Capps' route to Funny Car lead take detour at U.S. Nats

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK
ROUND 18 OF 23
Race Dates: Sept. 2-5, 2005

CAPPSı ROUTE TO FUNNY CAR LEAD TAKE A SLIGHT DETOUR AT U.S. NATIONALS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 2005) - Ron Cappsı route to his first NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship took a slight detour today, as the
driver of the Brut Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car was defeated by his teammate
Whit Bazemore in the opening round of eliminations for the prestigious U.S.
Nationals today.

Capps and Bazemore were the final pair to take to the quarter-mile in that
stanza and both had witnessed the loss of points leader Robert Hight and
fourth-place John Force before them. Capps saw an opportunity to get closer
to taking over the lead from his second-place slot; for Bazemore it was a
case of getting his team back on track. Both had deserving reasons to win.

Capps took off at the line just a blink of an eye behind Bazemore, with a
.083 reaction time to Bazemoreıs .048. The fans were treated to a great
race, as Bazemore edged out Capps by .0167 of a second, winning the race on
a holeshot advantage. Bazemoreıs slower 4.924/315.64 won over Cappsı quicker
4.905/310.48.

Capps fell to third in the point standings, and is now 35 points behind
Robert Hight in second, and 36 points out of first place, which was taken
over by Cappsı teammate Gary Scelzi following his second-round win against
Tony Pedregon. Scelzi advanced to the semifinals, where he lost to Frank
Pedregon.

³You find out it takes you longer and longer to get over a loss than to find
the bright side,² said Capps. ³The bright side is that Hight and Force did
go out.

³I knew it was going to be a close race. Thatıs what happens. Whit took the
top light off (of the starting lights) and made it a drag race. I had a
great light (reaction time), the Brut Dodge guys did a great job, there are
no excuses.

³We win as a team, we lose as a team in the Brut camp and theyıre behind me
as much as I am behind them. I had a little problem. Like some of the other
drivers, I was really fighting to keep the car in the groove all weekend
long and I did a good job at that in that round. So, we were happy that we
did that. 

³Nobody wants to win the championship right now, it seems,² said Capps of
the re-shuffling of points today. ³We have to take advantage. But itıs going
to make this chase even tighter with just five races left.²

Next up is the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa., Sept. 16-18, 2005.

UNOFFICIAL NHRA FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Gary Scelzi, 1172
2. Robert Hight, 1171
3. Ron Capps, 1136
4. John Force, 1125
5. Eric Medlen, 1117

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