No. 6 qualifier Ron Capps was upset by No. 11 Bob Tasca III in the opening round of Funny Car
eliminations at the NHRA Carolina Nationals, the first of six races in the Countdown to 1 playoffs
which will decide the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series champions.
Driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car, Capps took off at the starting lights with a nearly
identical reaction time to Tasca's, but struck the tires early and slowed to a 4.950-second run at
173.72 mph, while Tasca scored the victory with a 4.160/300.46.
With a new points system in place for the playoffs, Capps slipped from his starting position of
second to fourth by the end of the day, when Ashley Force Hood reached the semifinals and Robert
Hight won the event and moved into second.
"We felt really confident after running the 4.10 (-second elapsed time) yesterday in qualifying in
the right lane. We came back after that pass and looked at the computer with Ace (crew chief Ed
McCulloch) and it was exactly on line with our 4.10 yesterday.
"We did consider switching lanes after hearing back in the staging lanes about some of the upsets
in front us. The thing is, Robert Hight ran the 4.10 right in front of us so we said, OK, we know
how this lane is, we know it should be good. It was lined up exactly where it was last night but it
struck the tires.
"There were a lot of upsets in the first round (including Tony Pedregon and John Force), and the
points have re-arranged dramatically in the Countdown, so it will continue to be a very exciting
playoffs for the fans."
Only four of the Countdown contenders made it out of the first round today: Jack Beckman, Ashley
Force Hood, Robert Hight and Bob Tasca III.
Next up is the NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Dallas, Sept. 25-27.
