NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps pulled out a No. 12 spot in the final qualifying round for the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals today at Bandimere Speedway after having been bumped out of the field.
Following a rain delay of an hour and a half and under cooler, overcast, evening conditions, Capps powered the Brut “Test Drive” Dodge Charger R/T to a solid 4.934-second pass at 315.27 mph to place him in the bottom half for the first time this season (not counting the DNQ in Topeka). His other laps included a 5.191/238.60, good for No. 8 at the time, and a 5.059/257.19, which dropped him to No. 10. He fell again to 12th in the third session after recording a 5.823/164.21.
As the sun rose and conditions improved, the Funny Car session became a bump-fest. “It rained after one pair of Top Fuel and before Funny Car, and a lot of fans left, ” said Capps, “but a lot of them stuck around. And, boy, they got their money’s worth. I wish I could have crawled out of the car and gone into the grandstands for a couple of reasons. It was hair-raising to be holding that butterfly steering wheel with all the excitement going on.
“With the staging lanes angled as they are, as you rolled down you could see what was going on in front of you down the track because it’s up a hill. Every pair of cars that went down there bumped us further back, and pretty soon we were on the bump, and then the pair in front of us bumped us out of the show. So, there you are, on the starting line, not in the show, knowing that there’s a good chance that, with all the stuff that is on these cars, if one little thing breaks, goes wrong, doesn’t work right, malfunctions, whatever, you’re not in.
“And yet, Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) and the guys pulled it off. But, man I’m growing old fast. You look around and these crew chiefs look like it’s Indy Monday morning right now. These guys are so worn out trying to get these cars to run up here on the mountain. I’ve got a lot of respect for the crew chiefs.
“We’re glad to be in. I don’t care who we’re racing. It doesn’t matter. We’re in the show and we don’t have lane choice for the first time this year. I told Ace that that’s one more thing you don’t have to worry about tomorrow. We don’t have to pick our lanes. We’ll just roll up there and race. “
Capps meets up with No. 5 qualifier Del Worsham in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
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