Ron Capps has been acquainted with auto racing legend Mario Andretti since he drove for their mutual friend, drag-racing pioneer Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. Capps even has visited Andretti at his Eastern Pennsylvania home. But he hadn’t seen Andretti in a long time.
 
Their reunion Saturday morning at Long Beach, Calif., was something the current NHRA Funny Car champion said he’ll never forget. He got to be a passenger for Andretti’s INDYCAR Experience two-seater ride-along – and when he emerged from the back seat, he declared, “Holy s---! That was awesome!”
 
Capps’ new perspective of Andretti Saturday morning came courtesy of reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi, who like Capps is sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts. Rossi, who drives for Michael Andretti’s team – Andretti Autosport – invited fellow Californian Capps to be his guest this weekend. The drag racer also has been acquainted many years with Bryan Herta, whose team (Bryan Herta Autosport) this year extended its merger with Andretti.
 
Race-car drivers like to be in control. But how could Capps say no to sitting behind Andretti in the Honda-sponsored vehicle on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit designed for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach? It was as if Michelangelo had invited him to pick up a paintbrush and dab a few strokes onto the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Or as if Beethoven had scooted over on his piano bench and urged Capps to sit down and collaborate on a sonata.
 
“This morning when I found out I was going to ride with him, it was amazing,” Capps, the NAPA Dodge Charger driver at Don Schumacher Racing, told Joey Barnes of IndyCar.com.
 
The course still was wet from overnight rain, and Capps said he had hoped the car was equipped with rain tires.
 
“When I found out they did and that we were going to be on rain tires, I didn’t think it couldn’t get any better,” he said.
 
“I got to go last, and he went one more lap than he took most people – and that last lap was pretty hairy,” Capps told Barnes. “I mean, you could see he was searching around and trying to find the little bit of water that was still out there, and I just couldn’t believe how much the car was sticking with how fast we were going in some of these corners. It was nuts! What an experience.”

Capps said, “Even if we did slap the wall, it would be an honor to wreck with Mario. They said he was pushing it pretty hard, but I didn’t care. Even if we did hurt the car, it would’ve been a badge of honor.”
 
The 180-mph speed was much tamer than the 333.58 mph that is Capps’ career-best. However, flirting with the concrete barriers  at 180 mph captured Capps’ attention.
 
“My God!” Capps told IndyCar.com. “You know, I get to drive a lot of cool stuff. I’ve driven Midgets at the Chili Bowl, the Prelude to the Dream dirt race with Tony Stewart for all those years, but that was a bucket-list thing with Mario.”
 
Capps and Rossi knew each other before Rossi stunned everyone last May, winning the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie.
 
Two years ago this fall, Capps attended his first Formula One race, at Austin, Texas’ Circuit of the Americas, and he watched Rossi race that rainy day. He already had been friends with Rossi on Twitter.
 
“One of our sponsors had a box right over the start/finish line, but prior to that I tweeted [Rossi] when he was in Formula One, knowing that he was a California kid. He outran his teammate, who was the full-time driver, that race. It was run in the rain and just a great race,” Capps said.
 

“We both grew up from California and that was neat, so to be cheering him on and telling my kids about this California kid that was in Formula One, which is a very big deal,” he said. “It was neat to just watch him the whole weekend.”
 
Like his former boss Prudhomme, Capps has followed championship-car racing for many years.
 
“I was always a Mario fan, and I was a huge fan of Paul Tracy. I love when Paul came into the series, because he was so brash and didn’t really care about what other people thought. So I was a big fan of his and then when I got to know [Jimmy] Vasser and [Bryan] Herta, I cheered for those guys, too.
 
“When … Bryan last year was on the pit box for Rossi, it was a double-cool thing for me to see. My NAPA teammate Bryan Herta calling the shots on the car – he’s always been one of those nice guys who has always been the same,” Capps said.
 
Rossi will return next month to Indianapolis for the 101st edition of the 500-Mile Race presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. In a symbolic salute to a Indianapolis 500 winner’s tradition, Rossi  presented Capps with a commemorative milk bottle Saturday.
 
Capps watched Saturday qualifying for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach from Rossi’s pit. The Carlsbad, Calif., resident will return for Sunday’s race.