Catching up with NAPA funny car driver Ron Capps

Ron Capps drives the NAPA Funny Car in NHRA drag racing. He recently sent us this update.

Being able to sit down and write these blogs to catch everyone up on what we have been up to is a lot like going down a short memory lane.  It is so funny for me in a way. We do all of this social media on a day-to-day, wait, hour-to-hour basis, with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook posts, or the new Ron Capps app available at iTunes/Google stores.

We constantly post what is happening on the go, so when I sit down to write the blogs it just seems like old news. I probably already Tweeted and/or posted on our Facebook fan page.

Last I wrote on my blog, we had just left Vegas and were headed back east to race the Four-Wide race in Charlotte at zMAX Dragway.  During that week was the big NASCAR vs. NHRA softball game that we have been telling you about for the last couple of months.

We had held a practice the weekend of the Vegas race, our one and only practice at UNLV on Friday morning prior to qualifying. It was honestly a blast to get together with all of the guys and have a really good couple of hours running around that morning, shagging balls and getting in some batting practice since most of us hadn’t played softball for years. We played a great game and came away with a win. But I assure you that the NASCAR guys will want a rematch, and we better come ready to play again.

We didn’t have the Sunday that we wanted at the Vegas race or the Charlotte race, but we had good weekends at both. And while that sounds strange, what I mean is that we didn’t have the results on race day that we have been used to with our NAPA AUTO PARTS team. But Tobler and our team have been able to work on some things with our clutch package that we feel will give us the best chance at being one of the teams battling for a championship at the end of our 2013 Mello Yello season.

We had a quick week, with Houston being the following race. Rahn had decided that we were going to go back to our normal tune up on Sunday morning and hold the testing until we can stay after a race on a Monday and work on implementing the parts and pieces that we want to try again. Houston was pretty wet on Saturday and we lost two runs that day, but we went to the semifinals of the race that NHRA and ESPN wanted to try “live” racing, which turned out to be awesome. In the meantime, we have been to Atlanta for our race, but Mother Nature had other plans there as well and we have postponed the race until this weekend.

If you follow along with me on these blogs, you know that I usually go to Hawaii after our season is over to see our Hawaiian NAPA fans and customers and show up at the last race of the season at the Maui Raceway. you might even remember this awesome commercial we shot over there a few years ago. Of all the ones we have shot every year in Hawaii, it still makes me laugh out loud.

Well, this year we are headed to Australia right after Pomona helping to promote a race in Sydney at the Sydney Dragway, which is a wonderful facility. I will spend a week or so doing appearances and media building up to a race there where I will be driving an “Outlaw Nitro Funny Car” for legendary Australian drag racer Graeme Cowin. It is actually a Nostalgia Funny Car in the NHRA Heritage series here in the U.S., and it is the same nostalgia funny car that I drove for Steve Plueger at the March Meet that still holds the world record. It was purchased by Graeme Cowin. I can’t wait to see all of our great Australian NAPA racing fans that follow our great sport of NHRA Drag Racing.

As you know, there is always cool stuff on the horizon with us. If you are on the east coast and near Reading, PA, my teammate Antron Brown and I, in conjunction with NAPA Auto Parts, the Reading Eagle newspaper and Slick Willy’s, are going to give fans a chance to test your skills against us on May 29^th. Go here to get the details and learn when and how to qualify this month to race with us.

We have some exciting stuff coming up next month for our first trip to Epping, New Hampshire.  I will be at Fenway Park doing some very cool things with NAPA AUTO PARTS that you can join in with. Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, cross your fingers that we are able to finish our race here in Atlanta this weekend.

Talk to you soon,
Ron