Reading: Ron Capps final summary

MOHNTON, Pa. (Oct. 10, 2004) - Coming off of his best qualifying outing of the 2004 NHRA season, Ron Capps raced his green Skoal RacingSM Chevy Monte Carlo to a second-round finish Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway.

Capps, who qualified his Don Prudhomme-owned Chevy Funny Car third with a time of 4.777 seconds, raced to a run of 4.836 seconds at 311.56 mph to defeat first-round opponent Jeff Arend, who recorded a run of 5.193 at 221.63 in his Chevy flopper.

In round two, the 14-time NHRA winner used a slim starting line advantage over fellow Chevy driver Del Worsham, before both Funny Cars lost traction and spun the tires forcing the drivers to get on and off the throttle. Worsham's car regained traction and he sped to the narrow victory with a run of 6.094 at 279.44, while Capps stopped the timers in 6.223 at 216.41. Capps remains 13th in the Funny Car standings.

"We needed a weekend like this," Capps said. "We all knew we had it in us. We have the right parts; it was just a matter of finding the right combination. Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) did an outstanding job.

"When guys are running mid-4.70s, you have to get after it. It just pulled the tires loose on that pass. It was like I was driving a midget at the Chili Bowl. I could see the finish line and Del (Worsham) just blew right by me. He's one of the best at getting a car to recover. We're really excited about going to the last two races with the combination we've got going."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the fourth annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, Oct. 28-31, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Capps won the inaugural fall Las Vegas event in 2001.

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