John’s accident (at Dallas in 2007), his life was spared because of Eric Medlen’s, and then you fast forward, John’s life was probably spared the second time (in Richmond in 2024) because of his previous accident, and I for sure walked away from mine because of Force’s accident. So, thankfully we and NHRA have learned from all the bad stuff that’s happened and made the safety improvements.”

With just a few days left before the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Series tour, the Ron Capps Motorsports team will work diligently to prepare its backup car.

“I’m thankful we have such great partners like NAPA and Toyota,” said Capps, now in his fourth season as an independent team owner. “Our guys will use their ‘NAPA Know How’ and will be ready for the second back-to-back race in Pomona. Fortunately, we have a backup car that’s as good as the car we just hurt.”

Capps, a California native, will return to his home state for the NHRA Winternationals, March 28-30, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Qualified: No. 4 (3.912 E.T. at 323.50 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 4.165 E.T. at 230.61 MPH defeated by Blake Alexander 4.003 E.T. at 306.67 MPH

NHRA Arizona Nationals

NHRA Arizona Nationals

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