INDIANAPOLIS (September 2, 2024) – Sporting a special Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme Army tribute look on his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra, Ron Capps raced to the Funny Car final round of the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals for the fourth year in a row on Monday evening. Capps, who won the prestigious event at Indianapolis Raceway Park the last two years after nearly 30 years of attempts, was attempting to repeat his 2023 victory with Prudhomme, his former team owner, in attendance. The three-time world champion came up short to Funny Car rookie Austin Prock in the final round, the 150th of Capps’ career.
Before the race, Capps unveiled the red, white, and blue Army-themed livery during a pre-race NHRA press conference in front of local and national media. The throwback look was inspired by the Army Funny Cars that Prudhomme drove from 1974 through 1980, winning four NHRA championships along the way. The Army tribute car was a follow-up to the “Snake” Hot Wheels Funny Car tribute that Capps ran in 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of his former boss’s win at the 1973 U.S. Nationals. With Prudhomme on the starting line, Capps won the 2023 U.S. Nationals to add to both his and Prudhomme’s legacies at the ‘Big Go.’ Just like last year, the Ron Capps Motorsports team’s matching throwback uniforms earned the Best Appearing Crew honors.
Capps’ quest for another Indy title started in Friday night qualifying, where Capps was on a promising pass before the parachutes deployed early, slowing Capps to a 3.997-second pass that still put him No. 8 on the qualifying sheet. His ‘chutes popped out a little early again in the second session on Saturday, but with better conditions, he still charged to a 3.901-second pass at 313.37 to move up to sixth. He went up in smoke early in the third session, but maintained the sixth spot going into Sunday’s two sessions and the Pep Boys Funny Car All-Star Callout. In the first round of the Callout, Capps left the starting line first against Paul Lee, but he went up in smoke and coasted to the finish line behind Lee. He improved with another full pass in the fifth and final session, running a 3.996 E.T. at 325.92 mph, but it was his second-session 3.901 E.T. that put him seventh on the final qualifying order.
Capps started his race day march through eliminations with an all-Toyota matchup against J.R. Todd, who borrowed one of Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra bodies to make a run for the Wally at the most recent event in Brainerd. The two drivers left the starting line together before Todd started smoking the tires, while Capps charged to a 3.946 E.T. at 333.33 mph to get the win. He then denied Funny Car rookie Buddy Hull his first semifinal appearance when he ran a consistent 3.943-second pass at 327.51 mph over Hull’s 4.028 E.T. Capps and semifinal opponent “Fast” Jack Beckman, filling in for John Force, both had traction issues as the sun beat down on the historic Indianapolis Raceway Park surface. Capps held on to win with a 4.315-second run.
Capps and the Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-led NAPA Auto Care team rolled up to the ready line for the final round knowing they’d need a hero run to take down Prock, the points leader and No. 1 qualifier. Prock had the advantage out of the gate and led the whole way to win with a 3.885 E.T., though Capps wasn’t far behind with his 3.935 E.T. at 331.45 mph.
“This weekend was a grind-out,” Capps said. “We should have probably run a little better in qualifying. We didn’t put ourselves in a great position and we had our Toyota teammate, J.R., in the first round. You don’t want to see that car ever first round, so that was a gut-check win. Then, Guido just did his ‘NAPA Know How’ thing all day long. We had to go down the track, and we didn’t have lane choice in the final. Guido felt like he wasn’t going to be able to run a 3.80 (in the right lane). The sun had been beating on it. I’m so proud of him. To go out and run 331 mph in the final, as warm as the track was, it was just a great job.”
While Capps came up one win-light short of the intended outcome, he realized the odds were stacked against him to get a third straight Indy win, which has never happened in Funny Car and hasn’t been done at all since Tony Schumacher did it in Top Fuel in 2007-2009. Taking another Prudhomme tribute car to the final round was a victory in itself.
“What an enormous Indy for us,” Capps said. “I know we lost the final, but to come back and do a special car, to have Don Prudhomme here again, and drive one of the coolest cars ever, one that I played with as a kid and idolized as a kid, it’s special. I cannot thank everybody at NAPA headquarters enough, especially Katherine (Wooten), Brandon (Schroeder), and Emily (Schneider) for letting us do this. The coolest part is to get it all the way to the final round and to do it live on the Fox Network. I’ve already received a bunch of messages from our NAPA people who were watching, and I’m really happy they had something they can cheer for on a Monday on Labor Day.”
With the NHRA regular season wrapped up, Capps will now focus on chasing his fourth NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series world championship and his second as a team owner.
“Part of the allure of the U.S. Nationals is it’s the last race of the regular season,” Capps said. “Besides the fact that it’s our Super Bowl and our Daytona 500 all wrapped in one, it’s also points-and-a-half and we were able to move around the John Force/Beckman car into fifth place. Considering the season we’ve had, where we’ve really fought to get our setup right, I really feel like we’re there. I’m very excited about going to our first Countdown race, and fifth place isn’t too far back down here.”
Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will get a week off before starting the Countdown to the Championship at the NHRA Reading Nationals, Sept. 12-15, at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania.
