Capps qualifies No. 3 in Houston, hits the sand

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 4 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA SPRING NATIONALS
HOUSTON RACEWAY
Race Dates: April 8-10, 2005



BAYTOWN, Texas (April 9, 2005) - Ron Capps' 4.814-second ET at 314.17 mph,
set in Friday's cool second session, held up through two more rounds of
qualifying for the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway,
placing him and the Brut Dodge Stratus Funny Car third in the field of 16.

Today's final qualifying round was not without drama, however, as Capps hit
the dirt at the end of the quarter-mile when the throttle stuck open
following his 4.922/298.60 pass.

"We were trying to run a low 4.80 and it got out there and it actually got
out of the groove, put a cylinder out and spun the tire," he said. "We had
Robert Hight next to us, he pulled out, and out of the corner of my eye I
could see him, and I just could tell a cylinder was out. So I went to lift
about four seconds into the run and it kept going.

"The throttle was stuck wide open. I was spending a lot of time, using the
loop (a safety device on the throttle), trying to pull it back, and the
throttle wouldn't come back.

"A lot of stuff goes through your mind. You're trying to get the car stopped
and not hit your opponent and then you're thinking about not hurting the car
at the finish line.

"But at that point when it sticks that far down - (co-crew chief) Dan Olson
saw on the computer that it went over six seconds under power, which is way
past the finish line - it turns into a pretty scary ride.

"I thought about making the turn at the end. I figured I was going a little
too fast and just put it into the sand.

"We're lucky it went in at a good angle, and it didn't hurt the body too
bad. It looks like it didn't hurt the chassis, which is the main concern. It
got a little dirty. The Brut guys are up to the challenge to get the thing
back together."

There was concern when Capps did not exit the car immediately after landing
in the sand. "The throttle was hung open down there," he explained, "and my
foot was jammed behind the throttle pedal up against the bell housing. How
it got it back in there I don't know.

"I had been doing everything I could to get the throttle to come back with
the loop and I guess I resorted to trying to stick my foot underneath the
throttle. My foot was stuck in there and I couldn't get out of the car right
away.

"We are probably going to run the other body. We could run this body if we
had to. It's not hurt that bad. It's got a small crack in the fender well,
but these Dodge bodies are tough. We can run that body again, no problem. We
have a brand new Dodge Stratus that we just got that we wanted to run
anyway. We feel good about it."

Capps faces Cruz Pedregon in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.