Seattle: Ron Capps Saturday report

CAPPS COLLECTS NO. 4 IN SEATTLE QUALIFYING

KENT, Wash. (July 10, 2010) - Ron Capps drove the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger Funny Car into the No. 4 position in qualifying for the 23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals, posting a 4.222-second elapsed time at 292.08 mph in the heat of the day on Saturday.

His other laps produced a disqualified run when a steering problem caused him to hit a cone just after launching in the first pass on Friday, a 4.321/277.32 Friday evening (No. 10), and a 4.304/245.58 in the final Saturday session.

"In yesterday's run a piece on the steering hub broke and the steering wheel came off and we had to abort that run," said Capps, a two-time champion at Pacific Raceways. "And from then on, (crew chief) John Medlen and all the NAPA guys made great calls, especially in the 4.22-second run on Saturday. That was the second quickest of the session. It was in the heat, so we know what it's going to be like on Sunday.

"And in the last session, it was running even better, probably a high 'teen' and our supercharger belt broke for some reason. We'll try to figure out why it broke, but it was running great. I was down there about 800 feet when it broke and it felt like it was going to be a stout pass.

"It's going to cool off a little bit tomorrow, so that should be good."

Capps faces Paul Lee in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

-source: dsr