Capps and Ace getting familiar with new Brut Dodge

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
PRE-SEASON NATIONAL TIME TRIALS
FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
CHANDLER, ARIZ.
JAN 28-30, 2005


CHANDLER, Ariz. (Jan. 30, 2005) - Ron Capps, crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch
and co-crew chief Dan Olson continued to familiarize themselves with an
all-new team and an all-new car during the pre-season National Time Trials
at Firebird International Raceway this weekend.

With only three testing passes under their belts in two days (the best a
10.09 at 81.56 mph), the Brut team was forced to sit out the final session
on Saturday because of rain and cool temperatures. Capps then flew to
Nashville, Tenn., with his teammates Gary Scelzi and Whit Bazemore to attend
a Matco Tools Expo on Sunday and Monday.

Subbing for Capps - and Scelzi - on Sunday was Funny Car veteran Dale Pulde,
who made three passes in each car, leaping from one to the other, finally
posting the Brut car's best pass at the end of the day, a 5.121-second
elapsed time at 220.40 mph, after shutting off early.

Pulde was less concerned with the numbers than he was with the task he'd
been assigned. "I guess it was the fastest and quickest," he acknowledged,
not quite sure whether he had clocked that time in the Mopar/Oakley Dodge or
the Brut Dodge. "As long as it does what they want it to do, it's fine with
me. It's good. I wish Ron were here to get laps in the car because I know
that he'd like to be doing it, but duty calls."

"We've been somewhat struggling here, working hard, just trying to get the
car out there," said McCulloch. "All of the cars rolled in here and
experienced tire shake and other problems. Our other two cars have made some
decent passes, but we were sort of struggling. We finally hit on it and that
was a nice pass," he said of Pulde's 5.121. "We had it backed up. We told
him to shut it down at half-track, but that was good enough to run a low
4.80 and that would have put us in the ballpark. We just have to get into
the ballgame now."

***