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Ron Capps and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch actually entertained thoughts of going for the Funny Car national elapsed-time record here at the rescheduled Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals, with the outstanding record-breaking cool conditions Mother Nature presented to the returning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series teams.
But, their attempt to earn those 20 bonus points fell short in the final session, when the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car smoked the tires, slowing to an 11.534-second elapsed time at 74.73 mph. Capps set his quickest time in the second round, a 4.717/317.42, which earned him the No. 5 spot, but it came at the expense of the Brut Revolution body, as he skidded into the sand pit at the end of the track when the parachutes delayed their appearance. A replacement body was attached for the final round.
His first run produced a 4.764/323.97. Capps gained two points on John Force, who qualified ninth, and is now 39 points ahead of the 13-time champion.
"We're not sure what happened," said Capps, who also receives support from Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels. "Something in the motor malfunctioned about 1200 feet. It was well on its way to a high 4.60. It just nosed over real hard. I got out of the throttle and we don't know if it shifted the body or what it did, but the 'chutes didn't come out. I had the levers all the way down and off I went into the sand.
"I ended up reaching over my shoulder and grabbing a handful of the cable itself and pulling on it. And, thank God, it came out right beforehand because it knocked a lot of speed off and it just did a little bit of damage to the nose of that Charger body. But we have a brand-new one upstairs (in the hauler) that we'll use to get through this weekend and we'll have the other one ready for Richmond (Va., next week's event).
"It could have been a lot worse. We saw a lot of guys have problems here and this is not a place that you want to have a parachute problem, if any.
"We're just concentrating on Sunday. The media have been in our Brut trailer all weekend asking if we were going to take a shot at the 20 extra points because very seldom do you see a chance to back up a record on race day. Here is one of the places where it could be done. So they wanted to know if we were going to give it a shot. And that is not the way Ace runs the car. However, he went up there with his chest out that time and said we're going to find out what the track's going to hold. In case conditions are good enough to go for it, I need to know if we can run a mid-.60 to a low .60. It didn't want to hold it, so we're going to go back to our race-day setup and concentrate on what we have to do, like we usually do."
Capps faces Phil Burkart Jr., in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.
Capps Rolls Brut Revolution Dodge into No. 5 in Reading Qualifying
Ron Capps and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch actually entertained thoughts of going for the Funny Car national elapsed-time record here at the rescheduled Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals, with the outstanding record-breaking cool conditions Mother Nature presented to the returning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series teams.
But, their attempt to earn those 20 bonus points fell short in the final session, when the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car smoked the tires, slowing to an 11.534-second elapsed time at 74.73 mph. Capps set his quickest time in the second round, a 4.717/317.42, which earned him the No. 5 spot, but it came at the expense of the Brut Revolution body, as he skidded into the sand pit at the end of the track when the parachutes delayed their appearance. A replacement body was attached for the final round.
His first run produced a 4.764/323.97. Capps gained two points on John Force, who qualified ninth, and is now 39 points ahead of the 13-time champion.
"We're not sure what happened," said Capps, who also receives support from Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels. "Something in the motor malfunctioned about 1200 feet. It was well on its way to a high 4.60. It just nosed over real hard. I got out of the throttle and we don't know if it shifted the body or what it did, but the 'chutes didn't come out. I had the levers all the way down and off I went into the sand.
"I ended up reaching over my shoulder and grabbing a handful of the cable itself and pulling on it. And, thank God, it came out right beforehand because it knocked a lot of speed off and it just did a little bit of damage to the nose of that Charger body. But we have a brand-new one upstairs (in the hauler) that we'll use to get through this weekend and we'll have the other one ready for Richmond (Va., next week's event).
"It could have been a lot worse. We saw a lot of guys have problems here and this is not a place that you want to have a parachute problem, if any.
"We're just concentrating on Sunday. The media have been in our Brut trailer all weekend asking if we were going to take a shot at the 20 extra points because very seldom do you see a chance to back up a record on race day. Here is one of the places where it could be done. So they wanted to know if we were going to give it a shot. And that is not the way Ace runs the car. However, he went up there with his chest out that time and said we're going to find out what the track's going to hold. In case conditions are good enough to go for it, I need to know if we can run a mid-.60 to a low .60. It didn't want to hold it, so we're going to go back to our race-day setup and concentrate on what we have to do, like we usually do."
Capps faces Phil Burkart Jr., in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.
