Capps cruises to No. 4 in Houston qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 5 of 23
23rd Annual NHRA Spring Nationals
Houston Raceway Park
Baytown, Texas
April 9-11, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

CAPPS CRUISES TO NO. 4 IN HOUSTON QUALIFYING

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 10, 2010) - Ron Capps posted his career-fastest speed
racing to 1000 feet of 314.09 mph in 4.059 seconds to collect No. 4 in the
final qualifying session for the 23rd annual NHRA Spring Nationals at
Houston Raceway Park.

A three-hour rain delay plus a number of oildowns resulted in the final
round being run nearly in the dark, which benefited the Funny Car class, the
last pro category to qualify.

Capps' other qualifying laps in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger included a
tire-smoking 7.500/87.62 (No. 14), a solid 4.089/310.77 (fourth quickest of
the round for No. 4), and a 6.176/107.10 (No. 4).

"It's been a long day, first of all," he said. "You can't imagine what a
crew chief has to go through when you see the conditions change like they
did all day today, with the rain in and out and then warming up.

"I rolled up there with a smoked dark shield on because I figured we were
going to run during the day, and by the time we ran it was dark. It got dark
fast and Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) made a great call to run 4.05.

"We were looking for more, obviously. It seems like every run we make is
never a perfect run, but we felt like we could run quicker than the national
record we have now (4.023 seconds). We knew John Force would be going for
it, but we want to keep those 20 bonus points in our camp." Force did not
back up his 4.021-second No. 1 qualifying lap by one percent to set a
national ET record, and has only Sunday's eliminations in which to do so.

"All in all, a great job to finish where we finished and to have lane
choice," added Capps, second in class point standings to Force. "Cool
weather cures a lot of things with race tracks, and today Houston Raceway
Park was a great race track, and conditions were awesome.

"We'll see what the weather brings tomorrow, but I feel like we have a great
race car right now."

Capps faces Cruz Pedregon in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

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