Rat
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From my out-of-print book. I own all rights.
Ron Capps started driving a Funny Car in 1997 and has become one of the most consistent national event and championship contender since. He has always been one of the best on reaction time and driving as he has won 34 times in 73 final rounds and won over 440 elimination rounds. He’s a fan favorite and shows unbreakable dedication on the track and his reward for that will be tying Don Garlits National Event win record of 35. Ron has proven that he can successfully drive a Top-Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, NASCAR, and a dirt track car, so he’s a threat in anything he drives. He’s finished 2nd in the championship three times even missing the top spot by just 8 points, but I personally feel time is running out in the era that leaves him without a championship as this may be the year that he finally holds that enormous trophy and gets the championship monkey off his back for good.
PK: What are your overall feelings on the countdown and is it a good system for the NHRA?
RC: Yeah, it is. I wasn’t so sure the first year, in ’07 and I was leading the regular points going into it, then we saw the lead disappear and never saw it again. To be honest with you it’s done its job, when I first came into to Funny Car John Force was clinching titles by Dallas and back then there probably three, four or five races after Dallas before Pomona. He was clinching so early in the season people got bored, so this mixes it up. I been on both ends of it, I been leading going in and I been terrible, barely in the countdown and I had a chance. You love it when the countdown comes around becomes it almost evens everything out, I like it.
PK: I am not a fan of good teams being told the best they can finish is 11th. Since, the NHRA resets the points at the start of the countdown to make the points race tighter, I feel that the NHRA should qualify everyone for the countdown who has run every countdown qualifying race. It would eliminate anyone getting locked out of a top ten and a top ten finish can still be a goal for everyone. Would you modify the system for teams that peak at the wrong time and get locked out of the all-important top ten when they may perform better than a locked in top ten finisher?
RC: My teammate Johnny Gray is a great example of that last year how he could of won the championship had he been in it. Robert Hight, the year that he barely got in, perhaps maybe he shouldn’t of been in and won the championship. It’s tough, but you gotta race by what rules you have. The countdown’s created this whole playoff atmosphere, I don’t mind it.
PK: What does it take to be a successful driver in this class?
RC: Consistency, alertness, I think mainly you gotta be able to be able to hear the car and feel what the cars doing. People think to be a successful drive you just stand on the gas and hang on to a bar when in actuality it’s the driver that catches them when they do something wrong. Catch it when it breaks track and you peddle it, know when something’s not right and shut it off and keep it from blowing up and causing more work for the guys. I think all those make you a successful driver.
PK: What is your favorite race track?
RC: My favorite race track is probably Sonoma. I grew up there in central California, I lived in the area for a while, that atmosphere and the people up there remind me when I used to go to Fremont Dragway when I was a kid with my mom and dad. I won there three of four times, for me it’s a great race track for me to go back to.
PK: You are one of the best in the class for having a really great light at any time. How do you stay so focused and what do you attribute to being the most important factor?
RC: I don’t think people understand that the car has a lot to do with it and how the crew chief has the clutch set up and that depends on how the car reacts. Again it goes back to being consistent and how you roll in and stage the car. We’re talking inches when you roll it into stage after you light the pre-stage bulb, so it’s very crucial that you try and do the same thing every time. The really good drivers I look at are the ones that don’t roll in deep to make their numbers look better and those I respect more when I race cause I know when they have a good light, and I look, I even look at 60 foot times to see how much a driver rolled it in.
Those are the guys I really get up to race cause I know it’s sorta like a poker game up there in Top-Fuel and Funny Car. Who’s gonna roll in deep, if the guys gonna roll in deep on ‘ya and it looks like a holeshot when it’s really not a holeshot.
PK: Out of all the stats I did on your career you averaged around a 60 percent (Left First) your entire career and that’s pretty good.
RC: Early in my career I put the top light out on drivers I thought I could mess up mentally and it worked a lot of times, but really as you grow older and wiser you learn that you just try and do the same thing every time.
PK: Do you have any aspirations to return to Top-Fuel, crew chief, or own?
RC: Yeah, I think one day, right now I’m stuck on trying to win a championship in a Funny Car. I had offers to go back and drive one the last few years, but I don’t want to until I win a championship; but I love to go back and do what Del did. (return to Top-Fuel and win the championship)
PK: Your part of an elite club, you’re not the only guy to drive in both classes, but you are one of the few that have won in both.
