With only two qualifying sessions held to determine the 16-car Funny Car field for the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway, Ron Capps impressed with a pair of 4.11-second runs to claim his second No.1 qualifier of the season and the ninth of his career.
After rain washed out Friday’s nitro rounds, class points leader Capps came out in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car and rocketed to the top of the charts with a 4.111-second pass at 297.02 mph. In the second and final session he posted another stellar pass of 4.117 seconds at 298.80 to produce the quickest of that round.
“For a while, No.1 always felt like you were a little bit jinxed going into Sunday and it didn’t really matter as long as you were top four and you had lane choice,” said Capps in the post-qualifying press conference.
“The more impressive thing was to be rained out yesterday and then have (crew chief) Ed McCulloch put me in a car that ran 4.11 in both lanes. The left lane (in the second session) has a slightly bigger bump and they’re pretty equal. I was astounded when they told me on the radio I ran another .11. That was pretty neat.”
“I thought for sure Ashley (Force Hood) was going to drop an. 08 or an. 07 on us (she’s No.7 with a 4.162/294.95). And when all those cars were running .14s and .15s (in the final session) it showed me how good that run was in the first session.”
Capps faces No.16 qualifier Terry Haddock in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations.
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