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Capps Makes GR Supra Debut, Advances to Final Elimination Quad in Charlotte
Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Event 6 of 22
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
April 29 – May 1, 2022
CONCORD, N.C. (May 1, 2022) – In his debut race behind the wheel of a Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, defending series champion Ron Capps successfully advanced to the final elimination quad during the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway on Sunday afternoon.
Right out of the gate, Capps opened the weekend by posting the third-quickest run of the first qualifying session when he took the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Supra on its maiden voyage. He then followed his impressive inaugural pass with a ‘top three’ E.T. in Q2 before rocketing to low E.T. of the round in Q3. For their efforts, the NAPA team earned five qualifying bonus points overall and the No. 3 seed to start race day. During the first round of eliminations, Capps used the best reaction time of his quad coupled with a 3.923 E.T. to advance to round two where he clocked a 3.954 E.T. to defeat Mike McIntire, Matt Hagan, and J.R. Todd and earn a bid to the finals. The new team owner won the most recent NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas a few weeks prior and was looking for a repeat performance on Sunday, but a loss of traction near halftrack caused Capps to slow and allowed opponents John Force and Robert Hight to cross the finish line beams first. The 69-time race winner’s Concord, N.C. outing was recorded as a semifinal finish, and he departs zMAX ranked third in the Funny Car point standings.
“What an incredible weekend. It would have been a storybook ending to get a win at the Charlotte four-wides but the fact that we were able to announce our partnership with Toyota and debut our new GR Supra body was just incredible, and I can’t thank Toyota enough for fast-tracking this so that we could have our car ready to race here in Charlotte this weekend,” said Capps of his new partnership with Toyota which was announced on Thursday ahead of the race weekend. “I really can’t say enough about all of the hard work that was put in by Slugger Labbe and everyone at Toyota. This is going to be such a fun season, and I was ecstatic to be able to take the NAPA AUTO PARTS GR Supra Funny Car down the track on Friday night and make such a good opening run.
Qualified: No. 3 (3.873 E.T. at 332.02 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.923 E.T. at 326.08 MPH defeated Dale Creasy Jr. 4.020 E.T.at 315.19 MPH, Chad Green 4.026 E.T. at 275.79 MPH
E2: 3.954 E.T. at 323.89 MPH defeated Matt Hagan 8.168 E.T. at 91.59 MPH, J.R. Todd 10.389 E.T. at 89.36 MPH
E3: 4.253 E.T. at 225.11 MPH defeated by John Force 3.914 E.T. at 328.86 MPH, Robert Hight 4.038 E.T. at 267.85 MPH
Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team will compete next at the Virginia NHRA Nationals in North Dinwiddie, Va. near Richmond where Capps will have another shot at becoming the first Toyota GR Supra Funny Car pilot to bring home the Wally trophy hardware.
NHRA Camping World Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):
| 1 | Matt Hagan | 567 | |
| 2 | Robert Hight | 545 | |
| 3 | Ron Capps | 501 | |
| 4 | John Force | 375 | |
| 5 | Cruz Pedregon | 340 | |
| 6 | J.R. Todd | 295 | |
| 7 | Bob Tasca III | 283 | |
| 8 | Alexis DeJoria | 273 | |
| 9 | Chad Green | 269 | |
| 10 | Tim Wilkerson | 244 |
About Ron Capps Motorsports
Established in 2021, Ron Capps Motorsports is a single-car NHRA Funny Car team owned and operated by reigning and two-time world champion Ron Capps. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., the team made its on-track debut in 2022, and competes on the 22-race NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series circuit thanks to the support of NAPA AUTO PARTS, Toyota, and GearWench.Capps, who serves as both the owner and driver of his namesake operation, is the second-winningest Funny Car pilot in NHRA history with 68 wins in the category, and 69 overall (1 Top Fuel). The 2022 NHRA season marks Capps’ 28th year competing in the sport’s professional ranks.
