Capps carries special night with NAPA to Northern Minnesota this weekend
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Memories of exhibition event at Norwalk topped by son, Tobler
before Capps, NAPA return to NHRA series at Brainerd for his 500th
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Aug. 16, 2017) - In the course of a week, Ron Capps has to put
time into its proper perspective and it has nothing to do with how long it takes
the reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion to traverse a 1,000-foot dragstrip.
On Saturday in the Night Under Fire exhibition event at Norwalk, Ohio, he had to
focus on a new temporary member of his crew directing him back to the starting
line after completing a pre-race burnout. It was the first time in 16-year-old Caden
Capps' life that he got to tell his dad where to go ... and dad listened.
"It was surreal sitting in the car after the burnout and seeing Caden out there
in a NAPA AutoCare Centers crew shirt backing me up," he said of his son relaying
directions from crew chief Rahn Tobler who was behind the NAPA Dodge.
"It was an idea our crew came up with and just shows how much of a family our NAPA
team is. Our last run was against John Force and afterward he told me how cool it
was to see Caden backing me up."
The night at Norwalk, which
Rahn Tobler, left, honored Saturday
by Bill Bader Jr. at Norwalk.
drew an estimated 40,000 fans, started with a big surprise for Tobler.
"(Track operator) Bill Bader Jr. told me at the drivers' meeting he planned to honor
Tobler for everything he has done in the sport and it had to be a surprise."
Tobler is in his 40th season as an NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series crew chief
and won his fifth world championship last season with Capps.
"Bill said he wanted to recognize what Tobler has accomplished in the last four
decades with different teams, different drivers and different rules," Capps said.
"He said that Rahn has transcended those decades and always has been on the top
of his game.
"It was a weekend I'll never forget for so many reasons."
Capps, who has won 56 Mello Yello events including one in Top Fuel, is surprised
that he'll reach another milestone when he gets to the starting line Friday at
Brainerd International Raceway in Northern Minnesota for the first qualifying session
in the NHRA Nationals and begins his 500th Mello Yello event.
"Wow, that's a lot," he said. "That makes me feel older than having Caden old enough
to back me up."
Brainerd is one of three NHRA tracks in which he has visited a winner's circle five
times. It's actually six if you count last year when he and the NAPA team won the
rain-delayed title from the previous race at Seattle that was postponed by rain.
"I love Brainerd and not just because we've been fortunate enough to win there a
lot. We do some cool stuff there with our NAPA family and a lot of them come out
to the race."
Capps will start the Brainerd event ranked No. 1 with a 158-point lead over Don
Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan and 166 ahead of John Force Racing's Robert
Hight, who has won two of the past three titles.
BY THE NUMBERS FOR DSR AT BRAINERD
DSR FUNNY CARS
RON CAPPS, NAPA AUTO PARTS 2017 Dodge Charger R/T - 6x winner in '17, world champ
Pts Events Wins Rup Semi Qtr 1st rd Poles DNQ
W/L
2017 1st 16 6 2 2 3
3 0 0 35-10
CAREER 499 56* 52 91 101 181
21 19 662-424
* 55 FC/1 TF
Career best time, speed: 3.839 sec. (2017, Phoenix); 333.58 mph (2017, Phoenix)
Last event (Aug. 6), Seattle: Qualified No. 6, lost in second round to DSR teammate
Tommy Johnson Jr.
A year ago at Brainerd: Qualified No. 5, lost in semifinals to DSR teammate Matt
Hagan
Career at Brainerd: Wins 5 (1998, 2001, 2012, 2013, 2014), Runner-ups 3 (1997, 2009,
2011),
Poles 0
2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES FUNNY CAR STANDINGS
(Official after Seattle; 16 of 24 events: wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS)
1. RON CAPPS (6) 1,330 -----
2. MATT HAGAN (3) 1,172 -158
3. Robert Hight (2) 1,164 -166
4. JACK BECKMAN (2) 1,104 -226
5. TOMMY JOHNSON JR. (1) 1,081 -249
6. Courtney Force 951 -379
7. John Force (1) 877 -453
8. Tim Wilkerson 759 -571
9. J.R. Todd (1) 756 -574
10. Cruz Pedregon 601 -729
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About NAPA AUTO PARTS
NAPA (www.NAPAonline.com) was founded in 1925 to meet America's growing need for
an auto parts distribution system. Today NAPA has grown to more than 6,000 NAPA
AUTO PARTS stores, 58 distribution centers with more than 500,000 part numbers
in inventory and more than 15,000 NAPA AutoCare and AutoCare Collision Centers nationwide.
About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields eight professional
NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion
Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron
Brown, the Papa John's Top Fuel dragster driven by Leah Pritchett and in Funny Car,
2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger
R/T, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge,
the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge driven by 2016 Funny Car world champion Ron Capps and
the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.
DSR has won 313 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing
- NAPA KNOW HOW -
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff Wolf (wolfj@shoeracing.com), 702.524.1368
Leah Vaughn (vaughnl@shoeracing.com), 618.516.1988
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