Capps out in opening round in Chicago

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 10 of 23
CARQUEST NHRA NATIONALS
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, Ill.
Race Dates: June 10-12, 2005


JOLIET, Ill. (June 12, 2005) - Ron Capps and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch
were possible victims of a crosswind in the first round of eliminations at
the CARQUEST NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway today, as the Brut Dodge
Stratus Funny Car made a hard move to the left at the end of the grandstands
on the quarter mile.

No. 11 qualifier Capps faced No. 6 qualifier Del Worsham in the opening
match-up. Worsham took off first at the starting light with a .069 reaction
time to Capps' .088. It was a close race up to the 1000-ft. mark until
Capps' Brut Dodge took a detour to the left. Capps muscled it back to
center, but crossed the finish line in a losing 4.888 seconds at 312.42 mph
to Worsham's winning 4.872/309.77. Margin of victory: .0357 of a second.

"Right when you get past the grandstands there's always been a crosswind
here," explained Capps. "I was ready for it, but it still pushed me over
pretty good. All weekend long cars were being moved over to the left when
you got outside the grandstands a little bit. It just happened to grab our
Brut Dodge. 

"The car wasn't running real hard. Ace went up there to run a 4.78 (-second
elapsed time). We knew we were going to have to run that to beat Del.

"After we ran the 4.82 in the Saturday morning session, we came back and
improved the car and it went back and ran a .90 flat in the last qualifying
session.

"Ace tried to get back to where it ran the .82 today and the thing just ran
like it ran the .90 flat. It kind of moved and wore a lot of clutch. Ace is
trying to figure out why.

"We didn't have lane choice, but it didn't matter, this track was great.
This is one of the learning deals. We're still a brand new team, Ace is
still learning this car. The cool part is he knows why it did it and he
knows how to fix it.

"And I'm still excited about these next two races coming up (of a three-race
swing), because we'll probably have the same kind of conditions, and the
same kind of tracks. I feel pretty confident."

Next up is the K&N Filters NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J. June
17-19.

NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES FUNNY CAR POINTS:
1. John Force, 752
2. Gary Scelzi, 688 (winner today)
3. Robert Hight, 646
4. Tommy Johnson Jr., 573
5. Cruz Pedregon, 571
6. Eric Medlen, 568
7. Whit Bazemore, 547
 Ron Capps, 547
9. Tony Pedregon, 459
10. Del Worsham, 431