RC: Yeah, what’s cool is a few years ago I got to drive Tony’s (Schumacher) car on test day and it was right after he set the speed record in the quarter mile. We stuck around and Tony had to go somewhere for the Army and we were testing and at the time Alan Johnson asked me to drive Tony’s car right after it set the speed record and in Topeka it went something like 337 and it was just amazing to jump in a Top-Fuel car after being in a Funny Car for so long.
PK: Are they easier to drive?
RC: Well I wouldn’t say easier, well, physically yeah because you don’t move the wheel as much. You gotta be very precise with your movements.
PK: What is your private ride and does your career as a driver influence any of your daily driving habits?
RC: I have a Cadillac CTS-V, the first year, 2004 they came out with it.
PK: What win, and single run mean more to you than all the others?
RC: As far as a win the first time I doubled up for Don Prudhomme, me and Larry won the Winternationals in ’98. That was probably the biggest win, my family were there, Snake has never doubled up.
PK: Are you a fan of 1000 foot?
RC: I am now because we can’t lengthen some of these tracks, but if we were gonna go back and I had a choice, and you gotta remember I’m not a crew chief, but I think you gotta make it something that’s easy to police and that’s the hardest part. I drive the Nostalgia Funny Cars a lot and those go faster and faster, but I have to say limiting the fuel. They got one pump on ‘em, 21 gallon maximum I think it is and those cars run 5.75, 5.80’s the good ones and they seem to be kind stuck there. I would have to say keeping the fuel limited to one pump and maybe having those pumps checked periodically would probably be the best thing.
PK: How much is a run?
RC: I hear its $8 to $10,000 per run, that’s what I heard; I don’t know how accurate that is.
PK: Can you provide an example of what a driver and a crew chief would roughly make in a season?
RC: It’s a good question as of late. When I was at Don Prudhomme’s driving the Copenhagen and Skoal cars I was making between $250 and $400,000, and that was back ’99, 2000. You gotta remember at the time there was not a whole lot of paid drivers out here because a lot of drivers owned their own cars, there’s more now. At the time there was Larry Dixon, myself, I think Gary Scelzi, not to many guys were around. I always had big sponsors and I do a lot of stuff away from the track and that’s where you earn your money more than anywhere else. Crew Chiefs are probably between $250 and $400,000 now, some are more.
Ron Capps started driving a Funny Car in 1997 and has become one of the most consistent national event and championship contender since. He has always been one of the best on reaction time and driving as he has won 34 times in 73 final rounds and won over 440 elimination rounds. He’s a fan favorite and shows unbreakable dedication on the track and his reward for that will be tying Don Garlits National Event win record of 35. Ron has proven that he can successfully drive a Top-Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, NASCAR, and a dirt track car, so he’s a threat in anything he drives. He’s finished 2nd in the championship three times even missing the top spot by just 8 points, but I personally feel time is running out in the era that leaves him without a championship as this may be the year that he finally holds that enormous trophy and gets the championship monkey off his back for good.
PK: What are your overall feelings on the countdown and is it a good system for the NHRA?
RC: Yeah, it is. I wasn’t so sure the first year, in ’07 and I was leading the regular points going into it, then we saw the lead disappear and never saw it again. To be honest with you it’s done its job, when I first came into to Funny Car John Force was clinching titles by Dallas and back then there probably three, four or five races after Dallas before Pomona. He was clinching so early in the season people got bored, so this mixes it up. I been on both ends of it, I been leading going in and I been terrible, barely in the countdown and I had a chance. You love it when the countdown comes around becomes it almost evens everything out, I like it.
PK: I am not a fan of good teams being told the best they can finish is 11th. Since, the NHRA resets the points at the start of the countdown to make the points race tighter, I feel that the NHRA should qualify everyone for the countdown who has run every countdown qualifying race. It would eliminate anyone getting locked out of a top ten and a top ten finish can still be a goal for everyone. Would you modify the system for teams that peak at the wrong time and get locked out of the all-important top ten when they may perform better than a locked in top ten finisher?
RC: My teammate Johnny Gray is a great example of that last year how he could of won the championship had he been in it. Robert Hight, the year that he barely got in, perhaps maybe he shouldn’t of been in and won the championship. It’s tough, but you gotta race by what rules you have. The countdown’s created this whole playoff atmosphere, I don’t mind it.
PK: What does it take to be a successful driver in this class?
