Capps Leads off the DSR Pre Winter Nationals Report

NAPA’s Capps wants to celebrate with golden trophy

BROWNSBURG, IN – The Circle K Winternationals this week marks the start of a milestone season for Ron Capps as it will be his DSR20th year as an NHRA professional racer and 10th with Don Schumacher Racing.

Tradition calls for porcelain or china to symbolically represent the accomplishment, but Capps isn’t interested in getting a figurine or dishes made from those fragile materials.
All he wants is the special golden Wally trophy after the 24th event of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series that will go to the Funny Car world champion.

That is a prize that has eluded Capps, a 48-year-old California native living in Carlsbad, Calif. Despite four runner-up finishes for the championship, the past 19 years have been filled with events that will define his career as one of the best Funny Car drivers in history. He has won 41 event titles including his first in 1995 driving a Top Fuel dragster that makes him one of only 14 in NHRA’s 63-year history who have won in both of drag racing’s elite categories.

He also has driven for a pair of Hall-of-Famers in Don Schumacher, his current boss, and Don “Snake” Prudhomme, who offered his first opportunity with a top-notch team. Capps also has driven for three of the sports’ most well-known sponsors: U.S. Tobacco with Prudhomme before carrying the colors of Brut and NAPA AUTO PARTS since 2008 with Don Schumacher Racing.

He’s taken aback when reminded this is his 20th season competing as a full-time professional racer.

“Is it really? Wow. That’s incredible. You live, breath NHRA drag racing and most of what you think about is how to get better on and off the track. Time just flies by – too fast. It’s been fun. I’ve been able to race against all the great ones. It’s been fun to watch the sport to grow where it is today.”

Capps finished 2013 with three wins in five championship rounds with crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins.
His resume is nearly full. The only item missing is a season championship.

“Of course I want a championship, but things have changed. I just talked with Jimmie Johnson and some of the NASCAR guys about how NASCAR is changing its playoff format again in Cup. And it’s a different world now with our playoff system that started in 2007. It’s not like it used to be because you don’t have to be good all year long with our Countdown (to the Championship).

“You still want to have a championship on your resume, that’s always the goal. My elders always have told me just keep your head down, keep focused on race wins because when race wins come the points come along with them. If you keep doing that you might look up at the end of the season and have a championship.”

Capps and his NAPA Dodge Charger R/T team got the year off to a good start when they posted the quickest time (4.003 seconds, 320.28 mph) among NHRA’s best Funny Car teams during the Jan. 17-18 PRO Winter Warm-up preseason event at Palm Beach International Raceway at Jupiter, Fla.

The NAPA team intends to improve on last season’s great start when it advanced to the championship round at the Winternationals opener then two weeks later won the title near Phoenix.

HOW IT BEGAN
After Ron married Shelley in 1992, they decided he would devote 1993 to traveling the NHRA circuit full time for one season as a crewman. But while on the road, late car owner John Mitchell allowed him to earn his NHRA competition license in Mitchell’s Montana Express A/Fuel Dragster. The next year he drove a Top Fuel dragster part time for Roger Primm and the duo combined in 1995 to win Capps’ first and only Top Fuel title. That success caught the eye of Prudhomme, who hired Capps to drive for the U.S. Tobacco-backed Top Fueler. He moved to DSR in 2005 where he has won 27 Wally trophies including 16 since NAPA began sponsoring the team in 2008.

Antron’s been winning without spinning tires, eager for ’14 Winternationals on land with Matco Tools team

BROWNSBURG, IN – Antron Brown hasn’t competed in his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster since he was at Pomona, Calif., last November, but that hasn’t kept him from winning trophies. But instead of spinning his giant Goodyear slicks, he’s been spinning propellers on his several radio-controlled racing boats.

It’s Anton’s unique way to unwind in the off-season while keeping his reflexes sharp. He won three trophies (two firsts and a runner-up) two weeks ago racing at Tampa, Fla., and earned four first-place awards at an event the week after Thanksgiving in Louisiana.

“We had a lot of fun with a lot of friends and to be able to kick back. It gets you sharp and your mind focused for the Mello Yello season. It helps with hand-eye coordination that makes a big difference.
I’m leading the points in the series but won’t make all five races.
“Now it’s time to turn my head to my bread and butter and get ready for Pomona. I’m feeling real good, sharp and back on my feet. I feel really light and I’m ready to rock.”

A+ TEST
Antron and the Matco Tools team, the 2012 NHRA Top Fuel world champions, were the second quickest Top Fueler during the Jan. 17-18 PRO Winter Warm-up test sessions at Palm Beach International Raceway at Jupiter, Fla. But they were the most consistent with all four runs in the 3.7-second range including 3.735 seconds (325.85 mph) and 3.737 (325.85).

“Our Matco Tools team feels great. We had a great test session and we got a lot accomplished. I’m real proud of our whole team. We’re definitely on point right now and all of our guys are doing a fantastic job. We’re real excited to go to Pomona. We’re ready to go out there and have some fun and get the season kicked off. 2014 is here, the competition is going to be steep but we are definitely ready to contend.”

