Capps goes to No. 13 in U.S. Nats final qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 24
55th annual U.S. Nationals
Raceway Park at Indianapolis
Sept. 4-7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

CAPPS GOES TO NO. 13 IN U.S. NATIONALS FINAL QUALIFYING

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 6, 2009) - Only one lap of qualifying was held today
because of a long rain delay, and Ron Capps was able to pull out a solid
pass of 4.154 seconds at 299.73 mph to place the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny
Car into No. 13 at the 55th annual U.S. Nationals. Entering today's single
run, Capps was not qualified.

"What a day," said Capps, who has never won this prestigious race in his 30
career national event victories. "You talk about excitement. It's only
natural. It's Indianapolis and it's the U.S. Nationals. The skies cleared up
and we had basically one shot, and it was do or die to get into the show.

"We were the first pair out and for Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) to throw
down a 4.15 (-second elapsed time) was just a great call by him and the NAPA
guys. We did see some guys behind us who were able to run back and make some
changes once they saw that we went down the track.

"It would have been nice to have been back of the pack a little bit, but we
did it in the lane we're probably going to have tomorrow (right) in
eliminations. We have a tough match-up against Cruz Pedregon in the opening
round. He's been running great all weekend. Wešre looking to help out our
teammate Hagan." 

Capps' Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan is in 11th place in the
standings, 31 points behind Pedregon in 10th. Only the top 10 will vie for
the Funny Car championship following the U.S. Nationals for the final six
races.

"It's going to be tough, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's the U.S.
Nationals and you should have butterflies here."

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