Points leaders Capps grabs No. 6 in Vegas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 5 of 23
NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals
THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Race Date: April 7-9, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

POINTS LEADER CAPPS GRABS NO. 6 IN VEGAS QUALIFYING

LAS VEGAS (April 8, 2006) - NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car
points leader Ron Capps just keeps rolling along, grabbing the No. 6
position in the Brut Dodge Stratus R/T during qualifying for the NHRA
SummitRacing.com Nationals today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Despite a few dramas, including a fire at the top end Friday night after
posting his quickest pass of the weekend, a 4.771-second elapsed time at
321.35 mph, and two tire-smoking passes today under the hot Vegas sun, Capps
continues to pinch himself to make sure he really is leading the Funny Car
point standings after four events, which he says he owes to crew chief, Ed
"Ace" McCulloch.

His first attempt was his second best of qualifying, a 4.811/320.74, but the
last two resulted in a 6.096/148.35 and 6.753/128.86.

"It's an amazing sport," he says. "You come to completely different
conditions, you have a guy like Tony Pedregon who doesn't qualify, and in
the race before (champion) Gary Scelzi doesn't qualify. This class is so
tough right now. 

"I'm beside myself. We tested the water a couple of times today. The Brut
Dodge hadn't smoked the tires on me in a long time or at any of the tracks
yet this year. Ace is kind of sticking his foot over the edge of the cliff
and just seeing what we can get away with during race conditions, and that's
what happened today. So, I think we know where the edge of the cliff is.
And, as good a racer as Ace is, I know we're going to be good tomorrow.

"You always want to go down the track every time, but I never doubt these
Brut Dodge guys. It's been a grueling weekend already once again.

"I'm having a great, great time. It's fun leading the points, but, you know
what, every race we show up at we have to prove ourselves and that's what
we're doing right now."

As for the fire on Friday night: "The fire was another thing," he explains.
"I was sitting back in the car thinking I haven't been on fire in a long
time or had an engine problem, and that tells you just how good the team is.
But it lit on fire when I stepped off the pedal. As soon as I hit the (fire
extinguisher) bottles it went out.

"John Force said he almost ran into me in Houston when I beat him. He
couldn't see where I was. I said, Hey, that's 'the champ' talking, how could
he not see where I was? Sure enough, when I hit the bottles, the fire went
out but the windows went black and I could not see. I was hoping that I
wasn't going to run anybody over. I got it stopped, got out, lifted the
Stratus body up and we saved it. It didn't get hot and we're going to be
able to continue running the car. It's been a great car, obviously, the last
couple of races for us."

Capps faces Scott Kalitta in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

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