NO REPEAT OF ’13 WINTERNATIONALS
Antron had a harrowing experience at last year’s Winternationals when a part broke, cut a rear tire just past the finish line that sent him sliding on his side into the guardwall and to the end of the track. Thanks to his DSR-developed enclosed safety canopy the popular driver did not suffer any serious injuries and he returned to the next race two weeks later and won the Top Fuel title two events later at Gainesville, Fla.

Although he advanced to the semifinals, his dragster was destroyed and was not able to race in that round.

He’s not expecting an encore performance.
“Absolutely not. We don’t even want think about that. We only want to think about what’s ahead for us and there’s a lot of opportunity in front of us.

“We’re going to hit every round hard like we did in the last events of last year’s Countdown when we won two of the last four races. We’ll treat every race like that this year.

“I have a great feeling we’ll contend for the championship again this year and Pomona starts it.

Schumacher wants winning ways to continue after Pomona

BROWNSBURG, IN – Seven-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher can claim another milestone on Sunday at the Circle K Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.

The driver of Don Schumacher Racing’s U.S. Army dragster will arrive at Pomona on Friday tied with “Big Daddy” Don Garlits for most Top Fuel event titles at Pomona with six. In 2012, Schumacher’s ninth U.S. Nationals title broke his tie at eight with Garlits for most wins at the year’s most prestigious event.
“Just being tied with Garlits for anything is a career highlight,” said Schumacher, 44, who owns nearly every Top Fuel record including most career titles (72) and wins in one season (15 in 2008).
The popular driver hopes his U.S. Army team will match last year’s start when it won two of the first four event titles but continue that run throughout the year.

“We had a good start to the year but ended up seventh in the final standings. We knew we had a winning car that probably could have won the championship. We were winning races and had the points lead. But (crew chief Mike Green and assistant Neal Strausbaugh) didn’t feel the car was doing what it was supposed to do. It was going out and going fast but it was detonating the engine, blowing itself up.

“They made the correct call and made changes they had to do. The reason NHRA was started was to keep drag racing safe. Mike and Neal made a responsible call to make the right changes that got the Army dragster running safe and without blowing up engines and putting oil on the track.

“We’re not used to that, but we are specialists in adversity. We’ve always been that way. We always get through those things. This year will be a great example of proving that.

“We didn’t fail last year; failing would be showing up completely unprepared. A failure is when you walk into a business meeting without putting the numbers together, knowing what the projections should be and are not prepared. Not getting the sale isn’t a failure if you were prepared and lost out because there are other good people out there with other good products. You’re not going to get them all.”
HOCKEY NIGHT IN L.A.

On Thursday night, Schumacher will make his inaugural appearance on the ice of an NHL game when he drops the ceremonial first puck before the Los Angeles Kings host the Columbus Blue Jackets at Staples Center.

“I’m excited,” said the lifelong Chicago Blackhawks fan. “Driving for the U.S. Army has afforded me a lot of unique opportunities to do things most only dream of, but dropping the puck ranks among the best for me.
“I was disappointed because I thought I was going to play. I’ve played some hockey but I wouldn’t even want to warm up with those guys. They’d kill me. I love hockey. I wanted to play hockey and would have but I was born smaller,” he joked.

He will sign autographs between the first and second periods of the game, which begins at 7:30 p.m. (PST).
Hagan, Mopar Express Lane team hope to repeat Pomona success at 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Series opener

BROWNSBURG, IN – Matt Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots team have every intention of beginning the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season the same way they ended the 2013 season – with a win.

Their win at the NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., in November was their fifth of the 2013 season, the most in the nitro Funny Car class. They also set the NHRA speed record at 320.66 mph en route to the win.

“2013 was a great year of us,” said Hagan. “We won more races than anybody (in Funny Car) and finished really strong with a win at Pomona in the end. We’re going to go out there to Pomona with the same set up we had there last year. It’s proven and we know it works.”

High speeds during preseason testing

Three weeks prior to the NHRA season opener, Hagan and many other teams headed south for preseason testing. After a rough start for many teams, crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Mike Knudsen produced a 321.81 mph pass to put an exclamation mark on their week in South Florida.

“Dickie and Mike made some serious horsepower down there. 321 is getting it done,” Hagan said. “It was a great way to put our test session to an end after a struggle most of the week. That gave us a boost of confidence before the guys went back to Indy to finish prepping for Pomona.”
Mopar Express Lane adorns Hagan’s 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T
Longtime Don Schumacher Racing partner Mopar chose the Express Lane colors to adorn Hagan’s Funny Car in 2014. The yellow and blue scheme has an old school look and Hagan is anxious to get it to Pomona and show it off.

“When they sent me the pictures of the Express Lane car, I got even more excited to get back in the car. It looks great, looks fast. I love the old school feeling it has. I hope Dickie and the guys get to have a lot of pictures of it in the Winner’s Circle.”

Rocky Boots will also return to Hagan’s 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T in 2014. The matte red and black Funny Car will make its debut in Houston in April.