Capps earns No. 9 in new Charger in Columbus qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 8 of 23
Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals
National Trail Raceway
Columbus, Ohio
Race Date: May 19-21, 2006


HEBRON, Ohio (May 20, 2006) - Ron Capps debuted the new Brut Dodge Charger
R/T Funny Car body this weekend at National Trail Raceway, and while the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader was happy with the
car's performance, qualifying had its moments.

Capps' first outing with the new Charger, produced a strong 4.759-second run
at 322.96 mph, despite landing in the sandbox at the end of the track when
the parachutes didn't open. The car undamaged, Capps' elapsed time would
hold up through the next three sessions to place him No. 9 in the field.

In the Friday night pass he lost traction, posting a 10.457/74.96, followed
by a 4.862/300.20 in today's first attempt. His final try was also
problematic, as Capps crossed the finish line in 5.653 seconds at 168.75
mph.

"Right now, Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) is a little perplexed," said
Capps. "A lot of things happen during a weekend and the fans may not see it
or know what's going on, and the car may shut off. We've had a
cylinder-dropping problem, which never happens to the Brut Dodge (which now
also has support from Torco Race Fuels). I say never, but, really, it's
something we haven't done in a long time, and it's done it in more than one
run.

"It did it again the last run, and the good thing is, with the radio
communication we have, we were able to shut the car off early and keep it
from hurting itself.

"We're changing everything in the ignition, just in case. We don't know
exactly what it is, we just know that there's something going on in the
ignition.

"But the way the Brut team does on Sunday, even though we don't have lane
choice against (Eric) Medlen (in the first round), I have no reservations
about how the Brut team will deal with it in eliminations."

As for the Charger body: "I love the Charger body," he said. "It had
cylinders out in both those runs today and most of the time with a cylinder
out you have full lock on the steering wheel to keep it from going into that
direction, and it took only about half of it to get it back in the groove.
That tells a lot about the downforce this car has.

"I'm excited. It was a strange car to drive at first, and now I know why
(teammates Gary) Scelzi and (Whit) Bazemore have been raving about it. I
enjoy it, I love it.