Capps finishes third at Inaugural Four-Wide Nationals

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 4 of 23
Inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
March 26-28, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

CAPPS FINISHES THIRD AT INAUGURAL FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS

CONCORD, N.C. (March 29, 2010) - Ron Capps finished third in the final round
of the rain-delayed Inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals today in a quartet of
cars including him, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan, 14-time
NHRA Funny Car champion John Force and his daughter Ashley Force Hood.

The elder Force took home the victory, his daughter was second, while Capps,
driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger, placed third. Hagan trailed in
fourth.

Without lane choice, Capps was relegated to lane No. 1 while Force selected
the more-favorable lane No. 2. Capps took off a tick behind Force, and it
was Force first at the finish line with a 4.036/316.23 to Capps' losing
4.088/306.33. Capps holds on to second place in the point standings, behind
Force.

"We had lane 2 all weekend and it was definitely, we thought, a better lane
for us and with the rains all night we didn't know what was going to
happen,² said Capps. ³A lot of times the rain will get underneath the rubber
(on the track) and bubble up, but the Safety Safari did a great job. It's
obviously a good track to begin with.

"We had second choice and we chose lane 1, but something happened with the
car. It might have pushed a head gasket out, I'm not sure, but it had fire
from half-track on in my left firewall window. But I just legged it down
there.

"It's amazing it still ran what it ran, to be honest with you. I was
shocked. It was on fire and I'm looking down at it and looking up, and
looking down, and it went right down the track.

"We figured we would run 4.0 flat or 4.01 and we went up to run that. We'll
have to wait and see what Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) says after looking
at the computer.

"I think it was our race to lose this weekend. We really felt like we had a
great race car, so it's disappointing."

As for racing four-wide, "I'm glad it's over," he said. "Don't get me wrong.
I had a blast and I said in my interviews how much fun and how exciting it
is. But, it needs to a special-event race with a lot of money, like the
Dragsters versus Funny Car Showdown we had a few years ago. This format is
not conducive to a points-earning event. It's just not. It's fun and it's
exciting and Bruton Smith deserves kudos and I'm glad we were able to
deliver for him, but I think the consensus is we'd rather not run a points
race this way."

Next up is the 23rd annual NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, April 9-11.

UNOFFICIAL POINT STANDINGS, after four events:
1. John Force, 397 (winner today)
2. Ron Capps, 308 (third place today)
3. Jack Beckman, 278
4. Matt Hagan, 255 (fourth place today)
5. Ashley Force Hood, 247 (runner-up today)
6. Bob Tasca III, 236
7. Tim Wilkerson, 230
8. Robert Hight, 223
9. Tony Pedregon, 212
10. Del Worsham, 166

***