Capps Cruises to Route 66 Quarterfinals After Strong Qualifying Effort

Fan-favorite Funny Car driver Ron Capps powered his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to a quarterfinal finish today at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. Despite challenging weather creating a variety of tricky track conditions, the talented driver and team owner overcame those obstacles to secure a spot in the top half of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car field.

After hazing the tires in the first hit of the weekend, Capps came back in Q2 with a run of 3.998 seconds at 318.17 mph as a ferocious crosswind threatened to push his 12,000-horsepower machine out of the groove. The NAPA Auto Care team continued to improve upon each of their performances as qualifying continued on Saturday, which served not only as the third and fourth qualifying passes but also the elimination rounds for the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.

In the first round of the challenge, Capps lined up against current Funny Car world champion Austin Prock. The NAPA Auto Care team, also representing TERREPOWER and Adaptive One Brakes through the weekend, sent Capps straight down the track to outpace Prock, who got loose and clicked it off early. Even though Capps dropped a cylinder around the 700-foot mark, he was on such a powerful pass that he still laid down the third-fastest effort of the session, a lap of 3.895 seconds at 325.77 mph, earning a valuable bonus point. Capps outperformed himself once again in the final heat of the day as he faced Matt Hagan in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge finals. Capps posted an impressive 3.889 at 330.88, but it was not enough to outpace Hagan’s 3.880 E.T.

Entering eliminations from the sixth position on the ladder, Capps faced Alexis DeJoria in the opening round on Sunday. Capps got the jump off the starting line and held on to his advantage as he powered down the 1,000-foot strip. Capps never trailed for the win as his 3.905-second run at 331.69 mph defeated DeJoria’s effort of 3.913 at 331.69.

In the quarterfinals, Capps once again lined up against Hagan. Both cars sped straight down the track in an entertaining drag race, but it was Hagan who turned on the win light.

“It’s funny how some weekends are unpredictable,” said Capps. “You have to stand back sometimes and realize just how well we did. While you always expect to win the race, when you look back at how many runs we made down the track, that’s always the key because you don’t want to lose any data, on top of losing a race. Guido (crew chief Dean Antonelli) and the guys really had to battle the conditions we faced. To qualify well and have lane choice for the first round are two goals we have going into every event. We had a big first round against Alexis. To win that was huge. It was really close. Racing Hagan, he and I were teammates for a long time. It’s a ‘love/hate’ thing when we race each other because we know we’ve got to battle for championships against one another. We knew it would be tight. It was another close race. We lost another close one on Saturday in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, and I think that was about all that right lane was going to take. Guido did a great job, and we got some more runs for data to use in the future so we’re pumped. I’m excited to go to Epping.”

The NAPA Auto Care team will travel to Epping, N.H., in two weeks to continue their pursuit of another Funny Car world title as they compete at the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway, May 30 to June 1.

Start / Finish: No. 6 / def. in quarterfinals
Points Standing / Total: No. 5 / 347 pts. (-159)

Next Race: May 30 – June 1, NHRA New England Nationals, Epping, NH
How to Watch or Listen: FS1, NHRA.TV

NAPA Racing:@NAPARacing
Ron Capps: @RonCapps28
Ron Capps Motorsports: @TeamRonCapps