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CARLSBAD, Calif. (June 27, 2007) - Ron Capps, the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader since the fourth event of 10 so far, is eager to get to this weekend's Inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. He's vying for his first Funny Car championship and he'll be checking off each of the next seven national events before the Countdown to the Championship begins at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day.
Winner of three events this season, the most in the Funny Car class, the pilot of the Brut "Test Drive" Dodge Charger R/T holds a strong 123-point lead over Robert Hight. He and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch know that edge won't mean much when the Countdown begins, as the standings will revert to 10-point increments among the top eight.
But that margin will help Capps and McCulloch overcome those butterflies that come with having to learn a new race track.
"I personally have never been to Norwalk," said Capps. "I've read and heard about all the Fourth of July races they had every year. I know John Force has raced at Norwalk for a lot of years, and I've always heard great things about it.
"I've seen pictures of it and it's always been a place I wanted to go to. When NHRA made the decision to race there this year, Man, it got everybody pretty excited.
"It's great for the Brut Dodge crew guys, because the race is close to the Don Schumacher Racing shop in Brownsburg, Ind., and they can get their families out and that always makes for a more relaxed weekend. Also, any time we know we're going to a track that's well prepared, it takes a little bit of the pressure off the crew chiefs.
"Norwalk has had pretty good cars running pretty good numbers there in the past, so the word spread very quickly as to how good the place really is.
"I know that the conditions are expected to be very warm. That is going to put the pressure on the track surface as far as trying to hold up under the warm weather. But, it's the same for everybody. The crew chiefs right now are just fighting to get used to the tracks the last few races and find a happy medium where we can go down the track when it's 120-plus degrees on the surface."
There's a fierce battle among a group of drivers who are trying to get into the top eight for the Countdown. Fourteen-time champion John Force, in 14th, is one of them. He is 107 points short of eighth place and has a tough road ahead of him.
"I don't count him out," said Capps. "Right now, our being the points leader going into each race seems to be at the bottom of the page (or not at all) in NHRA's pre-race press releases, and I'm not saying that as a dig. I'm just saying that there's a lot of good stories right now. The fact that John Force isn't in the Countdown is one of them, and it's going to be interesting to follow that story.
"But, let's not forget the other stories. There's Del Worsham, there's Kenny Bernstein, Jack Beckman, Jeff Arend, and a lot of tough guys in Funny Car that we all thought would be in the Countdown for sure and aren't. Tommy Johnson Jr. just made it into No. 8 after winning in Englishtown, but he's in a precarious position, because Arend is only three points behind him in ninth, and my teammate Beckman is just nine points behind Tommy in 10th.
"We're pretty confident we'll be in the top eight, and, as a fan of the sport, it's going to be great to watch this battle for the sixth, seventh and eighth positions. I don't want to be a part of it. I guarantee you, come Brainerd, Minn., and Reading, Pa., the fans are going to get every bit of their fill of excitement when these guys are trying to get into the Countdown.
"Right now, watching a guy like John Force, when you know that team could break out and make a run at it in typical John Force fashion, is a thrill. He's never lacking excitement and right now he's providing it."
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, one first-round finishes and a DNQ in first 10 races
* Leads Robert Hight in rankings by 123 points
* Has never competed at Norwalk
* 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
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, June 29 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 4 and 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, June 30 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at noon and 2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, July 1 – Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Saturday, June 30, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 10 p.m. (ET).
Sunday July 1, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 1, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of eliminations at 8 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE (ANALOG FEED):
Friday, June 29, 10-10:30 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical)
Saturday, June 30, 7:30-8 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical)
Sunday, July 1, 7-7:30 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical)
FUNNNY CAR POINTS LEADER CAPPS GEARED UP FOR NORWALK CHALLENGE
CARLSBAD, Calif. (June 27, 2007) - Ron Capps, the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader since the fourth event of 10 so far, is eager to get to this weekend's Inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. He's vying for his first Funny Car championship and he'll be checking off each of the next seven national events before the Countdown to the Championship begins at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day.
Winner of three events this season, the most in the Funny Car class, the pilot of the Brut "Test Drive" Dodge Charger R/T holds a strong 123-point lead over Robert Hight. He and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch know that edge won't mean much when the Countdown begins, as the standings will revert to 10-point increments among the top eight.
But that margin will help Capps and McCulloch overcome those butterflies that come with having to learn a new race track.
"I personally have never been to Norwalk," said Capps. "I've read and heard about all the Fourth of July races they had every year. I know John Force has raced at Norwalk for a lot of years, and I've always heard great things about it.
"I've seen pictures of it and it's always been a place I wanted to go to. When NHRA made the decision to race there this year, Man, it got everybody pretty excited.
"It's great for the Brut Dodge crew guys, because the race is close to the Don Schumacher Racing shop in Brownsburg, Ind., and they can get their families out and that always makes for a more relaxed weekend. Also, any time we know we're going to a track that's well prepared, it takes a little bit of the pressure off the crew chiefs.
"Norwalk has had pretty good cars running pretty good numbers there in the past, so the word spread very quickly as to how good the place really is.
"I know that the conditions are expected to be very warm. That is going to put the pressure on the track surface as far as trying to hold up under the warm weather. But, it's the same for everybody. The crew chiefs right now are just fighting to get used to the tracks the last few races and find a happy medium where we can go down the track when it's 120-plus degrees on the surface."
There's a fierce battle among a group of drivers who are trying to get into the top eight for the Countdown. Fourteen-time champion John Force, in 14th, is one of them. He is 107 points short of eighth place and has a tough road ahead of him.
"I don't count him out," said Capps. "Right now, our being the points leader going into each race seems to be at the bottom of the page (or not at all) in NHRA's pre-race press releases, and I'm not saying that as a dig. I'm just saying that there's a lot of good stories right now. The fact that John Force isn't in the Countdown is one of them, and it's going to be interesting to follow that story.
"But, let's not forget the other stories. There's Del Worsham, there's Kenny Bernstein, Jack Beckman, Jeff Arend, and a lot of tough guys in Funny Car that we all thought would be in the Countdown for sure and aren't. Tommy Johnson Jr. just made it into No. 8 after winning in Englishtown, but he's in a precarious position, because Arend is only three points behind him in ninth, and my teammate Beckman is just nine points behind Tommy in 10th.
"We're pretty confident we'll be in the top eight, and, as a fan of the sport, it's going to be great to watch this battle for the sixth, seventh and eighth positions. I don't want to be a part of it. I guarantee you, come Brainerd, Minn., and Reading, Pa., the fans are going to get every bit of their fill of excitement when these guys are trying to get into the Countdown.
"Right now, watching a guy like John Force, when you know that team could break out and make a run at it in typical John Force fashion, is a thrill. He's never lacking excitement and right now he's providing it."
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, one first-round finishes and a DNQ in first 10 races
* Leads Robert Hight in rankings by 123 points
* Has never competed at Norwalk
* 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
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, June 29 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 4 and 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, June 30 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at noon and 2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, July 1 – Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Saturday, June 30, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 10 p.m. (ET).
Sunday July 1, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 1, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of eliminations at 8 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE (ANALOG FEED):
Friday, June 29, 10-10:30 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical)
Saturday, June 30, 7:30-8 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical)
Sunday, July 1, 7-7:30 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical)
