Ron Capps Suffers Holeshot Loss at Brainerd
When three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps lost a close race in the opening round of the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, the third-year driver and team owner was the first to take responsibility for the holeshot loss. The driver of the NAPA AutoCare Toyota GR Supra was obviously disappointed in the early exit at one of his favorite stops on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, but he also found positives in the team’s performance as the NHRA regular season winds down. Capps is now sixth going into the final race before the Countdown to the Championship.
Capps dealt with smoking and shaking tires in the first two qualifying sessions on Friday, but crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli got the Ron Capps Motorsports machine back on track for Saturday qualifying, which also included the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge. Capps recorded a 3.981-second pass to beat Matt Hagan in the first round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. He also collected one bonus point for posting the third-quickest pass of the session. Capps made another drastic improvement in the final round, firing off a 3.881 E.T. at 330.15 mph, though it wasn’t quick enough to hold off Austin Prock. It was the third-quickest pass of the session again, though, netting Capps one more bonus point. In the process, Capps moved up from No. 12 to No. 4 in the qualifying order.
Despite a top-five qualifying position, Capps drew Hagan, the four-time and reigning world champion, in the first round of eliminations on Sunday morning. Capps left the starting line behind Hagan, and though he laid down a quicker 3.913 E.T. at 331.20 mph, he ran out of track to chase down Hagan and his 3.937 E.T. It was a close race between two of the best drivers and teams on the property. It just didn’t go Capps’ way.
“It’s a scenario like earlier in the year when we struggled a little bit and we were in those positions in the bottom half (in qualifying), and I’m sure a lot of top half teams were not happy about having to race us,” said Capps, who earned his seventh career Brainerd win last season. “When you have a team like Matt Hagan’s team, defending world champions, obviously a very good team, that’s what could happen. I let the guys down. I can’t have that kind of reaction time and win races.
“On the bright side, as a team owner, I’m very, very happy with Guido,” Capps added. “Guido is happy with the car. It reacted to everything he did and that’s good going from here to Indy. Obviously, Indy is Indy, on top of it being the 70th annual and on top of being defending champions there. We just want to have a good race car starting the Countdown.”
The Ron Capps Motorsports team thought their day was over after the first-round loss, but when fellow Toyota driver J.R. Todd damaged his last Toyota GR Supra body in his second-round victory over Austin Prock, Capps and Antonelli offered a spare body to Todd and his Kalitta Motorsports team. The NAPA AutoCare team jumped in to help the DHL team mount their body to Todd’s chassis. Todd ended up losing his semifinal match with Hagan, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort.
“That was an old-school thrash,” Capps said. “I was in the tower visiting our NAPA people when I saw J.R.’s explosion. I knew they’d already switched chassis, so I texted Slugger Labbe at Toyota and Chad Head at Kalitta Motorsports and asked if we could help in any way. Guido had already reached out also. We were ready. They needed a body and we were more than happy to help them. They helped us a ton when we came into the Toyota family. I was proud watching our team and Del Worsham’s team work together with the Kalitta guys. That’s the NAPA AutoCare way.”
Capps and the NAPA AutoCare team will return to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals, Aug. 28-Sept. 2, where Capps won the prestigious event the last two consecutive years. His 2023 win at Indy was one of the biggest of his career, as he sported a special Hot Wheels livery to recognize the 50th anniversary of his former team owner, Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme, winning the 1973 U.S. Nationals.
This story was originally published on August 19, 2024.
The post Ron Capps Suffers Holeshot Loss at Brainerd first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
