It was a tough day for Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car team at the NHRA Fall
Nationals at Texas Motorplex, as he fell in the opening round of eliminations to Tim Wilkerson.
Capps, who had qualified ninth, did not have lane choice, which relegated the NAPA team to what
turned out to be the very unfavorable right lane. Capps launched first against No. 8 qualifier
Wilkerson but mid-way down the 1000-foot race track he struck the tires and slowed to a
4.685-second run at 222.33 mph, while Wilkerson crossed the finish line first with a 4.212/288.64.
Capps fell to sixth place in the Countdown to 1 playoffs point standings. Wilkerson remained in
eighth.
"We obviously put ourselves in that position of not having lane choice and it turned out to be
bigger than we thought. Bigger than anybody thought," said Capps. "In the whole first session no
one won out of the right lane. It was hard to go up there and try to back it down so much that you
could barely go down the lane when you knew you had your back against the wall.
"There are still four races left in the playoffs. We're regrouping right now. I still feel just as
confident as ever when it comes to Sunday. I know the Memphis track next weekend is going to be
very tricky, so we'll start working on preparing for that event immediately.
"The good thing is there were other match-ups today with Countdown competitors racing each other,
so a few other people were also eliminated early.
"Obviously, you have to take care of your own destiny and right now we just can't rely on someone
else helping us."
Next up is the 22nd annual NHRA Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 2-4, 2009.
