Capps plans to stay under radar in Houston, hangs with Supercross ace James Stewart
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES Round 4 of 23 O'REILLY NHRA SPRING NATIONALS Houston Raceway Race Date: March 31-April 2, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net CAPPS HANGS OUT WITH JAMES STEWART, WANTS TO STAY UNDER RADAR IN HOUSTON BAYTOWN, Texas (March 28, 2006) - Funny Car points leader Ron Capps and his buddy, Supercross ace James Stewart, will have the chance to hang out together again this weekend, as both the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series and the Supercross tour compete this weekend in Houston. Stewart's race is on Saturday night, Capps' final eliminations at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway are on Sunday. At the last NHRA event in Gainesville, Fla., following his win in Orlando Saturday night, Stewart and his dad celebrated with Capps and the Brut Dodge Stratus R/T team in the winner's circle on Sunday. Capps, who leads John Force by 31 points after just three events of 23 this season, admits the Brut Dodge team has not always been the fastest or the quickest, but that consistency, reliability, excellent tuning and good equipment have kept him high in the points standings and somewhat under the radar. "We're relying on our consistency," says Capps, who defeated 13-time champion Force in the final round in Gainesville by being first at the finish line, despite Force's disqualification for crossing the centerline. "It's a little disappointing to read a few of the articles after Gainesville talking about how we won the race because John Force crossed the centerline. We didn't have lane choice that round, but we were one of the few cars that actually went down that left lane without shaking or without having to pedal the car. That was a great tune-up call by Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch.) "There was no way that Force was going to catch us anyway. It's a little disappointing at times when the teams don't get their kudos, but we're used to flying semi under the radar. There's not a lot of times we've been low qualifier when qualifying was over, but I've said it time and time again nowadays you need to qualify and it's a bonus to have lane choice first round. "Going down the track consistently puts a lot of pressure on your opponents," says Capps, whose string of solid elapsed times of 4.799, 4.810, 4.871 and 4.860 (seconds) in Gainesville helped garner him the victory. "But, I tell you, it's already evident that John Force is on his game this year and everybody is going to fight tooth and nail to keep him from taking the championship back. "Everything is clicking right now for our team," adds Capps, who is looking for his first win here at Houston Raceway. "Our close runner-up championship finish last year made believers out of a lot of people. I constantly pay homage to the Brut guys because they give Ace a great car to go up there and help him make a call on the track. I'm a small piece of the puzzle as far as I am concerned. Our job as drivers is not to be a hero. As a driver it's your job not to make a mistake. If everything goes right and you do your job everything is going to be great. "I've done well here in Houston in the past. Yet it's another place that we've never won at, but it's earning points that counts," he says. "After the results of 2005 we know we have to count every single point, beginning in Pomona in February. And anybody who says he's not counting or not thinking about it is lying because losing the championship last year by eight points proves that every single point is important. And that's how we're approaching it." As for James Stewart, "We invited him out to our Friday-night qualifying and we're all looking forward to getting our qualifying done on time on Saturday so we can run into town and watch the Supercross on Saturday night," Capps says. "There are a lot of big drag-racing fans that are in the motorcycle industry, and we have a lot of them coming out. Everyone on the Brut Dodge team is a huge fan of Supercross." SCHEDULE: On Friday, March 31, professional qualifying sessions are at 3 and 6 p.m. On Saturday, April 1, pro qualifying continues at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. On Sunday, April 2, final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Saturday, April 1, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 8 p.m. (ET). Sunday April 2, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will broadcast NHRA 2Day, a 30-minute weekly news magazine show, at 11:30 a.m. (ET). Sunday, April 2, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final eliminations at 4 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE: Friday, March 31, 10-10:30 p.m. (ET) - Galaxy 11 / Transponder 13K (downlink freq: 11960, MHz horizontal) Saturday, April 1, 10:30-11 p.m. (ET) - Galaxy 11 / Transponder 13K (downlink freq: 11960, MHz horizontal) Sunday, April 2, 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) - SBS 6 / Transponder 17K (downlink freq: 12117, MHz horizontal) RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS: * Leading 2006 Funny Car point standings after three events, by 31 over John Force * Has one win, one runner-up finish, one semifinal finish in 2006 so far * Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first win for DSR in '05), won at Chicago 2 at Route 66 Raceway and Las Vegas 2 * Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000 * Qualified No. 3 at 2005 O'Reilly Spring Nationals, lost first round to Cruz Pedregon * A perennial fan favorite, Capps has driven and won in both Top Fuel and Funny Cars since he began his pro NHRA career in 1995 * His best season points finishes were seconds in Funny Car in 1998, 2000 and 2005 * He has 18 event wins in 39 final rounds to his credit * His career best elapsed time (established during an event) is 4.694 seconds, set in 2005 in Dallas * His career best speed is 329.02 mph (Chicago 2, '05) * Age 40 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif. * Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (9) and son Caden (3) * Is the subject, along with son Caden and the Brut racing crew, of a number of Brut ads appearing in mainstream magazines, such as People, Sports Illustrated, etc. * New to Don Schumacher Racing in 2005 after eight years with Don Prudhomme. * Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt Late Models and Go-Karts ***