FIRST ROUND EXIT PROVIDES INSPIRATION FOR JON CAPPS
Courtesy of Paul Smith Racing
Baytown, TX – A first round loss to NHRA Full Throttle Series veteran Tim Wilkerson may have ended the weekend racing festivities for Jon Capps and the Biesenbach Inc. / Paul Smith Racing Monte Carlo Funny Car, but for Capps,
who made his first National Hot Rod Association Professional Category start this season at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals held at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, the weekend was nothing short of a winning effort.
The Las Vegas, Nev. resident and Admissions Councilor for WyoTech Automotive Transportation and Technical College (http://www.wyotech.edu), took the reins of legendary Independent Funny Car owner Paul Smith’s competitive Monte Carlo bodied Nitro Funny Car this weekend, with support from David Biesenbach and his company Biesenbach Inc. (http://www.biesenbach.com) and long-time friend Henry Gutierrez the owner of Bexar Waste. Capps entered eliminations qualified in the number 15 position and paired up against Springfield, Ill.’s Tim Wilkerson, the driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang.
Capps was the 55th different driver to line up against Wilkerson in his storied career. And the 15 vs. 2 qualifiers were the first pair of Funny Cars to take to the RPR 1,000 foot race track in eliminations. As the light flashed green, Capps was on his game, recording a stellar 0.047 reaction time, nearly 0.050 quicker than Wilkerson, however, the starting line advantage was short lived, as about 300 feet into the run, the Biesenbach Inc. / Paul Smith Racing Funny Car drove outside the racing groove and dangerously close to the guard wall. Capps lifted to avoid hitting the wall and damaging the race car, while Wilkerson was hot, straight and normal, recording a solid 4.208 second elapsed time in a winning round one effort.
“That wall sure did come up quickly,” noted Capps after his round one race. “I did stage a little deep against Wilk, so I’m certain that’s why the reaction time looked good on paper, but the car launched hard at the hit, drifted a little to the left, then I grabbed a whole lot of steering wheel and drove it to the right. The car kept drifting closer to the wall and I decided to click it off. Wilkerson and his team are great people and it was a pleasure to race them today.”
Although the weekend ended earlier than he hoped, Capps considers this weekend a good step into the further racing opportunities this season. “I have to thank Paul, Bodie and the rest of the Paul Smith Racing Team crew who worked extremely hard this weekend giving me a great, safe car to drive. Our marketing partners were very pleased with the effort of the team and the class and professionalism Paul and his team showed this weekend. We are going to head home and look into further racing opportunities this season, but no matter what, I definitely feel great about getting my feet wet once again in the NHRA Big Show.”
Paul Smith Racing has continued support from Valvoline, Rock Batteries, Boninfante Performance Clutch Parts and grinders, Fram/Autolite and Headman Headers. Capps concluded; “I can’t begin to thank David, Henry and all of the sponsors connected to the Paul Smith Racing Team for their confidence and support they have given to this team for the Baytown weekend.”
