Championship Drag Racing

K&N Filters SuperNationals
Englishtown, N.J.
(June 17-20)

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Ron Capps Skoal Racing Funny Car

Reports: Sunday Saturday Friday Pre-race

Englishtown, Sunday: Ron Capps, who raced to a runner-up finish at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park last May, was unsuccessful in his bid to make it back to the final round at the New Jersey facility Sunday when the 14-time NHRA winner drove his green Skoal Racing Chevy Monte Carlo to a first round finish.

Capps, who posted his best qualifying position (fifth) since crew chief Roland Leong joined the green Skoal Racing crew in late May, used a slight starting line advantage to take the early lead on opening round opponent Tim Wilkerson, before Wilkerson's Chevy flopper edged Capps' Don Prudhomme-owned Chevy at the finish line. Capps blasted his Leong-tuned Chevy to a run of 5.098 seconds at 294.31 mph, while Wilkerson was a little quicker, recording a pass of 5.054 at 296.63 to score the narrow victory.

"That's the best qualifying effort that we've had recently," Capps said. "We're really trying to improve our position in the Skoal Showdown and Roland (Leong) accomplished that with a great qualifying effort. We had lane choice and confidence, especially after Tommy (Johnson Jr.) won in the first round. Something went wrong with one of our timers and one of them didn't go off at the right time. In this game, as tight as the competition in the Funny Car class is, it could cost you a tenth of-a-second, which out here is like a mile. The good news is that Roland is making the car go down the track and that's important going to the next few races. I know it's cliché, but sometimes you have to take a few steps back to go forward and right now we're starting to go forward."

Englishtown, Saturday: Ron Capps powered his green Skoal Racing Chevy Monte Carlo to the fifth qualifying position Saturday at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park after posting a qualifying-best run of 4.906 seconds at 312.64 mph.

Capps, who raced to a runner-up finish at Raceway Park last May, recorded his 4.906 at 312.64 effort on Friday's second qualifying run. Capps and his Roland Leong-tuned Chevy flopper made two qualifying passes on Saturday, racing to a run of 5.470 at 196.76 after overpowering the hot Raceway Park drag strip on his first run of the day. On his final qualifying attempt, the veteran driver powered his Don Prudhomme-owned Chevy to a performance of 5.022 at 302.63.

"You don't want to get too excited after qualifying, but it's hard not to," Capps said. "Roland (Leong) has done such a great job this weekend of making the car go down the track. With these conditions, it's going to be tough. We feel like we're making big strides and we're real excited about the future."

Capps, a 14-time NHRA winner, will meet fellow Chevy driver Tim Wilkerson in round one of Funny Car eliminations at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday. Capps has a 9-3 career mark versus the Springfield, Ill. driver and is 0-1 against Wilkerson in 2004.

Englishtown, Friday: Ron Capps powered his green Skoal Racing Chevy Monte Carlo to the No. 5 qualifying position Friday after two rounds of Funny Car qualifying at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Capps used a Roland Leong tune-up and drove his Don "the Snake" Prudhomme-owned Chevy flopper to a run of 4.906 seconds at 312.94 mph on Friday's final run to claim the No. 5 spot after two of four scheduled qualifying attempts at the famed New Jersey facility. On his opening effort of the weekend, the 14-time NHRA winner raced to a run of 5.301 at 244.85 on a hot race track that exceeded 120 degrees. Most crew chiefs would agree that an ideal race track is around 80 degrees.

"We weren't going for the No. 1 spot," Capps said. "Roland (Leong) really believes in getting the consistency back in the race car and maybe sacrificing a little E.T. and not being the quickest car, but having consistency on race day because race day is when you have to perform. He told me it would run 4.90-4.93 and he was right on the money because it ran 4.90. It was smooth where a lot of other cars smoked the tires and you can't ask for much more than that."

Capps, who will celebrate his 39th birthday on Sunday, aims to move up in the Funny Car order when qualifying resumes with nitro sessions at 1 and 4 p.m. (ET) on Saturday at Raceway Park.

Englishtown, pre-race: Ron Capps has driven his Don Prudhomme-owned Chevy Funny Car to marquee wins at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway, National Trail Raceway in Ohio and Indianapolis Raceway Park. The Skoal Racing driver would like nothing more than to add a "Wally" trophy from Old Bridge Township Raceway Park to the 14 other trophies that he has collected over the past decade.

"The Napp family created a track that you have read about for years," Capps said. "If you have a trophy from Englishtown, you definitely want to put that one out in front because it's a big time race to win.

"Englishtown is one of those race tracks that has been around for a long time. You remember all the old Raceway Park commercials. It's been a huge race on the East Coast for a long time. It's always packed with fans. They really love their drag racing at Englishtown. It gives you an extra boost when you show up at the track and see all the hardcore drag racing fans."

That's the goal of Capps and veteran crew chief Roland Leong, to notch a victory at the famed New Jersey facility this weekend when the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series makes the first of two visits to the Northeast for the 35th annual K&N Filters NHRA SuperNationals presented by Strauss Discount Auto.

For many years, the Englishtown race was held in July and was known as the Summernationals. In 1993, NHRA officials decided to move the event to May to take advantage of the cooler spring temperatures, which instantly turned the Raceway Park quarter mile into a record-setting track. This year, the event has been moved to late June where crew chiefs and drivers will again be faced with challenging race conditions.

"Englishtown used to be a track where you could chase national records," Capps said. "It's going to be a little different there now. The drivers and crew chiefs are somewhat apprehensive about what's going to happen with the weather conditions.

"I never got to race at E-Town when it was held in the summer, but I've read stories about how hot and humid it would get. I'm preparing myself for that. I feel that I'm in pretty good shape because going rounds on race day, when it's hot and humid, will take a real toll on all the drivers and race crews."