If you ask Jon Capps how his national event debut went Friday night in San Antonio, chances are that he will smile and utter, “Explosive.”

Capps made a straight-as-a-string effort only to have the engine explode the supercharger in the lights. An investigation revealed a broken latch cap on an intake valve.

Capps was carrying the remnants of the broken part in his pocket on Saturday. He’s nicknamed the part his “mojo.”

If you ask Jon Capps how his national event debut went Friday night in San Antonio, chances are that he will smile and utter, “Explosive.”

Capps made a straight-as-a-string effort only to have the engine explode the supercharger in the lights. An investigation revealed a broken latch cap on an intake valve.

Capps was carrying the remnants of the broken part in his pocket on Saturday. He’s nicknamed the part his “mojo.”

“I guess you could say I was baptized with fire,” Capps said. “We were trying to do our part to give everyone a really good show. That run was actually set up safe (conservative). We had a part failure.

“The first thing I did was see what I may have done wrong. Paul Smith and the crew reassured me that I did everything right. I have a great team behind me. There was a lot of stuff to deal with down there including a cross-wind.

“Ron [Capps] called me and kind of gave me a hard time. I got on the parachutes as soon as the motor blew up. Ron told me I needed to evaluate things when stuff like that happens and go for that extra qualifying position. I had to remind him that I didn’t have as many laps as he did but I would work my way into it.”

Capps didn’t expect the explosion so early in his career, nor did he expect his second career run to be an official eighth-mile race.

“Everyone always says to beware of the unexpected,” Capps said. “I’m having a blast and everyone has been so nice to me. The IHRA staff has been very great and has made me feel welcome. We can’t control the track, but we can try to do the best we can do.”

Will he have a problem clicking at the eighth-mile mark?

“No, I will probably be the one driver who clicks at 658 feet,” Capps said.

Capps went on to qualify fourth with a 3.362 elapsed time at 240.47 miles per hour. Unfortunately he lost in the first round to Jack Wyatt.