Event No. 7 of 21
Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park
Norwalk, Ohio
June 25-27, 2021
DSR Qualifying Highlights
Ron Capps earns the 27th No. 1 qualifier of his career, and second of the season during the NHRA Norwalk Nationals
Capps’ round-one competition features a rematch of the Epping E1 upset loss to Terry Haddock
Matt Hagan’s Funny Car continues to be quick and consistent. He clocked the second-quickest pass of Q3 after running third-quickest in Q1 to earn the No. 3 qualifying position
All four DSR nitro entries secured qualifying positions in the top half of the field of their respective categories
Ron Capps Clinches Pole Position at Norwalk
NORWALK, Ohio (June 26, 2021) – DSR Funny Car pilot Ron Capps will start from the pole for the 27th time in his career when he hits the dragstrip on Sunday morning at the NHRA Norwalk Nationals.
Capps clocked his top-seeded E.T. when he powered the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a stout 3.888-second at 329.34-mph run under the lights during Q1 on Friday night. Saturday’s two qualifying sessions featured much warmer weather conditions, and despite his competitors’ best efforts, no one was able to knock Capps from his position at the top of the Funny Car ladder.
“These Camping World Series hats are so hard to come by, and like I said yesterday, this class is so tough right now,” remarked Capps of locking in his second No. 1 qualifying position of the season. “Our race weekend is off to a great start. We’ve got a phenomenal car. ‘Guido’ (Dean Antonelli), John Medlen, and our whole NAPA AutoCare team, everyone’s doing such a great job. We were sitting in the lanes for Q3 and thought we may have an opportunity to improve on our 3.88 but then the sun came out. We still ended up running a 3.968, which held up to be the fourth-quickest of the round, so another good, solid run.”
The 2016 event champ and three-time Norwalk runner-up will face opponent Terry Haddock in round one. Capps is hoping to avenge the first-round loss he suffered to Haddock at the previous event (Epping, N.H.) when Haddock claimed the upset round win.
“Tomorrow is going to be warmer, tough conditions. We’ll be on our game and keep doing what we’re doing; we’re not going to change anything,” said Capps when asked his thoughts on the E1 rematch. “Like I said in Epping, you can’t take anyone lightly.”
Capps will have lane choice versus Haddock when he begins his campaign for a second Norwalk ‘ice cream scoop’ trophy and first Wally of the season on Sunday morning.
“Our NAPA Dodge is running so good right now, and I could certainly use another ice cream scooper. We’ll get those GEARWRENCH tools out, and pour some more Pennzoil in it, and just keep chugging away at it like we’ve been doing.”
Qualified: No. 1 (lane choice)
The Competition: No. 16 Terry Haddock
The Results:
Q1: 3.888 E.T. at 329.34 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest of the session)
Q2: 5.752 E.T. at 123.85 MPH
Q3: 3.968 E.T. at 318.32 MPH
Bonus Points: Three
ANTRON BROWN: Driver of the Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
The Competition: No. 11 Doug Kalitta
The Results:
Q1: 3.790 E.T. at 317.87 MPH
Q2: 5.010 E.T. at 148.82 MPH
Q3: 4.361 E.T. at 187.70 MPH
Quotable:
“We’re making strides here in Norwalk. We qualified sixth, and sure we wanted to do better than that, but we’re moving in the right direction. We had a really good 60-foot number on that last lap, and we just need to slow it down a little bit after that. I feel good going into tomorrow. We’ll make a couple of little changes and be ready for tomorrow. We have Doug Kalitta in E1, and that’s a monster matchup; it’s ‘the tool wars,’ and we’re here in the hometown track of Matco Tools, and we have a lot of great support and we’re super stoked for a good, long race day.”
LEAH PRUETT: Driver of the Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
The Competition: No. 9 Doug Foley
The Results:
Q1: 3.835 E.T. at 311.34 MPH
Q2: 3.817 E.T. at 314.90 MPH
Q3: Broke on the burnout; No Time
Quotable:
“This Dodge SRT Hellcat Redeye team is positioned well for Sunday eliminations. It was an interesting sort of events around qualifying this weekend at Norwalk. We had a great hot rod for Q1 on Friday night and the car hiked up the front wheels for substantially longer than we anticipated, and what’s most ideal for almost 200-feet, and I had to give it a light pedal to drop the nose down and that set off to a 3.83. We had a good, solid run for Q2 in the hottest session of the three. We have a very happy HEMI. We dropped a cylinder down there and ran a .81 and we were ready to break into the 70s and advance our qualifying position for Q3. But, we had those old gremlins pop up and give us some throttle stickage on the burnout, and unfortunately, we didn’t get to complete that run and I had to labor down and coast through. We would have liked to have had that full run, but I feel like we have enough progress from Q1 to Q2 to rip away at the competition on Sunday. Our heads are down and our eyes are focused and we’re ready to get this SRT Hellcat Top Fueler on the right side of some good races, and into the winner’s circle.”
MATT HAGAN Driver of the Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye
The Competition: No. 14 Bobby Bode
The Results:
Q1: 3.899 E.T. at 327.82 MPH (One bonus point for third-quickest run of the round)
Q2: 4.469 E.T. at 192.96 MPH
Q3: 3.917 E.T. at 322.73 MPH (Two bonus points for second-quickest run of the round)
Bonus Points: Three
Quotable:
“We have a really good running race car right now. Dickie (Venables) is proving that we can get this car down in the heat. We’re running very well and feel very confident heading into race day. I’ve already won one ice cream scooper, and I need a few more. I have four kids at home. Norwalk is a great track and the Baders put on a great show. I’m glad the weather has cooperated so far this weekend. We had a great crowd today and a lot of Dodge//SRT folks from Auburn Hills here this weekend. We want to show those who support us a good time and go some rounds for them on race day.”
MARK PAWUK: Driver of the Empaco Equipment Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak
Qualified: DNQ
The Results:
Q1: 8.209 E.T. at 170.69 MPH
Q2: 8.124 E.T. at 170.41 MPH
Q3: 8.070 E.T at 170.32 MPH
LEAH PRUETT: Driver of the Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak
The Results:
Q1: 8.017 E.T. at 172.87 MPH
Q2: 13.712 E.T. at 80.89 MPH
Q3: 8.129 E.T. at 171.45 MPH
