Ron Capps Clinches Pole Position at Norwalk

NORWALK, OH – DSR Funny Car pilot Ron Capps will start from the pole for the 27th time in his career when he hits the dragstrip on Sunday morning at the NHRA Norwalk Nationals.

Capps clocked his top-seeded E.T. when he powered the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a stout 3.888-second at 329.34-mph run under the lights during Q1 on Friday night. Saturday’s two qualifying sessions featured much warmer weather conditions, and despite his competitors’ best efforts, no one was able to knock Capps from his position at the top of the Funny Car ladder.

“These Camping World Series hats are so hard to come by, and like I said yesterday, this class is so tough right now,” remarked Capps of locking in his second No. 1 qualifying position of the season. “Our race weekend is off to a great start. We’ve got a phenomenal car. ‘Guido’ (Dean Antonelli), John Medlen, and our whole NAPA AutoCare team, everyone’s doing such a great job. We were sitting in the lanes for Q3 and thought we may have an opportunity to improve on our 3.88 but then the sun came out. We still ended up running a 3.968, which held up to be the fourth-quickest of the round, so another good, solid run.”

The 2016 event champ and three-time Norwalk runner-up will face opponent Terry Haddock in round one. Capps is hoping to avenge the first-round loss he suffered to Haddock at the previous event (Epping, N.H.) when Haddock claimed the upset round win.

“Tomorrow is going to be warmer, tough conditions. We’ll be on our game and keep doing what we’re doing; we’re not going to change anything,” said Capps when asked his thoughts on the E1 rematch. “Like I said in Epping, you can’t take anyone lightly.”

Capps will have lane choice versus Haddock when he begins his campaign for a second Norwalk ‘ice cream scoop’ trophy and first Wally of the season on Sunday morning.

“Our NAPA Dodge is running so good right now, and I could certainly use another ice cream scooper. We’ll get those GEARWRENCH tools out, and pour some more Pennzoil in it, and just keep chugging away at it like we’ve been doing.”

Qualified: No. 1 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 16 Terry Haddock

The Results:
Q1: 3.888 E.T. at 329.34 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest of the session)
Q2: 5.752 E.T. at 123.85 MPH
Q3: 3.968 E.T. at 318.32 MPH

Bonus Points: Three