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MADISON, Ill. (May 5, 2007) - NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps qualified No. 7 in his 55th straight national event today, the category's longest qualifying streak. He posted a 4.873-second elapsed time at 314.02 mph in the first of only two qualifying sessions held here at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals.
Both Funny Car qualifying sessions on Friday were rained out, and the driver of the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T, along with his competitors, had to endure both sessions today in hot and humid conditions with another threat of rain. Capps' final attempt produced another consistent 4.878/312.13.
"It's hard enough and stressful usually with four runs, let alone being down to two runs, with the chance of weather impending," said Capps, who is 45 points ahead of Robert Hight entering this event. "So, in the first run everybody was really nervous, and I don't mean our team, I mean every team, and of course the threat of rain this afternoon made it really nerve-wracking.
"We wanted to get down the track, which we did, with the .87 earlier today. Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) made a call where he decided at the last minute to kind of back it down. We watched a couple of team cars go down there and saw the changes they made, so he felt like he needed to back it down. In hindsight the car would've made it and probably would've run a lot better, but that's part of it.
"We stayed in the top half of the field. When you look at it, it's actually our worst qualifying of the year, which is OK by me, because that was the goal we set for ourselves, and we got lane choice. And that's all that matters Sunday morning. We don't know what the weather is going to bring.
"I tell you, every weekend we talk about how brutal and how nerve-wracking it is, it's just incredible. There's a lot of big teams that didn't get in the show in Top Fuel and Funny Car. Right now, we're lucky we accomplished our two goals of qualifying and having lane choice."
Capps faces Gary Densham in first round of eliminations on Sunday.
TV Reminder: Sunday May 6, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air NHRA Race Day, at 11 a.m. (ET). Sunday, May 6, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final round eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).
CAPPS QUALIFIES NO. 7 IN RAIN-SHORTENED ST. LOUIS QUALIFYING
MADISON, Ill. (May 5, 2007) - NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps qualified No. 7 in his 55th straight national event today, the category's longest qualifying streak. He posted a 4.873-second elapsed time at 314.02 mph in the first of only two qualifying sessions held here at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals.
Both Funny Car qualifying sessions on Friday were rained out, and the driver of the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T, along with his competitors, had to endure both sessions today in hot and humid conditions with another threat of rain. Capps' final attempt produced another consistent 4.878/312.13.
"It's hard enough and stressful usually with four runs, let alone being down to two runs, with the chance of weather impending," said Capps, who is 45 points ahead of Robert Hight entering this event. "So, in the first run everybody was really nervous, and I don't mean our team, I mean every team, and of course the threat of rain this afternoon made it really nerve-wracking.
"We wanted to get down the track, which we did, with the .87 earlier today. Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) made a call where he decided at the last minute to kind of back it down. We watched a couple of team cars go down there and saw the changes they made, so he felt like he needed to back it down. In hindsight the car would've made it and probably would've run a lot better, but that's part of it.
"We stayed in the top half of the field. When you look at it, it's actually our worst qualifying of the year, which is OK by me, because that was the goal we set for ourselves, and we got lane choice. And that's all that matters Sunday morning. We don't know what the weather is going to bring.
"I tell you, every weekend we talk about how brutal and how nerve-wracking it is, it's just incredible. There's a lot of big teams that didn't get in the show in Top Fuel and Funny Car. Right now, we're lucky we accomplished our two goals of qualifying and having lane choice."
Capps faces Gary Densham in first round of eliminations on Sunday.
TV Reminder: Sunday May 6, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air NHRA Race Day, at 11 a.m. (ET). Sunday, May 6, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final round eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).
