<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/r_capps07.jpg" alt="r_capps07" align="left"borders="0"/>
JOLIET, Ill. (June 6, 2007) - As he aims for his first Funny Car championship this season, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps reflects on all the facets of that task, using history as an example.
The new Countdown to the Championship system actually rewards miscues, as the points for the top eight in the standings after 17 races will be reset to 10-point increments until the final two races, in which the top four will then compete for the crown in all four pro classes.
Capps and the Brut Dodge team, led by tuner Ed "Ace" McCulloch, took a gamble in Topeka, Kan., last week. Entering the event with a 121-point lead, the team experimented with new modifications and, with only three qualifying sessions available because of rain, failed to qualify for the first time since 2004.
As Capps and the Brut team approach this weekend's ninth round of the year, the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals, they maintain their lead over Robert Hight, though it has diminished to 53 points.
"Our weekend in Chicago last year exemplifies this new Countdown system," says Capps, winner once at Route 66 Raceway, in 2005. "We had one of our most miserable weekends of racing as a team. It's a place where we won the year before, I've had great success there as a driver, Ace has had great success as a tuner. He won Top Fuel there beating the Army car when he was tuning Doug Herbert's car.
"Last year we were so happy when the day was over after we lost second round just to pack up and get out of there. We had oiled down almost every run. We had the weirdest stuff breaking that you would never, ever see break.
"We weren't even qualified until the last run and when we did get down the track it broke the pump on the rear end at the starting line. It oiled down from the starting line to the finish line, but it got us into the show. It was so bad we had to get rear-end oil out of the pit area to make the weight on the scales to be qualified.
"It was one of those weekends when after losing second round, Ace said, 'Pack this stuff up, let's get out of Dodge,' so to speak.
"So, now, looking back, you don't know what you're going to come to when you go to a race every year at the same track, whether you had success there or not.
"With the new Countdown system, if you can have 14 good races out of the 17 before you get to Indy (U.S. Nationals), odds are you're going to be one of the top eight. If you have eight great races and nine OK races, odds are you're going to be in the bottom half of that top eight, but you'll be in.
"It's going to be interesting to see the consistency that the teams are going to have, and Chicago is a place where I've had success and I've had miserable weekends. You can't take that for granted. We have one of the most consistent Funny Cars on the planet this year - and last year - and yet we didn't qualify in Topeka. It just tells you how difficult it is.
"The more Ace looks at what he did in Topeka, the more we feel very comfortable going to Chicago and unloading out of the trailer and running the same car. My Brut Dodge guys do such a great job that it's no big deal to put a new car together and go right down the track, and we usually do.
"I don't want to attribute our weekend in Topeka to the brand-new car. We brought it out a couple of weeks ahead of time because of the Bristol postponement, so going to a great track like Chicago with a very wide groove and a great surface will be a good place to go with a fresh car. I really feel comfortable about going straight there from Topeka."
RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* Leading 2007 Funny Car point standings after back-to-back wins in Gainesville and Houston, another win in St. Louis, one runner-up, two semifinal, one quarterfinal finishes and a DNQ in first eight races
* Leads Robert Hight in rankings by 53 points
* Qualified 12th last year in Chicago, lost second round to Robert Hight
* Has one Funny Car in Chicago, in 2005 (2), and one runner-up, in 2002 (2)
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006: Gainesville, Fla., Bristol, Tenn.,
Topeka, Kan., Houston and Englishtown, N.J.
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first
win for DSR in '05), won at Chicago 2 at Route 66 Raceway and Las Vegas 2
* 2005 Funny Car championship runner-up, eight points short of title
* Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000
* Has seven career No. 1 qualifiers, none in 2006 or 2007 so far
* A perennial fan favorite, Capps has driven and won in both Top Fuel and
Funny Cars since he began his pro NHRA career in 1995
* His best season points finishes were seconds in Funny Car in 1998, 2000
and 2005
* He has 25 event wins in 49 final rounds to his credit (24 national event
wins in Funny Car, one in Top Fuel)
* His career-best elapsed time (established during an event) is 4.694
seconds, set in 2005 in Dallas
* His career-best speed is 331.61 mph (Pomona 1, '07)
* Capps' career record against 14-time champion Force is 17-38 in round
wins. He's won nine of the last 11 meetings against Force, and has won the
last four first-round match-ups over Force
* Age 41 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
* Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (10) and
son Caden (5)
* Is featured, along with son Caden and the Brut Revolution racing crew, in
a number of Brut ads appearing in mainstream magazines, such as People,
Sports Illustrated, etc.
* New to Don Schumacher Racing in 2005 after eight years with Don Prudhomme.
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt
Late Models and Go-Karts
* Is the subject, along with teammate Tony Schumacher, in the
behind-the-scenes TV series, American Dragster, airing on ESPN2 and
ESPN2HD
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, June 8 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, June 9 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 12:10 p.m. and 3:05 p.m.
KING DEMON CROWN ELIMINATION ROUNDS at noon, 3, and 4:25 p.m.
SUNDAY, June 10 – Pre-race ceremonies, 10:30 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Saturday, June 9, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise one hour and 30 minutes of qualifying highlights at 5 p.m. (ET).
Sunday June 10, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, June 10, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of eliminations at 4 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE:
Friday, June 8, 10:30-11 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical) ANALOG
Saturday, June 9, 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical) ANALOG
Sunday, June 10, 7:30-8 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical) ANALOG
FUNNY CAR POINTS LEADER CAPPS LOOKS TO REBOUND IN CHICAGO
JOLIET, Ill. (June 6, 2007) - As he aims for his first Funny Car championship this season, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps reflects on all the facets of that task, using history as an example.
