Englishtown: Ron Capps Saturday notes

CAPPS QUALIFIES NO. 10 IN RAIN-SHORTENED E-TOWN QUALIFYING ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 13, 2009) - Only three qualifying rounds were held for the NHRA SuperNationals when rain came into the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park area canceling the final and ...

CAPPS QUALIFIES NO. 10 IN RAIN-SHORTENED E-TOWN QUALIFYING

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 13, 2009) - Only three qualifying rounds were held for the NHRA SuperNationals when rain came into the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park area canceling the final and fourth run today.

Ron Capps, driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car, ended up No. 10, based on his Friday night run of 4.196 seconds at 277.66 mph. His first pass on Friday was a 4.418/211.16, and today's single pass produced a 5.175/142.58.

He will face Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

"It's been a challenge," said Capps, the 2006 E-town champion and current class points leader. "We had very hot and humid conditions in the first round Friday and then it cooled off enough on Friday evening that we felt like we could run a high 4.0 (-second elapsed time) and we had an ignition wire that broke and threw 30 degrees of timing out of it and put it into pedal mode. The NAPA car would have run pretty good, but we didn't get down that run. Of course, the rain came this afternoon and we weren't able to get down the track on today's run either.

"It's been very difficult. We're just trying little things right now. We don't have lane choice, and the good thing about this track is I don't think it matters. It's such a great facility, track-surface-wise, that lane choice won't be a big deal.

"We've seen conditions so different every run here that we don't know what's in store for us on Sunday. It's going to be which crew chief can adapt the quickest, I think."