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JOLIET, Ill. - Talk to Funny Car driver Ron Capps about the approaching summer heat and humidity and he just smiles, then says, "Yeah, bring it on." Capps is no major sun worshipper, and high humidity isn't on his list of 100 favorite things. The reason for his enthusiasm is the success he, crew chief Roland Leong and the Copenhagen Racing Camaro team had during last year's warm summer months. Elapsed times usually drop during the summer, thanks to the sun and higher humidity. NHRA Winston Series race tracks also tend to lose some traction due to the sun, heat and warmer weather. But last season, Capps and Leong combined to bring the first-year team its initial victory at Gateway International Raceway's inaugural event. Weather at the track, located a few miles east of St. Louis in Madison, Ill., could best be described as hot and humid. Capps expects more of that kind of weather when another new track - Route 66 Raceway - launches its first event, the Fram Route 66 Nationals, May 28-31. "From all I've read about the track, I think it's going to be great," he said. "And, I don't think the temperature is going to be that cool. Roland has a good tune-up for that kind of track. A good example is the track near St. Louis." In just his fourth race as crew chief, Leong tuned the Cope Camaro to the quickest runs during each of the four elimination rounds on race day, including a 5.165-second clocking in the final-round win over Cruz Pedregon. "This is a long season," Capps added. "The summer swing of tracks will be very tricky with the hotter weather. Last year that's when we made a lot of progress in the points chase and hopefully we can do it again." Capps and Leong expect the Route 66 asphalt to be tricky simply because no race cars will have been on the track before the race begins. Capps arrives in fourth place in points with 535, 135 less than leader John Force. Capps trails second-place Chuck Etchells by 36 points and third-place Cruz Pedregon by 17 points following a first-round setback at the Mopar Nationals (May 17) at Englishtown, N.J. Capps qualified third overall with a career-best time of 4.864 seconds at 312.21 mph. In his first-round match against Tony Pedregon, Capps' engine dropped a cylinder when he hit the throttle and he couldn't catch Pedregon. "The engine dropped a cylinder on the left side at the hit of the throttle," Capps said. "The car left with the front end in the air. With the cylinder out, it moved the car instantly to the left. With the front end in the air, I had no steering. Luckily I didn't cross the centerline. I had to get out of the throttle, straighten the front end back out and get back on the throttle and try to run him down." "I started to gain on him but I ran out of race track," Capps added. "That's what makes this sport so tough. One minute you go out there and run a 4.86, the next time you drop a cylinder." Leong's goal at Route 66 Raceway is to keep all eight cylinders in the engine working properly. If that happens, he and Capps believe they'll have a very busy race day. Qualifying is scheduled at 3 and 7 Friday, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. Sunday's eliminations begin at 11 a.m. Did you know? Capps has two wins (at Pomona, Calif., Feb. 1, and Dallas, May 3) and one runner-up in the first eight races.
His quickest time: 4.864 seconds (5/15/98); his fastest speed: 315.45 mph
(Houston, 10/24/97, when he was the first Funny Car driver to exceed 315 mph).
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