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CARLSBAD, Calif. (July 3, 2007) - As Funny Car points leader Ron Capps aims to solidify a place in the top eight for the new Countdown to the Championship playoff beginning at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day, his familiar Brut Dodge Charger will sport Valvoline colors at this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.
This is the second of four venues this season at which a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car will carry the Valvoline red, white and blue.
"At Valvoline we are psyched for Bristol!" said Rob Stravitz, vice president for global brands at Valvoline. "We have NHRA Funny Car points leader Ron Capps running the Valvoline red, white and blue paint scheme and we have all the DSR drivers running with Valvoline.
"We also have a stellar lineup of Sportsman racers in Valvoline colors, and we have thousands of Valvoline consumers watching the race in the stands and on ESPN2," added Stravitz. "If that were not enough, Valvoline is the Official Motor Oil at Bristol."
Capps is ready to finally arrive at one of the tour's favorite circuits, Bristol Dragway, this weekend after the postponement from May because of track re-surfacing. This is also the third event of a grueling six-race back-to-back swing.
"A lot of drivers and crew guys had plans for this weekend off and when you turn a grueling three-race Western Swing into more than that, and going back and forth across the country, it makes it harder on team members, truck drivers, parts suppliers, and others," said Capps, defending event champion and the winningest driver at this track, with two victories (2006 and 2001). "And we still worry about a track that's had to lay down concrete again like that.
"When we first heard rumors about a postponement, I got a call from our p.r. person, who said that (track owner) Bruton Smith would never let a race like that be postponed, and that's what we all thought. We figured there was no way that that could happen. But, you look back on it now and they easily could have run the race and pled stupidity and everyone would have tried to do the best they could.
"But, Bruton, (track president) Jeff Byrd and all the Bristol Dragway people did the right thing. Yes, it's going to make our schedule tougher, but it shows us they care about making it a safe race track. Obviously there were problems that concerned safety and when you look back at what has happened this year, we just can't take things like that for granted. We were happy to return under improved conditions."
As for the Countdown to the Championship, Capps is 98 points ahead of Robert Hight and would like to remain there for the next six races before the new playoff system kicks in, if only to have a 10-point advantage going into the final six races. "We're like kids in a candy store getting to race all these races in a row," he said. "So, we've got to pace ourselves, keep our heads on straight, focus on staying in the Countdown, and staying in the POWERade points lead. There's nothing better than rolling into Indy and being the points leader.
"Bristol Dragway has been a great track for us in the past, and it's still going to be this weekend. We can't wait. And running the Brut Dodge with the iconic Valvoline colors makes it doubly exciting."
RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* Leading 2007 Funny Car point standings after back-to-back wins in Gainesville and Houston, another win in St. Louis, two runner-up, two semifinal, one quarterfinal, two first-round finishes and a DNQ in first 11 races
* Leads Robert Hight in rankings by 98 points
* Is the defending Bristol event champion and winningest driver at this track, with victories in 2006 and 2001
* No. 8 qualilfier here in 2006, beat John Force in final
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006: Gainesville, Fla., Bristol, Tenn., Topeka, Kan., Houston and Englishtown, N.J.
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first
win for DSR in '05), won at Chicago 2 at Route 66 Raceway and Las Vegas 2
* 2005 Funny Car championship runner-up, eight points short of title
* Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000
* Has seven career No. 1 qualifiers, none in 2006 or 2007 so far
* A perennial fan favorite, Capps has driven and won in both Top Fuel and Funny Cars since he began his pro NHRA career in 1995
* His best season points finishes were seconds in Funny Car in 1998, 2000 and 2005
* He has 25 event wins in 50 final rounds to his credit (24 national event wins in Funny Car, one in Top Fuel)
* His career-best elapsed time (established during an event) is 4.694 seconds, set in 2005 in Dallas
* His career-best speed is 331.61 mph (Pomona 1, '07)
* Capps' career record against 14-time champion Force is 17-38 in round wins. He's won nine of the last 11 meetings against Force, and has won the last four first-round match-ups over Force
* Age 42 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
* Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (10) and son Caden (5)
* Is featured, along with son Caden and the Brut Revolution racing crew, in a number of Brut ads appearing in mainstream magazines, such as People, Sports Illustrated, etc.
* New to Don Schumacher Racing in 2005 after eight years with Don Prudhomme.
