Mopar®-Powered Capps Scores Runner-Up as Scelzi Says Goodbye at NHRA Finals
Mopar® HEMI®-powered NHRA POWERade Funny Car driver Ron Capps ended his 2008 season with an impressive runner-up finish at the NHRA Finals on Sunday, Nov. 16. The bittersweet day at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway also marked a farewell for Capps’ Team Mopar and Don Schumacher Racing teammate, four-time NHRA champion Gary Scelzi, who announced earlier in the year that he would step away from the sport to spend more time with his family.
Capps drove his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to a second final round of the season by dismissing Bob Tasca III, Ashley Force, and his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman, pilot of the Valvoline MTS Dodge Charger. Beckman finished third in the final NHRA Funny Car points standings, while Capps, who bowed out to newly-crowned Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon in the finals, was listed at eighth in the final standings.
"It's the end of the season, you get a couple of months off and you want to end on a good note," said Capps. "It's been an up-and-down year, but I think we still ended on a high note."
Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T driver Gary Scelzi, a fan favorite, lost to DSR teammate Beckman in the opening stanza and bid goodbye—for a while at least—to his loyal and supportive NHRA fans. How does Scelzi describe his 12-year run as a pro in NHRA, which included a 2005 NHRA Funny Car championship with Mopar power? "Incredible."
Like Scelzi, Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver was ousted in the first round of eliminations in his last national event driving for Don Schumacher Racing. Mopar HEMI-powered driver Melanie Troxel advanced to the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by Beckman.
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