Qualified: No. 7 (3.901 E.T. at 313.37 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.946 E.T. at 333.33 MPH defeated J.R. Todd 5.373 E.T. at 133.54 MPH
E2: 3.943 E.T. at 327.51 MPH defeated Buddy Hull 4.028 E.T. at 320.51 MPH
E3: 4.315 E.T. at 252.52 MPH defeated Jack Beckman 7.691 E.T. at 97.33 MPH
E4: 3.935 E.T. at 331.45 MPH defeated by Austin Prock 3.885 E.T. at 327.98 MPH
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Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals
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Before the race, Capps unveiled the red, white, and blue Army-themed livery during a pre-race NHRA press conference in front of local and national media. The throwback look was inspired by the Army Funny Cars that Prudhomme drove from 1974 through 1980, winning four NHRA championships along the way. The Army tribute car was a follow-up to the “Snake” Hot Wheels Funny Car tribute that Capps ran in 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of his former boss’s win at the 1973 U.S. Nationals. With Prudhomme on the starting line, Capps won the 2023 U.S. Nationals to add to both his and Prudhomme’s legacies at the ‘Big Go.’ Just like last year, the Ron Capps Motorsports team’s matching throwback uniforms earned the Best Appearing Crew honors.
Capps’ quest for another Indy title started in Friday night qualifying, where Capps was on a promising pass before the parachutes deployed early, slowing Capps to a 3.997-second pass that still put him No. 8 on the qualifying sheet. His ‘chutes popped out a little early again in the second session on Saturday, but with better conditions, he still charged to a 3.901-second pass at 313.37 to move up to sixth. He went up in smoke early in the third session, but maintained the sixth spot going into Sunday’s two sessions and the Pep Boys Funny Car All-Star Callout. In the first round of the Callout, Capps left the starting line first against Paul Lee, but he went up in smoke and coasted to the finish line behind Lee. He improved with another full pass in the fifth and final session, running a 3.996 E.T. at 325.92 mph, but it was his second-session 3.901 E.T. that put him seventh on the final qualifying order.
Capps started his race day march through eliminations with an all-Toyota matchup against J.R. Todd, who borrowed one of Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra bodies to make a run for the Wally at the most recent event in Brainerd. The two drivers left the starting line together before Todd started smoking the tires, while Capps charged to a 3.946 E.T. at 333.33 mph to get the win. He then denied Funny Car rookie Buddy Hull his first semifinal appearance when he ran a consistent 3.943-second pass at 327.51 mph over Hull’s 4.028 E.T. Capps and semifinal opponent “Fast” Jack Beckman, filling in for John Force, both had traction issues as the sun beat down on the historic Indianapolis Raceway Park surface. Capps held on to win with a 4.315-second run.
Capps and the Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-led NAPA Auto Care team rolled up to the ready line for the final round knowing they’d need a hero run to take down Prock, the points leader and No. 1 qualifier. Prock had the advantage out of the gate and led the whole way to win with a 3.885 E.T., though Capps wasn’t far behind with his 3.935 E.T. at 331.45 mph.
“This weekend was a grind-out,” Capps said. “We should have probably run a little better in qualifying. We didn’t put ourselves in a great position and we had our Toyota teammate, J.R., in the first round. You don’t want to see that car ever first round, so that was a gut-check win. Then, Guido just did his ‘NAPA Know How’ thing all day long. We had to go down the track, and we didn’t have lane choice in the final. Guido felt like he wasn’t going to be able to run a 3.80 (in the right lane). The sun had been beating on it. I’m so proud of him. To go out and run 331 mph in the final, as warm as the track was, it was just a great job.”
While Capps came up one win-light short of the intended outcome, he realized the odds were stacked against him to get a third straight Indy win, which has never happened in Funny Car and hasn’t been done at all since Tony Schumacher did it in Top Fuel in 2007-2009. Taking another Prudhomme tribute car to the final round was a victory in itself.
“What an enormous Indy for us,” Capps said. “I know we lost the final, but to come back and do a special car, to have Don Prudhomme here again, and drive one of the coolest cars ever, one that I played with as a kid and idolized as a kid, it’s special. I cannot thank everybody at NAPA headquarters enough, especially Katherine (Wooten), Brandon (Schroeder), and Emily (Schneider) for letting us do this. The coolest part is to get it all the way to the final round and to do it live on the Fox Network. I’ve already received a bunch of messages from our NAPA people who were watching, and I’m really happy they had something they can cheer for on a Monday on Labor Day.”
With the NHRA regular season wrapped up, Capps will now focus on chasing his fourth NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series world championship and his second as a team owner.
“Part of the allure of the U.S. Nationals is it’s the last race of the regular season,” Capps said. “Besides the fact that it’s our Super Bowl and our Daytona 500 all wrapped in one, it’s also points-and-a-half and we were able to move around the John Force/Beckman car into fifth place. Considering the season we’ve had, where we’ve really fought to get our setup right, I really feel like we’re there. I’m very excited about going to our first Countdown race, and fifth place isn’t too far back down here.”
Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports Funny Car team will get a week off before starting the Countdown to the Championship at the NHRA Reading Nationals, Sept. 12-15, at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania.
Qualified: No. 7 (3.901 E.T. at 313.37 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.946 E.T. at 333.33 MPH defeated J.R. Todd 5.373 E.T. at 133.54 MPH
E2: 3.943 E.T. at 327.51 MPH defeated Buddy Hull 4.028 E.T. at 320.51 MPH
E3: 4.315 E.T. at 252.52 MPH defeated Jack Beckman 7.691 E.T. at 97.33 MPH
E4: 3.935 E.T. at 331.45 MPH defeated by Austin Prock 3.885 E.T. at 327.98 MPH
Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals
Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals
Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals
Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals
Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals
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The post Ron Capps Takes Don Prudhomme Army Tribute Car to Fourth Consecutive U.S. Nationals Final Round appeared first on Ron Capp Motorsports.
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