Capps Determined to Rebound from Body-Launching Explosion at Carolina Nationals

Ron Capps’ race day at the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals came to a dramatic end in the second round Sunday afternoon as a massive engine explosion destroyed the body on his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra. Though Capps didn’t advance to the final quad at zMAX Dragway, the three-time world champion had the second-quickest car in qualifying, and he threw down the quickest pass of eliminations in the opening round. He leaves Charlotte, the second of six races in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, third in the Funny Car points standings as he pursues a fourth world championship.

For the second straight race, Capps, crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli, and the NAPA Auto Care team battled back from a challenging first day of qualifying. Capps faced traction issues in Friday’s two qualifying sessions, sending him into Saturday’s final two sessions on the bump spot. He had to lift off the throttle early in the third session on Saturday but moved up a spot to No. 15. With the pressure on in the final session, Antonelli sent Capps on a 3.899-second pass at 329.67 mph to propel Capps from the No. 15 spot up to the No. 2 position on the final qualifying order.

Building off the performance they found in the final qualifying session, Capps charged to a 3.894 E.T. at 329.67 mph to win his first-round quad over Daniel Wilkerson, Paul Lee, and Dave Richards. It was the quickest pass of the round and the second-quickest performance of the event. In the second round, Capps was on another strong pass when he lost a cylinder around 600 feet down the 1,000-foot racetrack. That led to a tremendous engine explosion that blew the body off Capps’ machine. He finished third in the quad behind Austin Prock and Daniel Wilkerson.

“This is the Countdown. This is what makes the Funny Car division so tough,” said Capps, who finished the spring 4-Wide Nationals as the runner-up. “I’m so proud of Guido and our NAPA Auto Care team. The 3.89 that we ran in qualifying, in the heat, to put us No. 2 showed what we’re capable of, and that’s what championship teams do. Then to go back up in the first round, go low of the round, and run another 3.89 was something I felt like we needed to show that that was on purpose in qualifying. But boy, we got into the second round and there was really no warning before it did what it did. We were on our way to what I feel like was another advancement into the final round. Guido will figure out what happened and the guys will regroup for St. Louis.”

Capps, who serves as both the driver and team owner at Ron Capps Motorsports, highlighted the time he spent with his supporters at the 4-Wide Carolina Nationals and looked ahead at even more off-track highlights coming up in St. Louis, where Capps was the runner-up in 2024.

“We had a great addition to the car, a longtime partner of NAPA Auto Parts with Warren Oil,” Capps said. “It’s a North Carolina company, made in the USA, and the coolest part was they were all new to drag racing, so to have them out at our NHRA event was awesome. St. Louis is a NAPA race so we’re looking forward to hanging with all our NAPA people, especially McKay Auto Parts.”

Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team will go back to work for a few days at the Ron Capps Motorsports shop in Brownsburg, Ind., to prepare for the third race in the Countdown, the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals, Sept. 26-28, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.

Start / Finish: No. 2 / def. in round two
Points Standing / Total: No. 3 / 2,204 pts.

Next Race: Sept. 26-28, NHRA Midwest Nationals, Madison, Ill.
How to Watch or Listen: FS1, NHRA.TV

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