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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Capps Having Blast After First Nhra Win He Hopes To Continue Good Times At Ahra World Finals This Weekend

Mike Bond Correspondent

When you talk to Ron Capps, it’s like talking to a little kid in a candy store.

Capps, 30, has a good reason to be a little giddy. He won his first National Hot Rod Association top fuel title last weekend at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

This weekend, Capps and 15 other top fuel and funny car drivers visit Spokane to compete in the 33rd annual American Hot Rod Association World Finals at Spokane Raceway Park.

What is even more amazing about Capps’ victory last weekend is that this is his first year in top fuel racing.

“The feeling is unbelievable,” Capps said. “There’s people that have been in the sport for 25 years and haven’t ever won a race.”

In clinching the win, Capps had to fight off the biggest names in the sport. In the first round on Sunday, the Cupertino, Calif., resident met Jim Head, a drag racing veteran. Capps disposed of Head, clocking 5.02 seconds at 294 mph for the quarter-mile drag strip.

Then the rain begin to fall, postponing the second-round eliminations until Monday.

On Monday, Capps met Mike Dunn. Capps turned in a scorching 4.92 at 298 mph and earned the opportunity to meet former world champion Kenny Bernstein in the semifinals.

Just before Capps’ crew chief was about to fire up the Roger Primm Racing, 6,000-horsepower rocket, the rain began to fall again. Capps would have to wait until Tuesday to meet Bernstein.

“It starts to get hard because you get yourself up to race and then you have to wait,” Capps said. “My anxiety was unbelievable.”

Finally, Capps got his shot at Bernstein, beating the accomplished racer soundly with a 4.95.

That set up a final-round matchup with the Joe Gibbs-owned McDonald’s dragster driven by Cory McClenathan. A David-and-Goliath-type matchup. McClenathan had beaten Capps this year in the finals in Atlanta.

But Capps got his revenge as McClenathan smoked his tires off the start and Capps powered to a 4.93 at 295 mph. The win was important in the team’s effort to lock down major sponsorship.

“We’ve been talking to somebody and if it works out, we will be on the same level as the big teams like McDonald’s,” Capps said, declining to name the company. “That win was huge.”

Capps’ team is working on a $500,000 budget this year, which limits the amount of races it can attend and the quantity of spare parts it has. Every run down the dragstrip costs $4,000 - assuming there aren’t any broken parts. And engines cost around $40,000 apiece.

“You need at least $1,000,000 to race full time,” Capps said. “We have all the right parts, but we don’t have a lot of extras of those right parts, so we sometimes can’t tune the car to that cutting edge for fear of blowing something up.”

Capps also is getting help from two of the biggest names in drag racing - John Force, who is back in Spokane this year to defend his AHRA funny car world title, and Ed “The Ace” McCulloch.

“John has taken me under his wing and I can talk to him about anything, like interviews or driving,” Capps said.

“Ed helps me with my driving. I can go in and say ‘Ace, my car has this certain vibration,’ and he will explain to me what the problem is.”

As for this weekend, Capps predicts a sub-5-second run by a dragster, which would be the first at SRP, and another win for himself.

Notes

Gates open today at 1:30 with sportsman qualifying at 3 p.m. Pro qualifying begins at 8 p.m.

Gates open Saturday at 10 a.m. with pro qualifying at 1 and 8 p.m.

Gates open Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and final pro eliminations begin at 1 p.m.