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NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps says he's relaxed as the season winds down to five races left, beginning with this weekend's Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, outside of Reading, Pa.
The driver of the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car is in the middle of a heated see-saw battle for his first Funny Car championship with 13-time titlist John Force and is enjoying a 19-point lead. That's just barely a one-round advantage, but the California native is laid back nonetheless.
Despite his hectic U.S. Nationals schedule on Labor Day weekend, at which Brut debuted the new blue Revolution Dodge Charger, where he was a semifinalist and regained the points lead, Capps says he is "very relaxed and the team is very relaxed.
"I'm excited about going to Reading," adds the five-time season winner. "You hear every driver talk about the fact it's one of the most harrowing tracks for a Funny Car driver because the conditions are absolutely like Disneyland for the crew chiefs: good conditions and great air for the engines to run. The track also has one of the narrowest grooves. It's about as narrow as a car is wide. It's hard enough to keep the Funny Cars in the groove as it is, but at Reading you have to be almost spot on every run. And it's a very demanding race track for a driver.
"It's going to be tough. I'm excited, but I'm very eager. We had a great last half of the season last year," he says of his fight to the finish for the crown with Gary Scelzi and Force, in which he finished second, eight points back. "I really feel comfortable with the way the team is right now, and that we're going to finish as strong as we did last year. If we can do that, then if we get beat, so be it.
"But somebody is going to have to be pretty good to beat us, I think, in the end here, and you have to have that kind of confidence with five races left if you're going to try to win a POWERade championship."
Funny Car Points Leader Capps "Relaxed" as Season Winds Down in Reading
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps says he's relaxed as the season winds down to five races left, beginning with this weekend's Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, outside of Reading, Pa.
The driver of the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car is in the middle of a heated see-saw battle for his first Funny Car championship with 13-time titlist John Force and is enjoying a 19-point lead. That's just barely a one-round advantage, but the California native is laid back nonetheless.
Despite his hectic U.S. Nationals schedule on Labor Day weekend, at which Brut debuted the new blue Revolution Dodge Charger, where he was a semifinalist and regained the points lead, Capps says he is "very relaxed and the team is very relaxed.
"I'm excited about going to Reading," adds the five-time season winner. "You hear every driver talk about the fact it's one of the most harrowing tracks for a Funny Car driver because the conditions are absolutely like Disneyland for the crew chiefs: good conditions and great air for the engines to run. The track also has one of the narrowest grooves. It's about as narrow as a car is wide. It's hard enough to keep the Funny Cars in the groove as it is, but at Reading you have to be almost spot on every run. And it's a very demanding race track for a driver.
"It's going to be tough. I'm excited, but I'm very eager. We had a great last half of the season last year," he says of his fight to the finish for the crown with Gary Scelzi and Force, in which he finished second, eight points back. "I really feel comfortable with the way the team is right now, and that we're going to finish as strong as we did last year. If we can do that, then if we get beat, so be it.
"But somebody is going to have to be pretty good to beat us, I think, in the end here, and you have to have that kind of confidence with five races left if you're going to try to win a POWERade championship."
