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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 17, 2007) - Ron Capps joined his Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car teammate Gary Scelzi at the top of the charts today, earning the No. 3 position behind Scelzi's No. 2 in final qualifying for the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.
Capps drove the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to a 4.772-second elapsed time 322.27 mph in the final pass, which followed his previous runs of 5.086/230.17, 4.810/323.66 (top speed for that round) and a 5.864/151.77 under questionable track conditions both days.
"It obviously ended up good for us," said Capps, the defending Funny Car event champion. "The right lane was real suspect here going into the last session and all of a sudden it came around. So, hats off to Dan Olson, all the track and NHRA guys here and to the Brut Revolution team.
"This last session was neat for spectators to watch all these guys bumping the next guy out and everybody going quicker and quicker. But, as a racer you're up there going, Oh, Man. We started falling past the point of eighth watching everyone run in front of us, and you want to be in the top eight for lane choice for tomorrow.
"I knew we were going to run better, but you roll around the corner and Ace crew chief Ed McCulloch) has his little book out and he's making changes left and right, almost right up until the car was fired, so I knew that he was on top of his game.
"The car left and it had so much clutch dust - and Robert Hight (polesitter in the next lane) was telling me his car did as well. It was hard to see. And all of a sudden at half-track his car just made a move and it was like a video game and it just popped out there. And you're trying to focus on your own lane and keep your car in the groove. When his car popped so far out, the driver in you wants to shut it off. I just didn't have any idea it was running that good, and whether or not he was running that good. I went ahead and stayed on the throttle and thank God I did, because that put us third.
"Here we are, third race in and our focus in the off-season was to make our qualifying positions better and that's what we've done every race. (He qualified No. 3 and 4 in the first two events.) We're just attempting these small goals every weekend: get in the show first lap, qualify in the top half of the field on Saturday after qualifying is over. And the only goal we have left now is to win the race. Things are good right now."
Capps squares off against Tony Bartone in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
ESPN2¹s qualifying coverage has been moved up a half-hour, and the two-hour show will now begin at 1 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 18. Sunday¹s two-hour eliminations coverage on ESPN2 remains the same, starting at 5 p.m.(ET).
CAPPS TAKES NO. 3 IN GATORNATIONALS QUALIFYING
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 17, 2007) - Ron Capps joined his Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car teammate Gary Scelzi at the top of the charts today, earning the No. 3 position behind Scelzi's No. 2 in final qualifying for the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.
Capps drove the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to a 4.772-second elapsed time 322.27 mph in the final pass, which followed his previous runs of 5.086/230.17, 4.810/323.66 (top speed for that round) and a 5.864/151.77 under questionable track conditions both days.
"It obviously ended up good for us," said Capps, the defending Funny Car event champion. "The right lane was real suspect here going into the last session and all of a sudden it came around. So, hats off to Dan Olson, all the track and NHRA guys here and to the Brut Revolution team.
"This last session was neat for spectators to watch all these guys bumping the next guy out and everybody going quicker and quicker. But, as a racer you're up there going, Oh, Man. We started falling past the point of eighth watching everyone run in front of us, and you want to be in the top eight for lane choice for tomorrow.
"I knew we were going to run better, but you roll around the corner and Ace crew chief Ed McCulloch) has his little book out and he's making changes left and right, almost right up until the car was fired, so I knew that he was on top of his game.
"The car left and it had so much clutch dust - and Robert Hight (polesitter in the next lane) was telling me his car did as well. It was hard to see. And all of a sudden at half-track his car just made a move and it was like a video game and it just popped out there. And you're trying to focus on your own lane and keep your car in the groove. When his car popped so far out, the driver in you wants to shut it off. I just didn't have any idea it was running that good, and whether or not he was running that good. I went ahead and stayed on the throttle and thank God I did, because that put us third.
"Here we are, third race in and our focus in the off-season was to make our qualifying positions better and that's what we've done every race. (He qualified No. 3 and 4 in the first two events.) We're just attempting these small goals every weekend: get in the show first lap, qualify in the top half of the field on Saturday after qualifying is over. And the only goal we have left now is to win the race. Things are good right now."
Capps squares off against Tony Bartone in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
ESPN2¹s qualifying coverage has been moved up a half-hour, and the two-hour show will now begin at 1 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 18. Sunday¹s two-hour eliminations coverage on ESPN2 remains the same, starting at 5 p.m.(ET).