RC: Consistency, alertness, I think mainly you gotta be able to be able to hear the car and feel what the cars doing. People think to be a successful drive you just stand on the gas and hang on to a bar when in actuality it’s the driver that catches them when they do something wrong. Catch it when it breaks track and you peddle it, know when something’s not right and shut it off and keep it from blowing up and causing more work for the guys. I think all those make you a successful driver.
PK: What is your favorite race track?
RC: My favorite race track is probably Sonoma. I grew up there in central California, I lived in the area for a while, that atmosphere and the people up there remind me when I used to go to Fremont Dragway when I was a kid with my mom and dad. I won there three of four times, for me it’s a great race track for me to go back to.
PK: You are one of the best in the class for having a really great light at any time. How do you stay so focused and what do you attribute to being the most important factor?
RC: I don’t think people understand that the car has a lot to do with it and how the crew chief has the clutch set up and that depends on how the car reacts. Again it goes back to being consistent and how you roll in and stage the car. We’re talking inches when you roll it into stage after you light the pre-stage bulb, so it’s very crucial that you try and do the same thing every time. The really good drivers I look at are the ones that don’t roll in deep to make their numbers look better and those I respect more when I race cause I know when they have a good light, and I look, I even look at 60 foot times to see how much a driver rolled it in.
Those are the guys I really get up to race cause I know it’s sorta like a poker game up there in Top-Fuel and Funny Car. Who’s gonna roll in deep, if the guys gonna roll in deep on ‘ya and it looks like a holeshot when it’s really not a holeshot.
PK: Out of all the stats I did on your career you averaged around a 60 percent (Left First) your entire career and that’s pretty good.
RC: Early in my career I put the top light out on drivers I thought I could mess up mentally and it worked a lot of times, but really as you grow older and wiser you learn that you just try and do the same thing every time.
PK: Do you have any aspirations to return to Top-Fuel, crew chief, or own?
RC: Yeah, I think one day, right now I’m stuck on trying to win a championship in a Funny Car. I had offers to go back and drive one the last few years, but I don’t want to until I win a championship; but I love to go back and do what Del did. (return to Top-Fuel and win the championship)
PK: Your part of an elite club, you’re not the only guy to drive in both classes, but you are one of the few that have won in both.
RC: Yeah, what’s cool is a few years ago I got to drive Tony’s (Schumacher) car on test day and it was right after he set the speed record in the quarter mile. We stuck around and Tony had to go somewhere for the Army and we were testing and at the time Alan Johnson asked me to drive Tony’s car right after it set the speed record and in Topeka it went something like 337 and it was just amazing to jump in a Top-Fuel car after being in a Funny Car for so long.
PK: Are they easier to drive?
RC: Well I wouldn’t say easier, well, physically yeah because you don’t move the wheel as much. You gotta be very precise with your movements.
PK: What is your private ride and does your career as a driver influence any of your daily driving habits?
RC: I have a Cadillac CTS-V, the first year, 2004 they came out with it.
PK: What win, and single run mean more to you than all the others?
RC: As far as a win the first time I doubled up for Don Prudhomme, me and Larry won the Winternationals in ’98. That was probably the biggest win, my family were there, Snake has never doubled up.
PK: Are you a fan of 1000 foot?
RC: I am now because we can’t lengthen some of these tracks, but if we were gonna go back and I had a choice, and you gotta remember I’m not a crew chief, but I think you gotta make it something that’s easy to police and that’s the hardest part. I drive the Nostalgia Funny Cars a lot and those go faster and faster, but I have to say limiting the fuel. They got one pump on ‘em, 21 gallon maximum I think it is and those cars run 5.75, 5.80’s the good ones and they seem to be kind stuck there. I would have to say keeping the fuel limited to one pump and maybe having those pumps checked periodically would probably be the best thing.
PK: How much is a run?
RC: I hear its $8 to $10,000 per run, that’s what I heard; I don’t know how accurate that is.
PK: Can you provide an example of what a driver and a crew chief would roughly make in a season?
RC: It’s a good question as of late. When I was at Don Prudhomme’s driving the Copenhagen and Skoal cars I was making between $250 and $400,000, and that was back ’99, 2000. You gotta remember at the time there was not a whole lot of paid drivers out here because a lot of drivers owned their own cars, there’s more now. At the time there was Larry Dixon, myself, I think Gary Scelzi, not to many guys were around. I always had big sponsors and I do a lot of stuff away from the track and that’s where you earn your money more than anywhere else. Crew Chiefs are probably between $250 and $400,000 now, some are more.