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt Late Models, Mini-Sprints and Go-Karts
* Is the subject, along with teammate Tony Schumacher, in the behind-the-scenes TV series, American Dragster, airing on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD
BRUT DODGE TO RUN VALVOLINE RED, WHITE AND BLUE IN BRISTOL AS FC POINTS LEADER CAPPS AIMS TO SOLIDIFY SPOT IN COUNTDOWN
CARLSBAD, Calif. (July 3, 2007) - As Funny Car points leader Ron Capps aims to solidify a place in the top eight for the new Countdown to the Championship playoff beginning at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day, his familiar Brut Dodge Charger will sport Valvoline colors at this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.
This is the second of four venues this season at which a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car will carry the Valvoline red, white and blue.
"At Valvoline we are psyched for Bristol!" said Rob Stravitz, vice president for global brands at Valvoline. "We have NHRA Funny Car points leader Ron Capps running the Valvoline red, white and blue paint scheme and we have all the DSR drivers running with Valvoline.
"We also have a stellar lineup of Sportsman racers in Valvoline colors, and we have thousands of Valvoline consumers watching the race in the stands and on ESPN2," added Stravitz. "If that were not enough, Valvoline is the Official Motor Oil at Bristol."
Capps is ready to finally arrive at one of the tour's favorite circuits, Bristol Dragway, this weekend after the postponement from May because of track re-surfacing. This is also the third event of a grueling six-race back-to-back swing.
"A lot of drivers and crew guys had plans for this weekend off and when you turn a grueling three-race Western Swing into more than that, and going back and forth across the country, it makes it harder on team members, truck drivers, parts suppliers, and others," said Capps, defending event champion and the winningest driver at this track, with two victories (2006 and 2001). "And we still worry about a track that's had to lay down concrete again like that.
"When we first heard rumors about a postponement, I got a call from our p.r. person, who said that (track owner) Bruton Smith would never let a race like that be postponed, and that's what we all thought. We figured there was no way that that could happen. But, you look back on it now and they easily could have run the race and pled stupidity and everyone would have tried to do the best they could.
"But, Bruton, (track president) Jeff Byrd and all the Bristol Dragway people did the right thing. Yes, it's going to make our schedule tougher, but it shows us they care about making it a safe race track. Obviously there were problems that concerned safety and when you look back at what has happened this year, we just can't take things like that for granted. We were happy to return under improved conditions."
As for the Countdown to the Championship, Capps is 98 points ahead of Robert Hight and would like to remain there for the next six races before the new playoff system kicks in, if only to have a 10-point advantage going into the final six races. "We're like kids in a candy store getting to race all these races in a row," he said. "So, we've got to pace ourselves, keep our heads on straight, focus on staying in the Countdown, and staying in the POWERade points lead. There's nothing better than rolling into Indy and being the points leader.
"Bristol Dragway has been a great track for us in the past, and it's still going to be this weekend. We can't wait. And running the Brut Dodge with the iconic Valvoline colors makes it doubly exciting."
RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* Leading 2007 Funny Car point standings after back-to-back wins in Gainesville and Houston, another win in St. Louis, two runner-up, two semifinal, one quarterfinal, two first-round finishes and a DNQ in first 11 races
* Leads Robert Hight in rankings by 98 points
* Is the defending Bristol event champion and winningest driver at this track, with victories in 2006 and 2001
* No. 8 qualilfier here in 2006, beat John Force in final
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006: Gainesville, Fla., Bristol, Tenn., Topeka, Kan., Houston and Englishtown, N.J.
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first
win for DSR in '05), won at Chicago 2 at Route 66 Raceway and Las Vegas 2
* 2005 Funny Car championship runner-up, eight points short of title
* Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000
* Has seven career No. 1 qualifiers, none in 2006 or 2007 so far
* A perennial fan favorite, Capps has driven and won in both Top Fuel and Funny Cars since he began his pro NHRA career in 1995
* His best season points finishes were seconds in Funny Car in 1998, 2000 and 2005
* He has 25 event wins in 50 final rounds to his credit (24 national event wins in Funny Car, one in Top Fuel)
* His career-best elapsed time (established during an event) is 4.694 seconds, set in 2005 in Dallas
* His career-best speed is 331.61 mph (Pomona 1, '07)
* Capps' career record against 14-time champion Force is 17-38 in round wins. He's won nine of the last 11 meetings against Force, and has won the last four first-round match-ups over Force
* Age 42 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
* Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (10) and son Caden (5)
* Is featured, along with son Caden and the Brut Revolution racing crew, in a number of Brut ads appearing in mainstream magazines, such as People, Sports Illustrated, etc.
* New to Don Schumacher Racing in 2005 after eight years with Don Prudhomme.
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt Late Models, Mini-Sprints and Go-Karts
* Is the subject, along with teammate Tony Schumacher, in the behind-the-scenes TV series, American Dragster, airing on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD
