After aborting Saturday night's qualifying run under ideal conditions because of a mechanical
problem, NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps made it into the
16-car field for Sunday's eliminations at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals by recording a
respectable pass of 4.232 seconds at 289.07 mph today.
Entering the final two rounds of qualifying, the driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge found himself
outside the top 12 with just these last two chances remaining to get himself into the 16-car field
to race on Sunday. He and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch stepped up to the challenge and squeaked
into No. 14 in their final try. Today's earlier round produced a 4.789/199.17.
Capps' only Friday pass was a 4.215/288.95, which was good for No. 5 at the time, but it dropped
him to 13th following the second session.
"Obviously, that would have been a great run for more than one reason," Capps said of the lost
Friday night opportunity. "It would have definitely put the pressure on somebody else and not for
us to get in the show today. We were also excited to see what we could have run under those
near-perfect conditions.
"That being said, these are gut-check weekends that, I believe, bring teams together closer and win
championships. The track was difficult to get down today, so for Ace to go up there and make that
run and get the car down the track was just a great call.
"I was quite nervous, because it's my daughter Taylor's 13th birthday, and we're having a big party
for her afterwards and I surely didn't want to go up there in a bad mood.
"We have a pretty pivotal match-up tomorrow," he added. Points leader Capps faces No. 2 in the
standings and No. 3 qualifier Ashley Force Hood in Sunday's opening round.
