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COMMERCE, Ga. (April 29, 2007) - Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Ron Capps held on to his points lead in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings with his semifinal finish today at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He is now 45 points ahead of Robert Hight, who won his second straight national event.
On his journey to the semifinals, No. 6 qualifier Capps first eliminated Jim Head with a 4.853-second elapsed time at 314.24 mph from the right lane, which turned out to be the lane of choice for the remainder of the day. With lane choice again in the second round, Capps easily defeated Jeff Arend with a 4.940/305.01.
That winning lap didn't earn him lane choice for the semifinal match-up against Robert Hight. Despite that, it looked like it would be another close contest between the pair, as both took off with near identical reaction times (.077 for Capps, .074 for Hight), until a dropped cylinder on Capps' Brut Dodge and not loss of traction slowed him to a 4.989-second pass at 297.88 mph to Hight's winning 4.906/311.56. Margin of victory: .0856 of a second.
"Throughout the weekend in cool conditions I was definitely favoring the left lane," said Capps. "There was less negotiation required. The sun came out today and you ask any driver out here and he (or she) will tell you that the right lane was tougher. But the right one was a better lane all the way around, so it would have been nice to have kept lane choice, and we lost it.
"It dropped a cylinder in the heat of the day against Robert and that team had lane choice and it probably cost us. But it's still a good weekend. I told Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) that there weren't too many guys who went down that left lane all day, once the sun came out. We were locked together with Robert pretty good up until we lost the cylinder and then he drove around us. They ran great. It was a great run for the heat of the day.
"It's all hindsight now. Ace is mad because he thinks he could've done something a little different, but you can't look at it that way. Nobody had gone down that lane, we had to go down it, and we proved to everybody once again that we can still go down the track even though we're in the lesser lane. But we just got outrun, so hat's off to those guys.
"It was such a marquee match-up against (crew chief Jimmy) Prock and Hight for us. I know that the Brut guys get up for it, Ace gets up for it and I get up for it, for sure. They're one of the best teams out here right now. You have to bring your best stuff when you go to the starting line against those guys."
Next up is the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Raceway Park May4-6 in Madison, Ill., just outside of St. Louis.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 532
2. Robert Hight, 487 (winner today)
3. Tony Pedregon, 369
4. Jim Head, 333
5. Gary Scelzi, 332
6. Mike Ashley, 307 (runner-up today)
7. Jeff Arend, 258
8. Ashley Force, 246
9. Del Worsham, 228
10. Cruz Pedregon, 223
11. Jack Beckman, 210
CAPPS HOLD ON TO POINTS LEAD, GOES TO SEMIS IN ATLANTA
COMMERCE, Ga. (April 29, 2007) - Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Ron Capps held on to his points lead in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings with his semifinal finish today at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He is now 45 points ahead of Robert Hight, who won his second straight national event.
On his journey to the semifinals, No. 6 qualifier Capps first eliminated Jim Head with a 4.853-second elapsed time at 314.24 mph from the right lane, which turned out to be the lane of choice for the remainder of the day. With lane choice again in the second round, Capps easily defeated Jeff Arend with a 4.940/305.01.
That winning lap didn't earn him lane choice for the semifinal match-up against Robert Hight. Despite that, it looked like it would be another close contest between the pair, as both took off with near identical reaction times (.077 for Capps, .074 for Hight), until a dropped cylinder on Capps' Brut Dodge and not loss of traction slowed him to a 4.989-second pass at 297.88 mph to Hight's winning 4.906/311.56. Margin of victory: .0856 of a second.
"Throughout the weekend in cool conditions I was definitely favoring the left lane," said Capps. "There was less negotiation required. The sun came out today and you ask any driver out here and he (or she) will tell you that the right lane was tougher. But the right one was a better lane all the way around, so it would have been nice to have kept lane choice, and we lost it.
"It dropped a cylinder in the heat of the day against Robert and that team had lane choice and it probably cost us. But it's still a good weekend. I told Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) that there weren't too many guys who went down that left lane all day, once the sun came out. We were locked together with Robert pretty good up until we lost the cylinder and then he drove around us. They ran great. It was a great run for the heat of the day.
"It's all hindsight now. Ace is mad because he thinks he could've done something a little different, but you can't look at it that way. Nobody had gone down that lane, we had to go down it, and we proved to everybody once again that we can still go down the track even though we're in the lesser lane. But we just got outrun, so hat's off to those guys.
"It was such a marquee match-up against (crew chief Jimmy) Prock and Hight for us. I know that the Brut guys get up for it, Ace gets up for it and I get up for it, for sure. They're one of the best teams out here right now. You have to bring your best stuff when you go to the starting line against those guys."
Next up is the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Raceway Park May4-6 in Madison, Ill., just outside of St. Louis.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 532
2. Robert Hight, 487 (winner today)
3. Tony Pedregon, 369
4. Jim Head, 333
5. Gary Scelzi, 332
6. Mike Ashley, 307 (runner-up today)
7. Jeff Arend, 258
8. Ashley Force, 246
9. Del Worsham, 228
10. Cruz Pedregon, 223
11. Jack Beckman, 210
