Ron Capps Holds Steady with Quarterfinal Finish at NHRA Carolina Nationals, Moves into Top Five
With three past NHRA Carolina Nationals victories to his name, Ron Capps knows how to find the winner’s circle at the fall race at zMAX Dragway outside Charlotte. Capps and his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra appeared to be on the path to victory again Sunday afternoon, but an unexpected spell of tire smoke derailed him in the quarterfinals. The three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion moved up one position to fifth in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series points standings, keeping him very much a part of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship conversation with four playoff races remaining.
With Dorman Products joining Ron Capps Motorsports as a weekend partner, Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli established a solid baseline in the opening qualifying session on Friday, laying down a 3.91 E.T. at 323.81 mph to sit fifth. He launched hard in the second session, but went into tire smoke and coasted to the finish line. Tire haze and a dropped cylinder slowed Capps in the third session on Saturday, but he came back in the final session and threw down a 3.906 E.T. at 329.67 mph to lock in the No. 8 spot for Sunday eliminations.
“It’s always fun when we can do a special car with NAPA, and this weekend it was Dorman Products, a 106-year-old company in the automotive business,” Capps said. “To be able to represent Dorman and have their guests with us when we had a great qualifying run like we did on Saturday, it was a nice feather in the cap, especially for Guido and our NAPA Auto Care team.”
Capps and his first-round opponent, Chad Green, were separated by just two thousandths of a second in qualifying. Capps was in control on race day, though, as he fired off the quickest pass of the round, a 3.933-second pass at 319.37 mph, to get past Green, who smoked the tires. Capps experienced his own bout with tire smoke in the second round, where he stepped up on the starting line against the quick-reacting Austin Prock. The third-year driver and team owner went into tire smoke early and had to click it off while the points-leading Prock moved on to the semifinals.
“I hit the gas and we’re still not sure exactly what happened, but we felt so confident going into that round,” said Capps, who holds the track speed record at 335.57 mph. “Austin Prock, (crew chief) Jimmy Prock, and that car have been so dominant from start to finish this season. After going low E.T. in the first round and having lane choice, we really felt this was a chance to take out the points leaders and make up some ground. But it was another weekend of getting into the quarterfinals and not losing ground in the points.”
The next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour is a memorable one for Capps. He’s a four-time winner of the NHRA Midwest Nationals, Sept. 27-29, making him the winningest Funny Car driver at World Wide Technology Raceway just outside St. Louis. He earned his first Funny Car win there in 1997 and nearly added a fifth win in 2023 when he reached the final round.
This story was originally published on September 23, 2024.
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