Newly Crowned ‘Legend of Thunder Valley’ Capps Charges to Semifinals at Bristol

Just days after being named the newest member of Bristol Dragway’s ‘Legends of Thunder Valley,’ Ron Capps raced to a third-consecutive semifinal finish Sunday afternoon at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Capps, crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli, and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team set low elapsed time of the event twice on race day before coming up short to Daniel Wilkerson in the semifinals. The late-round finish helped Capps maintain his points lead as the first half of the 20-race NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season winds down.

In the week leading up to the Thunder Valley Nationals, Capps was announced as the 24th inductee into the facility’s prestigious ‘Legends of Thunder Valley’ hall of fame. With eight Bristol victories, he’s the winningest professional series driver at the track. Capps became only the third active driver to earn a spot in the track’s hall of fame. The honor was made official during a special presentation at Sunday morning’s pre-race ceremony.

“This place is magical for me and it’s been that way since I rolled in here for the first time driving for Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme,” said Capps, the defending event winner. “I got to win here with every team owner I drove for, including myself. The memories are great because every win, I can say we never had it easy and backed into a win or had an easy day – quite the opposite, in fact. When I pulled into the track on Friday, it was surreal to just stand there and look up at the grandstands. I could not believe my name was up there with those legends.”

The first day of qualifying on the brand-new racing surface presented challenges for Capps and his fellow Funny Car competitors. He smoked the tires in both Friday qualifying sessions to end the day in the No. 10 spot. The third qualifying session on Saturday was also the first round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, which Capps raced his way into when he reached the semifinals at the last race in Epping. Capps left the line ahead of Jack Beckman and launched hard, but he drove into tire smoke again. Finally, everything lined up for Capps in the final qualifying session when he recorded a 4.131-second pass at 304.53 mph to take the No. 7 position going into eliminations. It was also the third-quickest pass of the session, a feat that came with one championship bonus point.

The NAPA Auto Care Funny Car looked like a totally new race car on Sunday as Capps threw down the quickest pass of the event, a 3.989 E.T. at 324.44 mph, to drive around Chad Green in the opening round of eliminations. He lowered that weekend best to a 3.980 E.T. at 327.43 mph in the second round to get past Funny Car rookie Jordan Vandergriff and his 4.040 E.T. In the semifinals, a dropped cylinder slowed Capps’ momentum. He posted a 4.058 E.T. at 299.40 mph behind Daniel Wilkerson’s 4.023 E.T. With the semifinal finish, Capps locked into his 22nd career Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.

“Kudos to everyone involved with the facility and what they did at this track,” Capps said. “It’s one of the coolest places to race at and the fans are incredible here. It’s a bummer Friday was not the greatest qualifying for the fans, but they came out every day. We all knew it just took more rubber to get down the track. We saw some great races on race day. Guido threw down low E.T. for Funny Car twice on Sunday. It would’ve been great if we could’ve won, but I’m still happy with the semifinal finish. Guido was trying to run another 3.98 before it dropped the cylinder. Overall, it was a really good points weekend. We made it into another Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and we’re leaving here with the points lead.”

Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team will now move on to another fan-favorite stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Series tour, the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 26-28, at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Start / Finish: No. 7 / def. in semifinals
Points Standing / Total: No. 1 / 691 pts. (+24)

Next Race: June 26-28, Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
How to Watch or Listen: FS1, NHRA.TV

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