Temperature to drop by 20 degrees Sunday for eliminations near Dallas as Capps tries to hold Funny Car lead, DSR dragsters look to narrow gaps
ENNIS, TX – The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will have competed in two distinctly different weather 
systems when they leave the Texas Motorplex near Dallas on Sunday after the NHRA FallNationals.
Temperatures reached into the low 90s Friday and Saturday, but when eliminations began at 11 a.m. (CDT) Sunday it will be in the low 60s and barely climbing into the 70s by late afternoon.
“This Countdown has been unique with the weather we had at Reading (Pa.) and then St. Louis when it was cooler that it had been there in a long time,” said Capps, who drives the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Powered by Pennzoil.
“But we haven’t seen a drastic change on the same weekend like we’ll see tomorrow on race day,” said the reigning world champion and current points leader who won Reading and St. Louis titles. Fans are going to see great side-by-side racing but the crew chiefs will be throwing everything they have at it. It’s going to be fast and we’ll see who is standing at the end of the day.
Capps and crew chief Rahn Tobler held the No. 1 qualifying spot with their run of 3.872 seconds at 329.58 mph on Friday. But on next to last run Saturday, Robert Hight of John Force Racing slipped past Capps to take the top seed for Sunday eliminations with a run of 3.871.
Capps started the weekend leading Hight by 46 points and will be 44 ahead before the first round.
“We obviously seem to be hitting our stride again like we did during the regular season and it couldn’t come at a better time,” he said of winning a series-best eight titles this season. “These last few races I haven’t been more proud of our guys and Tobler. I brag about him and his NAPA Know How and he knows how to adapt.”
Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman in Terry and Doug Chandler’s Infinite Hero Dodge qualified fourth and moved into a tie for fourth with teammate Matt Hagan while DSR’s Tommy Johnson Jr. is seeded seventh in the Chandlers’ Make-A-Wish Dodge.
In Top Fuel, Leah Pritchett and the Papa John’s Pizza Top Fuel dragster led by crew chief Todd Okuhara, was quickest in Saturday’s first session then second best in the last one to qualify sixth.
“We’re looking for four good hits tomorrow,” she said. “We ran pretty good in the heat the last two days and I expect our Papa John’s team to take advantage of a really cool Sunday.”
The best dragster for DSR near Dallas has been eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher and the second-seeded U.S. Army team with crew chief Mike Green that owns a track-record five titles. Schumacher move up one spot in the standings to fifth.
“The weather change should not be the issue everyone is talking it up to be,” Schumacher said. “We’ve got all kinds of data, but you just look at the track and the grip when the time comes and adapt. We’ll go out there and try to run fast. We’ve got a good car.
