Capps, NAPA Dodge team leave Houston with trophy, points lead; Schumacher goes to final round, moves to No. 1 in Top Fuel

BAYTOWN, TX – The Don Schumacher Racing teams that arrived at the NHRA SpringNationals near Houston on Friday sitting atop their respective nitro categories in championship points battles did not leave Sunday with their leads.

The silver lining to that cloud – of which there were many in the skies near Houston over the weekend – is that their teammates are the ones who took replaced them atop the Top Fuel and Funny Car standings in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

The 28th annual event in Baytown, Texas, was highlighted for DSR by Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS 2015 Dodge Charger R/T team led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant Eric Lane for winning their second title in six races this season that marked the 44th Funny Car trophy of Capps’ career that moves him into sole position of the No. 2 spot on the all-time wins list in the category.

“No. 2 all-time is crazy,” said Capps who has 44 Funny Car titles to go with the first and only one he earned in Top Fuel for an NHRA career total of 45. “I’m not that good so it all goes to the guys who have been on our teams.”

The California native living near San Diego also took over the championship points lead for the first time since the fifth event of the 2013 season.

“We have a long season ahead of us but it means that everything Tobler and our NAPA guys have been doing has us going in the right direction. We won at Gainesville with our old car and Tobler had the NAPA Know How to decide to switch to our new one at the last race.

“Winning with this NAPA Dodge in only its second race so much about our NAPA team and our teammates back at headquarters in our machine and fabrication shops that built this.”

DSR nearly celebrated the 48th time it has won more than one title at a Mello Yello event but Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army team led by Mike Green and assistant Neal Strausbaugh lost in the championship round to Doug Kalitta.

But the U.S. Army team was able to take over the points lead from teammate Antron Brown, who lost in the quarterfinals to Schumacher in the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster.

“We’re off to a tremendous start to the season,” said Schumacher, who holds a 33-point lead over his DSR teammate Spencer Massey and is 37 ahead of Brown.

“I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by an incredible team. Mike and I won our first race together here back in 2009 and we nearly did it again today. To be able to come out here and go four rounds in these changing conditions. We went after it in the final and just pushed it past the point of no return.”

The seven DSR teams won opening-round races but usually means that teammates will meet up soon in eliminations and six of those teams battled in the quarterfinals. In Top Fuel, Brown lost to Schumacher in the quarterfinals.

In Funny Car, DSR’s four Dodge Charger R/T teams faced off in the quarterfinals. Beckman, who qualified No. 1 in the Infinite Hero Dodge, eliminated Tommy Johnson Jr. (Make-A-Wish) and reigning world champion Matt Hagan, who arrived at the SpringNationals with his Rocky Boots/Mopar team leading the points, were sidelined by Capps.

The Mello Yello series resumes near Atlanta in two weeks, which will be the longest break over the last 18 races of the year.