<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/r_capps_642736.jpg" alt="r_capps_642736" align="left"borders="0"/>
CARLSBAD, Calif. (March 25, 2008) - It's been a tough 2008 NHRA season so far for Ron Capps, the driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T, who has battled for the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship right down to the final event the last three years. After three races, he finds himself in 14th place in the standings following three first-round losses. It's still early in the 24-event schedule, and a third consecutive win at the NHRA Spring Nationals this weekend at Houston Raceway Park would propel him right back in the running.
Capps, who had entered this event the last two years in either first or second place, and left both times as the points leader after claiming victories in both, reflects on this season, the challenges it has presented, and what it will take to get back on top in his quest to garner his first Funny Car championship.
"We got spoiled a little bit with the success we've had the last three years," he said. "At this point of the season the last two years we were leading the points. It's been a strange beginning to the 2008 season. In particular, the rainouts we had in the last two events, where we only had two sessions of qualifying in Phoenix and Gainesville, really changed the weekend for all the teams. So, hopefully we'll get more than just two runs of qualifying in at Houston.
"When you're this far out of the points lead you go up to the starting line for first qualifying earlier than everybody else, which means you don't get to watch many good cars in front of you to see what the track's going to do, so that's a little bit of a disadvantage.
"We stayed and tested in Gainesville on Monday. I drove my car and I drove my teammate Gary Scelzi's car. It was good for me to get more laps in personally, and I think Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) was really working on making the NAPA Dodge a better car for down the road. Right now, I'm not even looking at getting into the Countdown; I'm looking at leading the points and grabbing any extra points going into the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day (when the top 10 teams to vie for the Countdown to One will be determined). We just need a good weekend in Houston to get back on track and get some laps under our belts.
"We've definitely had success in the past in Houston, especially winning two years in a row. Those two wins were huge. But you can't take anything from that. The cars this year are completely different with the extra nitro percentage (90 percent) and the addition of the (100 lbs.) weight.
"Houston is always a tough track to drive because the groove is so tricky. It's a great facility and the Angel family has always done whatever it took to make is as good as possible. I really love the place. I've always done well there and I look forward to going to Houston every year. The fact that we've won there the last two years is just icing on the cake.
"We need to go some rounds," adds Capps, who has been runner-up in the Funny Car championship three times since beginning his pro career in 1995. "We have run into some guys who took some great shots at us and defeated us early in the first three races. Where you qualify plays a lot into it, as well as having a little bit of luck. It's funny. When you look back at the round that we lost in Gainesville, it's probably a pretty good thing that we didn't make a full run or it could have been pretty disastrous at the other end of the track shutting down (when Cruz Pedregon's car exploded at the finish line, sending it into Capps' lane).
"Like I told everybody on the NAPA crew, it could always be worse, no matter what the situation. And we have it pretty darn good right now. We have a car that can win at any time."
RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* No. 14 in Funny Car points after three 2008 events
* Has won Funny Car class at Spring Nationals the last two years (2006 and 2007)
* Qualified No. 3 at 2007 Spring Nationals, won event over Cruz Pedregon
* No. 4 in 2007 Funny Car point standings
* Led 2007 Funny Car point standings by as much as 154 points through 14 of the first 17 races of the season
* Had three wins in seven final rounds in 2007; two semifinal finishes, four quarterfinals, nine first rounds, and one DNQ
* Round win-loss record in 2007 was 32-19
* NAPA AUTO PARTS is new primary sponsor for 2008
* Joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2005
* Has three Skoal Showdown titles: 1998, 1999 and 2002
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first
win for DSR in '05)
* 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, '07, or '08 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 52 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 round win-loss record is 313-234
* 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 (11) and son Caden (6)
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt Late Models, Mini-Sprints and Go-Karts
SCHEDULE: Pro qualifying sessions are scheduled for 2 and 5 p.m. on Friday, March 28. Qualifying continues at 11:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 29 and final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 30.
TICKETS: Tickets are available for the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil. Call Houston Raceway Park at (281) 383-RACE (7223) or check online at Ticketmaster.com.
ON TV: ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise qualifying highlights at 4:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, March 29. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute pre-race show, at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 30. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise the race beginning at 4:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 30.
ON THE WEB: Get live timing, scoring, multimedia and the latest news updates from every NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event on the Internet at NHRA.com.