The new Countdown to the Championship system actually rewards miscues, as the points for the top eight in the standings after 17 races will be reset to 10-point increments until the final two races, in which the top four will then compete for the crown in all four pro classes.
Capps and the Brut Dodge team, led by tuner Ed "Ace" McCulloch, took a gamble in Topeka, Kan., last week. Entering the event with a 121-point lead, the team experimented with new modifications and, with only three qualifying sessions available because of rain, failed to qualify for the first time since 2004.
As Capps and the Brut team approach this weekend's ninth round of the year, the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals, they maintain their lead over Robert Hight, though it has diminished to 53 points.
"Our weekend in Chicago last year exemplifies this new Countdown system," says Capps, winner once at Route 66 Raceway, in 2005. "We had one of our most miserable weekends of racing as a team. It's a place where we won the year before, I've had great success there as a driver, Ace has had great success as a tuner. He won Top Fuel there beating the Army car when he was tuning Doug Herbert's car.
"Last year we were so happy when the day was over after we lost second round just to pack up and get out of there. We had oiled down almost every run. We had the weirdest stuff breaking that you would never, ever see break.
"We weren't even qualified until the last run and when we did get down the track it broke the pump on the rear end at the starting line. It oiled down from the starting line to the finish line, but it got us into the show. It was so bad we had to get rear-end oil out of the pit area to make the weight on the scales to be qualified.
"It was one of those weekends when after losing second round, Ace said, 'Pack this stuff up, let's get out of Dodge,' so to speak.
"So, now, looking back, you don't know what you're going to come to when you go to a race every year at the same track, whether you had success there or not.
"With the new Countdown system, if you can have 14 good races out of the 17 before you get to Indy (U.S. Nationals), odds are you're going to be one of the top eight. If you have eight great races and nine OK races, odds are you're going to be in the bottom half of that top eight, but you'll be in.
"It's going to be interesting to see the consistency that the teams are going to have, and Chicago is a place where I've had success and I've had miserable weekends. You can't take that for granted. We have one of the most consistent Funny Cars on the planet this year - and last year - and yet we didn't qualify in Topeka. It just tells you how difficult it is.
"The more Ace looks at what he did in Topeka, the more we feel very comfortable going to Chicago and unloading out of the trailer and running the same car. My Brut Dodge guys do such a great job that it's no big deal to put a new car together and go right down the track, and we usually do.
"I don't want to attribute our weekend in Topeka to the brand-new car. We brought it out a couple of weeks ahead of time because of the Bristol postponement, so going to a great track like Chicago with a very wide groove and a great surface will be a good place to go with a fresh car. I really feel comfortable about going straight there from Topeka."
RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* Leading 2007 Funny Car point standings after back-to-back wins in Gainesville and Houston, another win in St. Louis, one runner-up, two semifinal, one quarterfinal finishes and a DNQ in first eight races
* Leads Robert Hight in rankings by 53 points
* Qualified 12th last year in Chicago, lost second round to Robert Hight
* Has one Funny Car in Chicago, in 2005 (2), and one runner-up, in 2002 (2)
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006: Gainesville, Fla., Bristol, Tenn.,
Topeka, Kan., Houston and Englishtown, N.J.
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first
win for DSR in '05), won at Chicago 2 at Route 66 Raceway and Las Vegas 2
* 2005 Funny Car championship runner-up, eight points short of title
* Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000
* Has seven career No. 1 qualifiers, none in 2006 or 2007 so far
* A perennial fan favorite, Capps has driven and won in both Top Fuel and
Funny Cars since he began his pro NHRA career in 1995
* His best season points finishes were seconds in Funny Car in 1998, 2000
and 2005
* He has 25 event wins in 49 final rounds to his credit (24 national event
wins in Funny Car, one in Top Fuel)
* His career-best elapsed time (established during an event) is 4.694
seconds, set in 2005 in Dallas
* His career-best speed is 331.61 mph (Pomona 1, '07)
* Capps' career record against 14-time champion Force is 17-38 in round
wins. He's won nine of the last 11 meetings against Force, and has won the
last four first-round match-ups over Force
* Age 41 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
* Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (10) and
son Caden (5)
* Is featured, along with son Caden and the Brut Revolution racing crew, in
a number of Brut ads appearing in mainstream magazines, such as People,
Sports Illustrated, etc.
* New to Don Schumacher Racing in 2005 after eight years with Don Prudhomme.
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt
Late Models and Go-Karts
* Is the subject, along with teammate Tony Schumacher, in the
behind-the-scenes TV series, American Dragster, airing on ESPN2 and
ESPN2HD
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, June 8 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, June 9 – PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 12:10 p.m. and 3:05 p.m.
KING DEMON CROWN ELIMINATION ROUNDS at noon, 3, and 4:25 p.m.
SUNDAY, June 10 – Pre-race ceremonies, 10:30 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Saturday, June 9, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise one hour and 30 minutes of qualifying highlights at 5 p.m. (ET).
Sunday June 10, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, June 10, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of eliminations at 4 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE:
Friday, June 8, 10:30-11 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical) ANALOG
Saturday, June 9, 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical) ANALOG
Sunday, June 10, 7:30-8 p.m. (ET) – SBS 6, Transponder 16K (Downlink frequency, 12092.5 MHz, vertical) ANALOG
