Brainerd Chevrolet Final Race Notes

NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES BRAINERD INT'L RACEWAY SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 1998

RON CAPPS WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE TITLE IN CAMARO FUNNY CAR; HIS FOURTH OF THE SEASON, SIXTH FOR CAMARO; MOVES INTO POINTS LEAD

RON CAPPS, COPENHAGEN CAMARO Z28 FUNNY CAR, captured his second straight Funny Car title today, his fourth title win of the season, and the sixth for the Camaro. He defeated Dean Skuza with a 5.098-second elapsed time at a speed of 291.16 mph, to Skuza's 7.848/112.57. Ron takes over the points lead from John Force, 1105 to 1074. CHUCK ETCHELLS, KENDALL/MA MA ROSA'S PIZZA/SUPERWINCH CAMARO Z28, stays in third, with 989 points.

CAPPS: "It's awesome. I don't want this to sound like a cliche, but it's a dream come true. Four years ago I was just a kid watching John Force race and demolish his competitors. Thanks to this man (pointing to team owner Don Prudhomme) and Roland (Leong, crew chief). No matter what happens at the end of the year it's a fun ride right now. We're just going to try to ride the wave out. We are not only a contender we have a championship caliber team. It's nice to be in the lead, but there's a long way to go, we're just going to try to ride the wave all the way in."

ON THE FINAL ROUND AGAINST SKUZA: "It was a scary kind of final round. Racing Force you know what you have cut our for you. He's going to run good, and he's good at the tree. With these guys you don't know. They ran a good .09 in the semis to set up for the final. You don't know what's going to happen. It's even more scary especially when those guys haven't won in a long time. They're all hungry for a win, but there's really no one hungrier than this Copenhagen Camaro team. The Camaro was just planted all weekend long. Where other guys had problems at the other end of the track, this Camaro was just planted down the middle every time."

ON DEEP STAGING IN THE FINAL AFTER SHALLOW STAGING ALL DAY: "We didn't have to race (here in the final) for lane choice in the first round of qualifying at Indy. There's no other round (today). It's a free for all. The deeper you stage the closer you are to the finish line. Roland, 'Snake' and I talked about some driving techniques, and how important lane choice was all day. So I shallow staged all day to get lane choice, that was pretty crucial. Even though we picked the left lane a lot of guys picked the right lane early and people looked at us funny. We had low e.t. in the first round. I learned a lot, it was a real character-building weekend for me as a driver.... I thought that I cost the team a few finals this year when I didn't stage as deep...we just lost some holeshots. We don't want that to happen again."

DON PRUDHOMME: "It means a whole lot (to be in first place), especially for the team, because they work so doggoned hard to get to this point and I've been able to stand back and be there first hand watching them. I haven't been around a team like this in such a long time that works together so well. It's a pleasure to be involved. In 1994 when we won here (Prudhomme in Top Fuel -- his next to last win in that category of his career), this track brings back so many old memories of the old match races, and they turned them into national events. One of the last races I won was here. To win here in Funny Car is always close to my heart. It's unbelievable. I'm having a better time right now than when I was driving, to be honest with you. It's really great."

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR DRIVER? "Stay focused. That's the key and every so often when I'm around the guys we say let's have a great time.... I'm thrilled with the win, believe me, but I can't tell you how important it is because I've been there, and you have to stay focused. We're glad to win this race, we're proud to win this race, but it is still a long year ahead of us. We have to stay focused, that's the bottom line. We will pop open the champagne at the end of the year. We are going to Indy to test this week to get ready for the U.S. Nationals."