ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 13, 2010) - Under hot and humid conditions today,
Ron Capps was knocked out of the opening round of Funny Car eliminations at
the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park by
his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman.
Capps, racing the NAPA Batteries Dodge Charger, had a slight edge at the
starting lights, but soon struck the tires, ceding the win to Beckman, who
posted a 4.232-second lap at 292.00 mph to Capps' 4.715/187.60.
"We were in the staging lanes,² said Capps, ³and John Force came up on the
scooter and we listened to every Top Fuel dragster smoking the tires in
front of us and nobody was making it down the track. We talked about how
this was looking like it was going to turn into a driver¹s deal and you were
going to have to be ready.
"Then, a little bit of cloud cover came in. So, the Funny Cars in front of
us actually put down a couple of good numbers. Force went 4.16 in the pair
in front of us and we thought the track was starting to cool down at least a
little bit. At this track, the downforce the Funny Cars have, compared to
the dragsters, really helped them get down the track when none of the
dragsters made it down full power. We were a little surprised.
"Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) is still working on some in-house things that
we've been trying and we felt really good. We ran a 4.11 in the heat of the
day on Saturday in qualifying, so we really felt the car would go right down
the track and run a mid-teen. But it didn't happen. Jack ran really good
next to us and we got beat."
As of 3:45 p.m., the final rounds of all pro classes have been halted
because of rain in Englishtown. Following are the points, as they stand
before the final. The number in parentheses is the number of points that
driver will receive if he wins.
UNOFFICIAL FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, after 11 of 23 events:
1. Robert Hight, 844
2. John Force, 819
3. Matt Hagan, 748
4. Jack Beckman, 724
5. Ashley Force Hood, 705
6. Ron Capps, 663
7. Bob Tasca III, 657 (677)
8. Del Worsham, 591 (611)
9. Tim Wilkerson, 572
10. Tony Pedregon, 554
Ron Capps was knocked out of the opening round of Funny Car eliminations at
the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park by
his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman.
Capps, racing the NAPA Batteries Dodge Charger, had a slight edge at the
starting lights, but soon struck the tires, ceding the win to Beckman, who
posted a 4.232-second lap at 292.00 mph to Capps' 4.715/187.60.
"We were in the staging lanes,² said Capps, ³and John Force came up on the
scooter and we listened to every Top Fuel dragster smoking the tires in
front of us and nobody was making it down the track. We talked about how
this was looking like it was going to turn into a driver¹s deal and you were
going to have to be ready.
"Then, a little bit of cloud cover came in. So, the Funny Cars in front of
us actually put down a couple of good numbers. Force went 4.16 in the pair
in front of us and we thought the track was starting to cool down at least a
little bit. At this track, the downforce the Funny Cars have, compared to
the dragsters, really helped them get down the track when none of the
dragsters made it down full power. We were a little surprised.
"Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) is still working on some in-house things that
we've been trying and we felt really good. We ran a 4.11 in the heat of the
day on Saturday in qualifying, so we really felt the car would go right down
the track and run a mid-teen. But it didn't happen. Jack ran really good
next to us and we got beat."
As of 3:45 p.m., the final rounds of all pro classes have been halted
because of rain in Englishtown. Following are the points, as they stand
before the final. The number in parentheses is the number of points that
driver will receive if he wins.
UNOFFICIAL FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, after 11 of 23 events:
1. Robert Hight, 844
2. John Force, 819
3. Matt Hagan, 748
4. Jack Beckman, 724
5. Ashley Force Hood, 705
6. Ron Capps, 663
7. Bob Tasca III, 657 (677)
8. Del Worsham, 591 (611)
9. Tim Wilkerson, 572
10. Tony Pedregon, 554
