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CLERMONT, Ind. -- Ron Capps recorded his best quarter-mile time of the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series to qualify sixth in the Funny Car division for Monday's final eliminations at the 52nd annual U.S. Nationals drag races at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
Capps, driving his new BRUT Revolution Dodge Charger in its debut event, clocked a time of 4.730 seconds at 324.67 miles per hour on Friday night in round one of Funny Car qualifying to better his earlier season-best of 4.733-second reading at Phoenix in February.
On Saturday at Indy, Capps, who holds a highest Funny Car winning ratio (73.3 per cent) in 2006, took the pretty blue and silver machine to the best afternoon run of the day 4.777 seconds but the Carlsbad, Calif., veteran couldn't improve his Friday lap.
On Sunday, the BRUT Revolution car was on a strong pass in the opening round of the "Skoal Showdown," the NHRA Funny Car bonus race that Capps had captured three times previously. Capps left first off the line against Eric Medlen in the first round of "Skoal" action but lost to the Force Racing driver in a sensational race, 4.770 to 4.793 seconds.
"The car felt good off the line and I really never saw him," said Capps, who now trails "Skoal Showdown" winner John Force by 21 points in the NHRA Funny Car point battle entering Monday's action. "I thought I had won at first but Eric was able to drive around for the win. We felt like we had a car to win the Skoal Showdown again. The car was good on Saturday during the day and it ran well again in the heat on Sunday. But Medlen had the car to beat us."
Capps, crew chief Ed "the Ace" McCulloch, the winner of the most U.S. Nationals Funny Car titles with five, and the BRUT Revolution crew prepared for their final Sunday qualifying run with a chance to improve their Friday night performance. But a cable off the parachute released prematurely after a great launch with the Don Schumacher Racing flopper and Capps ran only 5.33 seconds at 173.16 m.p.h.
"We were on a good pass on that last run," said Capps after his fifth qualifying attempt. "Everything felt really good and we might have beat our 4.73 from Friday night. It's a shame the chute fell out. But I'm glad that happened in qualifying rather than the race on Monday. Overall, I think Ace and I are thinking we have a pretty good car for the race. We need to get past that first round and adjust to the track conditions. The weather should be good on Monday (with a high 76 degrees)."
Capps, a five-time winner in 2006, is seeking his first U.S. Nationals Funny Car crown and will take on the 2004 Funny Car winner Gary Densham, who qualified eleventh at 4.770 seconds.
The U.S. Nationals' final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 4.
Capps Starts 6th Monday In U.S. Nationals
CLERMONT, Ind. -- Ron Capps recorded his best quarter-mile time of the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series to qualify sixth in the Funny Car division for Monday's final eliminations at the 52nd annual U.S. Nationals drag races at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
Capps, driving his new BRUT Revolution Dodge Charger in its debut event, clocked a time of 4.730 seconds at 324.67 miles per hour on Friday night in round one of Funny Car qualifying to better his earlier season-best of 4.733-second reading at Phoenix in February.
On Saturday at Indy, Capps, who holds a highest Funny Car winning ratio (73.3 per cent) in 2006, took the pretty blue and silver machine to the best afternoon run of the day 4.777 seconds but the Carlsbad, Calif., veteran couldn't improve his Friday lap.
On Sunday, the BRUT Revolution car was on a strong pass in the opening round of the "Skoal Showdown," the NHRA Funny Car bonus race that Capps had captured three times previously. Capps left first off the line against Eric Medlen in the first round of "Skoal" action but lost to the Force Racing driver in a sensational race, 4.770 to 4.793 seconds.
"The car felt good off the line and I really never saw him," said Capps, who now trails "Skoal Showdown" winner John Force by 21 points in the NHRA Funny Car point battle entering Monday's action. "I thought I had won at first but Eric was able to drive around for the win. We felt like we had a car to win the Skoal Showdown again. The car was good on Saturday during the day and it ran well again in the heat on Sunday. But Medlen had the car to beat us."
Capps, crew chief Ed "the Ace" McCulloch, the winner of the most U.S. Nationals Funny Car titles with five, and the BRUT Revolution crew prepared for their final Sunday qualifying run with a chance to improve their Friday night performance. But a cable off the parachute released prematurely after a great launch with the Don Schumacher Racing flopper and Capps ran only 5.33 seconds at 173.16 m.p.h.
"We were on a good pass on that last run," said Capps after his fifth qualifying attempt. "Everything felt really good and we might have beat our 4.73 from Friday night. It's a shame the chute fell out. But I'm glad that happened in qualifying rather than the race on Monday. Overall, I think Ace and I are thinking we have a pretty good car for the race. We need to get past that first round and adjust to the track conditions. The weather should be good on Monday (with a high 76 degrees)."
Capps, a five-time winner in 2006, is seeking his first U.S. Nationals Funny Car crown and will take on the 2004 Funny Car winner Gary Densham, who qualified eleventh at 4.770 seconds.
The U.S. Nationals' final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 4.
