NHRA

Sonoma: Ron Capps Saturday notes

CAPPS QUALIFIES NO. 14 IN SONOMA SONOMA, Calif. (July 25, 2009) - After aborting Saturday night's qualifying run under ideal conditions because of a mechanical problem, NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps made ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:36 PM

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CAPPS QUALIFIES NO. 14 IN SONOMA

SONOMA, Calif. (July 25, 2009) - After aborting Saturday night's qualifying run under ideal conditions because of a mechanical problem, NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps made it into the 16-car field for Sunday's eliminations at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals by recording a respectable pass of 4.232 seconds at 289.07 mph today.

Entering the final two rounds of qualifying, the driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge found himself outside the top 12 with just these last two chances remaining to get himself into the 16-car field to race on Sunday. He and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch stepped up to the challenge and squeaked into No. 14 in their final try. Today's earlier round produced a 4.789/199.17.

Capps' only Friday pass was a 4.215/288.95, which was good for No. 5 at the time, but it dropped him to 13th following the second session.

"Obviously, that would have been a great run for more than one reason," Capps said of the lost Friday night opportunity. "It would have definitely put the pressure on somebody else and not for us to get in the show today. We were also excited to see what we could have run under those near-perfect conditions.

"That being said, these are gut-check weekends that, I believe, bring teams together closer and win championships. The track was difficult to get down today, so for Ace to go up there and make that run and get the car down the track was just a great call.

"I was quite nervous, because it's my daughter Taylor's 13th birthday, and we're having a big party for her afterwards and I surely didn't want to go up there in a bad mood.

"We have a pretty pivotal match-up tomorrow," he added. Points leader Capps faces No. 2 in the standings and No. 3 qualifier Ashley Force Hood in Sunday's opening round.

-credit: dsr

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