NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps advanced to the
quarterfinal round today at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway after defeating
Bob Bode in the opening face-off. He maintains his No. 1 status in the standings, and is now 57
markers ahead of today's winner, Del Worsham.
Driving the NAPA Adaptive One Brakes Dodge Funny Car for the first and only time this season before
he returns to his usual mount, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge, Capps took the win over Bode with a
4.217-second lap at 251.16 mph, despite dropping a cylinder which caused engine damage, an oildown
and a lengthy clean-up of the track surface.
With repairs effected and without lane choice, Capps faced Tony Pedregon in the second round. Capps
was first off the line with a .045 reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Pedregon's .108, but the NAPA
Dodge was soon up in smoke and It was Pedregon's win at the finish line, with a 4.143/300.26 to
Capps' 4.503/262.90.
"You have to really tip your hat to all these crew chiefs because we had tough conditions today,"
said Capps of the drop in temperatures from 80 degrees on Saturday to the 60s today with cloud
cover. "The sun was out on Friday and Saturday, with patches of clouds, but it was hot and humid.
"Everybody knew a cold front was coming and when we woke up Sunday morning it was overcast, cool
and fast. And these engines breathe so well in these conditions. The track was great but it just
showed that everybody wasn't quite as ready as they thought. And a lot of people overpowered the
track.
"We did as well first round. It went out there and caught a couple of bumps and put a cylinder out.
On race day you have to leg it to the end and that's what we did, and we ended up spilling a little
bit of Valvoline oil down there.
"It was incredible because I don't think there was one fuel car - Dragster or Funny Car - that
went down the track without some type of a problem or an oildown. It kind of caught everybody by
surprise.
"Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) did a great job. The NAPA Adaptive One Brakes car was on a great run
the first round and to still run a 4.21 was amazing.
"We lost lane choice second round. I think that was the big difference, because the left lane was
definitely a little bit better than the right. When it rained all night it peeled up a little bit
in the right lane just enough to make a difference.
"We had planned to stay here and test all day tomorrow, which we still are. Don Schumacher has
rented the track and invited a couple of other teams to test with us. We're going to make as many
laps as we can.
"We'll just keep chugging away. It shows the determination of Ace and the NAPA guys to just keep
after it."
Next up is the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan., May 29-31.
