NHRA

Bristol: Ron Capps preview

RACING NEW CAR, CAPPS SET FOR 'BRISTOL STOMP' CARLSBAD, Calif. (May 13, 2008) - Ron Capps, tuner Ed "Ace" McCulloch and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team recently tested a new Murf McKinney chassis following the previous race in ...

Edited: May 14, 2008, 8:16 AM

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RACING NEW CAR, CAPPS SET FOR 'BRISTOL STOMP'

CARLSBAD, Calif. (May 13, 2008) - Ron Capps, tuner Ed "Ace" McCulloch and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team recently tested a new Murf McKinney chassis following the previous race in St. Louis and will debut it at this weekend's NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Capps is tied only with John Force with the most Funny Car wins at Bristol, two, and feels he and the NAPA team are ready to roll with the new chassis at the picturesque Tennessee facility.

Qualifying for each of these 21-plus tough fields so far this season remains the key priority. "If you can take one thing out of this year so far when it comes to qualifying is that a lot of really big teams haven't qualified at certain races," said Capps, who has qualified for each of the seven 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car events so far, "and a lot of it's been due to weather with the number of qualifying sessions being shortened. If we get good weather and we get four runs, it's going to be better for all the teams.

"It will be much better for our NAPA team because we stayed and tested with the brand new Murf McKinney updated car on Monday after St. Louis and Ace has decided that we are going to go ahead and run that car starting with Bristol.

"We only got one run on that car basically in St. Louis, but, the car felt great on that run. The conditions were tricky during that test, which I think well help us because those are the conditions we will be looking for in the next three races.

"On top of the pressure of trying to qualify at each event in this tough field of Funny Cars, we're bringing a new car to Bristol. So, there's a little bit of apprehension, But, you know, the guys on the NAPA team do such a great job. There's been many times in the past where we've brought a new car out and while a lot of teams would have to make a check-out run we ran it right it down to the finish line and qualified well in a brand-new car. That's just the trust you have with your team and your crew chief.

"Then there's even more added pressure," continued Capps, winner at Bristol in 2001 and 2006 and currently ninth in the rankings. "We're trying to break deeper into the top 10 and, while there's a lot of races left, Bristol is always a track that lends itself to great side-by-side racing, so we've kind of approached every race with three goals, and that first goal is to qualify, the second goal is to qualify in the top eight, and then the final goal of course is to win the race.

"So far, we've done well in the first two goals, we just need to work on trying to win it."

-credit: dsr

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