Funny Car points leader Capps "relaxed" as season winds down in Reading
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2006 NHRA POOWERade DRAG RACING SERIES Round 19 of 23 TOYO TIRES NHRA NATIONALS Maple Grove Raceway Mohnton, Pa. Race Date: Sept. 15-17, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net FUNNY CAR POINTS LEADER CAPPS "RELAXED" AS SEASON WINDS DOWN MOHNTON, Pa. (Sept. 13, 2006) - NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps says he's relaxed as the season winds down to five races left, beginning with this weekend's Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, outside of Reading, Pa. The driver of the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car is in the middle of a heated see-saw battle for his first Funny Car championship with 13-time titlist John Force and is enjoying a 19-point lead. That's just barely a one-round advantage, but the California native is laid back nonetheless. Despite his hectic U.S. Nationals schedule on Labor Day weekend, at which Brut debuted the new blue Revolution Dodge Charger, where he was a semifinalist and regained the points lead, Capps says he is "very relaxed and the team is very relaxed. "I'm excited about going to Reading," adds the five-time season winner. "You hear every driver talk about the fact it's one of the most harrowing tracks for a Funny Car driver because the conditions are absolutely like Disneyland for the crew chiefs: good conditions and great air for the engines to run. The track also has one of the narrowest grooves. It's about as narrow as a car is wide. It's hard enough to keep the Funny Cars in the groove as it is, but at Reading you have to be almost spot on every run. And it's a very demanding race track for a driver. "It's going to be tough. I'm excited, but I'm very eager. We had a great last half of the season last year," he says of his fight to the finish for the crown with Gary Scelzi and Force, in which he finished second, eight points back. "I really feel comfortable with the way the team is right now, and that we're going to finish as strong as we did last year. If we can do that, then if we get beat, so be it. "But somebody is going to have to be pretty good to beat us, I think, in the end here, and you have to have that kind of confidence with five races left if you're going to try to win a POWERade championship." RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS: * Leads 2006 Funny Car point standings after 18 events, 19 points ahead of John Force * Has five wins, three runner-up finishes, two semifinal finishes in 2006 so far * Qualified No. 9 at 2005 Toyo Tires Nationals, lost first round to Robert Hight * Has never won at Maple Grove, but had runner-up finishes in 1999 and 2000 * 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 * 2005 Funny Car championship runner-up, eight points short of title * Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000 * 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 22 event wins in 45 final rounds to his credit (21 national event wins in Funny Car, one in Top Fuel) * 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 41 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif. * Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (10) and son Caden (4) * 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 WEEKEND SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, Sept. 15 PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 2 and 5 p.m. SATURDAY, Sept. 16 PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. SUNDAY, Sept. 17 Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Saturday, Sept. 16, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 4 p.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 17, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will broadcast NHRA 2Day, a 30-minute weekly news magazine show, at 11:30 a.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 17, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of eliminations coverage at 7 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE: Friday, Sept. 15, 8 8:30 p.m. (ET) GALAXY 11 / Transponder 15K (12003 MHz, horizontal) analog Saturday, Sept. 16, 8 8:30 p.m. (ET) GALAXY 11 / Transponder 15K (12003 MHz, horizontal) analog Sunday, Sept. 17, 9 9:30 p.m. (ET) GALAXY 11 / Transponder 15K (12003 MHz, horizontal) analog ***