Capps Narrowly Misses Eliminations at NHRA Northwest Nationals
KENT, Wash. (Aug. 3, 2013) – Ron Capps suffered a setback Saturday in his quest for a first NHRA Funny Car world championship when he did not qualify for elimination rounds in the rain-shortened NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.
Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team lost traction on their first qualifying attempt Saturday afternoon and then were unable to gain traction just past the starting line to end up qualifying ranked 17th for Sunday’s 16-car field.
“That’s how this sport goes sometimes, especially when you only get two chances to qualify,” said Capps, whose last DNQ occurred in April 2012 at Las Vegas.
Rain on Friday afternoon cancelled the first two qualifying sessions marking the fifth Mello Yello Series event this year when sessions were lost to inclement weather.
Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team were coming off their second title of the season after winning Sunday at the Sonoma Nationals near San Francisco. The win moved Capps up to second in the championship standings and only 27 points behind Matt Hagan, one of his Don Schumacher Racing teammates.
“This hurts because we had a chance to leave Seattle with the points lead, but I know how good our NAPA Dodge is and we’ll be ready for the next race.”
Capps and his team will have next weekend off before the series resumed August 16-18 at Brainerd, Minn.
“We had so many of our friends from NAPA out here with us and letting them down is what’s most disappointing to me,” Capps said.
“I know we’re still in the hunt for the championship but it would have been very special to have all of my NAPA family in the winner’s circle with me.”
Join us to cheer on Ron Capps at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, or watch the racing action on ESPN2.
On ESPN2 (All times ET)
Saturday:10:30 p.m., qualifying
Sunday: 7 p.m., eliminations
FUNNY CAR
No. 1 qualifier: Jack Beckman (Don Schumacher Racing), 4.049 sec.*, 303.64 mph (*track record)
Ron Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T
Did not qualify
FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Both sessions rained out
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 5.058 sec., 247.38 mph
Session 2: 7.582, 96.87
RAINY DAYS
Rain washed out both of Friday’s qualifying sessions at Pacific Raceways near Seattle and marked the fifth of 16 Mello Yello events this season that weather cut short opportunities for pro teams to qualify.
Nine out of 64 qualifying sessions this year have been lost that have cost teams 16 percent of their qualifying runs.
It is the first time since 2007 that an entire qualifying session was lost to rain at Pacific Raceways.
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Don Schumacher Racing View All
Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), the winningest team in drag racing history, has raced to claimed more than 340 NHRA national event victories and 17 Mello Yello World Championship titles. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana, DSR fields professional teams competing in both the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series and Factory Stock Showdown, including the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car driven by 2016 World Champion Ron Capps.