CAPPS REFLECTS ON SEASON, SHOOTS FOR THIRD STRAIGHT HOUSTON WIN
CARLSBAD, Calif. (March 25, 2008) - It's been a tough 2008 NHRA season so far for Ron Capps, the driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T, who has battled for the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship right down to the final event the last three years. After three races, he finds himself in 14th place in the standings following three first-round losses. It's still early in the 24-event schedule, and a third consecutive win at the NHRA Spring Nationals this weekend at Houston Raceway Park would propel him right back in the running.
Capps, who had entered this event the last two years in either first or second place, and left both times as the points leader after claiming victories in both, reflects on this season, the challenges it has presented, and what it will take to get back on top in his quest to garner his first Funny Car championship.
"We got spoiled a little bit with the success we've had the last three years," he said. "At this point of the season the last two years we were leading the points. It's been a strange beginning to the 2008 season. In particular, the rainouts we had in the last two events, where we only had two sessions of qualifying in Phoenix and Gainesville, really changed the weekend for all the teams. So, hopefully we'll get more than just two runs of qualifying in at Houston.
"When you're this far out of the points lead you go up to the starting line for first qualifying earlier than everybody else, which means you don't get to watch many good cars in front of you to see what the track's going to do, so that's a little bit of a disadvantage.
"We stayed and tested in Gainesville on Monday. I drove my car and I drove my teammate Gary Scelzi's car. It was good for me to get more laps in personally, and I think Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) was really working on making the NAPA Dodge a better car for down the road. Right now, I'm not even looking at getting into the Countdown; I'm looking at leading the points and grabbing any extra points going into the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day (when the top 10 teams to vie for the Countdown to One will be determined). We just need a good weekend in Houston to get back on track and get some laps under our belts.
"We've definitely had success in the past in Houston, especially winning two years in a row. Those two wins were huge. But you can't take anything from that. The cars this year are completely different with the extra nitro percentage (90 percent) and the addition of the (100 lbs.) weight.
"Houston is always a tough track to drive because the groove is so tricky. It's a great facility and the Angel family has always done whatever it took to make is as good as possible. I really love the place. I've always done well there and I look forward to going to Houston every year. The fact that we've won there the last two years is just icing on the cake.
"We need to go some rounds," adds Capps, who has been runner-up in the Funny Car championship three times since beginning his pro career in 1995. "We have run into some guys who took some great shots at us and defeated us early in the first three races. Where you qualify plays a lot into it, as well as having a little bit of luck. It's funny. When you look back at the round that we lost in Gainesville, it's probably a pretty good thing that we didn't make a full run or it could have been pretty disastrous at the other end of the track shutting down (when Cruz Pedregon's car exploded at the finish line, sending it into Capps' lane).
"Like I told everybody on the NAPA crew, it could always be worse, no matter what the situation. And we have it pretty darn good right now. We have a car that can win at any time."
RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* No. 14 in Funny Car points after three 2008 events
* Has won Funny Car class at Spring Nationals the last two years (2006 and 2007)
* Qualified No. 3 at 2007 Spring Nationals, won event over Cruz Pedregon
* No. 4 in 2007 Funny Car point standings
* Led 2007 Funny Car point standings by as much as 154 points through 14 of the first 17 races of the season
* Had three wins in seven final rounds in 2007; two semifinal finishes, four quarterfinals, nine first rounds, and one DNQ
* Round win-loss record in 2007 was 32-19
* NAPA AUTO PARTS is new primary sponsor for 2008
* Joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2005
* Has three Skoal Showdown titles: 1998, 1999 and 2002
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first
win for DSR in '05)
* 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, '07, or '08 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 52 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 round win-loss record is 313-234
* 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 (11) and son Caden (6)
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt Late Models, Mini-Sprints and Go-Karts
SCHEDULE: Pro qualifying sessions are scheduled for 2 and 5 p.m. on Friday, March 28. Qualifying continues at 11:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 29 and final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 30.
TICKETS: Tickets are available for the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil. Call Houston Raceway Park at (281) 383-RACE (7223) or check online at Ticketmaster.com.
ON TV: ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise qualifying highlights at 4:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, March 29. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute pre-race show, at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 30. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise the race beginning at 4:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 30.
ON THE WEB: Get live timing, scoring, multimedia and the latest news updates from every NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event on the Internet at NHRA.com.
