Mopar-Powered Driver Capps is Runner-up at St. Louis, Extends Points Lead
Ron Capps, driver of the Mopar HEMI®-powered NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T, reached his fourth Funny Car final round of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season and the 58th of his career at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway, but failed to turn it into his fourth victory of the year. Capps did extend his points lead to 119 markers over event winner Del Worsham.
En route to the finals, Capps and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch put together a string of consistent elapsed times before losing on a holeshot advantage to Worsham. Capps defeated Terry Haddock with a 4.166/297.94, John Force with a 4.134/296.18 and Cruz Pedregon with a 4.135/299.13, each time maintaining lane choice.
The final stanza saw Worsham take off with a .044 reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Capps' .081, which was enough for Worsham to take the victory with a slower 4.135/302.48 pass to Capps' quicker but losing 4.121/301.33. Margin of victory: a mere 10 feet.
"We extended our points lead, which is a great thing," said Capps. "It's just been really exciting all day today to drive this NAPA car. Ace really worked on helping me as a driver in the last few races and helping the car react better for me, and it's really made me more comfortable."
Next up is the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway, May 15–17. For more info on the NHRA, visit http://www.nhra.com.