Capps bumped out in U.S. Nats first round, holds second place

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 BUMPED OUT IN FIRST ROUND AT U.S. NATS, HOLDS SECOND PLACE

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 7, 2009) - Ron Capps held on to second place in the NHRA
Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings heading into the
Countdown to 1 playoffs, despite exiting early at the 55th annual U.S.
Nationals at Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

Driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car, Capps faced off against Cruz
Pedregon in the opening stanza, with an opportunity to help his Don
Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan, who had just lost the first round,
make it into the top 10 for the playoffs, which begin at the next event in
Charlotte.

Without lane choice as the No. 13 qualifier, Capps was simply outrun in a
straight side-by-side contest by No. 4 qualifier Pedregon, who claimed the
win with a 4.164-second elapsed time at 305.36 mph to Capps' 4.178/301.94.
With that, and Robert Hightıs first-round victory, Hagan was out of the
Countdown.

"Every year you come here to this historic event and you go through all the
hype of the pre-race festivities, acknowledging the event's history, all the
stuff that goes along with being here at the U.S. Nationals, and it raises
every sense in your body," said Capps, who has never won this event.

"You want to win this race, so it seems a little more important when you're
up there, even though every round is important. But, the fact is, we just
got a little behind in qualifying because of some gremlins. And it happens
time to time. It's still Indy, but it's good to get them worked out before
they start the Countdown in Charlotte (for the final six events of the
year).

"Unfortunately, we had a fuel line that burst on Saturday night's qualifying
run. We could easily have moved way up in the qualifying order if it hadn't
happened. It wasn't an error by any of the guys on the crew or the way that
the guys put the car together. Time and time again, the NAPA crew puts a
great car underneath me and gives Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) a great car
to go up and tune.

"For the conditions today, we thought we were going to be able to run a 4.10
or .11. Ace is looking at the computer trying to figure out why it slowed
down. 

"Right now a lot of teams are waking up a little bit before the Countdown
starts, and just in time," he added. "And it's time for us to get back the
form that we had earlier in the year and qualifying up front. And we will.
It was just unfortunate that we got behind a little bit.

"It was a gut check on Sunday to get in on the last qualifying round. That
tells me a lot about our team. They never lost focus and we went up there
and run a 4.15 right in the heat of the day (to make it into the 16-car
field for Mondayıs eliminations).

"We'll take this and find out why it slowed down and go to Charlotte. We
know it's going to be warm, it's going to be hot an humid. Conditions were
tough there last year and I always feel the NAPA team rises to those
occasions. So, I'm excited about going there."

Next up is the second annual NHRA Nationals in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 18-20.

UNOFFICIAL FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, after 18 of 24 events (Countdown
points in parentheses)
1. Tony Pedregon, 1364 (2110)
2. Ron Capps, 1250 (2080)
3. Ashley Force Hood, 1245 (2070) - winner today
4. Bob Tasca, 1061 (2060)
5. Jack Beckman, 1027 (2050)
6. Tim Wilkerson, 1014 (2040)
7. John Force, 993    1013 (2030)
8. Del Worsham, 963 (2020)
9. Mike Neff, 928 (2010)
10. Robert Hight, 861 (2000) - runner-up today
11. Cruz Pedregon, 856
12. Matt Hagan, 801

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