Capps drives NAPA Dodge to No. 9 in Texas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 2 of Countdown to 1 Playoffs (six in total)
Round 20 of 24 for season
NHRA FALL NATIONALS
Texas Motorplex
Ennis, Texas
Sept. 25-27, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

CAPPS DRIVES NAPA DODGE TO NO. 9 IN TEXAS QUALIFYING

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 26, 2009) - Ron Capps qualified the NAPA AUTO PARTS
Dodge Funny Car in the No. 9 spot for the NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas
Motorplex today.

Under clear but hot conditions, Capps posted his quickest pass of 4.207
seconds at 295.27 mph in Friday evening's second session in the first
pairing to go down the track, before cooler night-time conditions settled
in. That placed him No. 9 at the time, which he held through the remaining
rounds. His opening try produced a 6.045/112.70 (No. 13), and today he
recorded a 4.763/180.00 (No. 9) and finally a 6.928/91.37.

"Not exactly where we wanted to end up qualifying," said Capps, who entered
this event fourth in the Countdown to 1 playoffs standings and will face No.
7 Tim Wilkerson in the opening round. "I don't really think lane choice is
going to be a big deal tomorrow, and running Tim Wilkerson is going to be a
tough, tough task. 

"We spent most of the qualifying trying to get the NAPA car to move a little
quicker the first 100 feet and put it back to where it used to be. Ace (crew
chief Ed McCulloch) is still working on this new tune-up. We feel like a lot
of people have caught up to where we were earlier in the year and that's the
reason Ace has made the changes to try to better ourselves and get quicker.
We feel we have to be ahead of the game these least few races of the
Countdown.

"We worked on the early numbers of the car," added Capps, the class-best
five-time national event winner this year. "It went a little further that
last time, but we think we got it where we want it to be early in the run.
If we can do that tomorrow against Tim and put our second-half numbers where
they usually are with the NAPA car, we'll be good to go.

"Every round is going to be huge from hereon out and racing another
Countdowner in Tim Wilkerson, who's a guy that vied for the championship
last year, who¹s been consistent and whose team has been on its game, is
going to be a lot of fun."

***