There are definitely good vibes between Ron Capps and Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway.
On Sunday, they took their relationship to a different level when Capps became the winningest pro competitor at the northeast Tennessee track. Capps won for the eighth time at the facility when he took home the title at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
In a stellar final-round duel, Capps clocked a 3.957-second elapsed time at 328.06 mph to edge Paul Lee’s 3.967, 306.88.
“Anytime you win, it feels good,” Capps said. “We were set back pretty good with the Phoenix ordeal” he said of a March engine explosion and crash in the first round at the Arizona Nationals. “A new car’s being built, but what I love about (crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli) is he had our backup car ready to run. We pulled it out four days later in Pomona and went right to No. 1 qualifier. I love how organized he is and how much he looks ahead. I love that he can throw down that 3.95, after the rain, not having lane choice.
“We got our first win for Toyota here with our organization (in 2022). We want to give them as many wins as we can going out this year. They’ve been an unbelievable partner. We doubled up for Toyota with Steve (Torrence, Top Fuel winner).”
Capps was tied with Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher as the Bristol win leaders across all four pro classes. It was Capps’ first win since the prestigious 2023 U.S. Nationals – a 33-race drought.
Capps has won in Bristol in 2001, 2006, 2012, 2017-18, 2022-23 and ’25. He moved up a spot to fourth in the NHRA Funny Car points standings with Sunday’s triumph.
Capps qualified No. 3 with a 3.960, 324.51 pass, and chopped down the competition in eliminations by beating Matt Hagan, J.R. Todd, Dave Richards and Lee.
This was Capps’ 76th career nitro Funny Car Wally and 77th overall. He has one Top Fuel Wally on his resume in Seattle, when he drove Roger Primm’s dragster to victory in 1995.
As good as Capps is – he won Funny Car championships in 2016 and 2021-22 – he was 0-for-9 in final-round appearances before snapping that skid Sunday.
“Even last year when people considered us struggling, I never, ever questioned Guido. Not once,” said Capps, who had runner-up finishes this season in Gainesville, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. “We knew we had a big plan. There were clutch discs and a lot of things we knew we had to get right.
“After winning the championship (in 2022), we knew we had to get better. I knew we’d have times like last year where we’d struggle a little bit. As an owner, I watched Don Schumacher and Don Prudhomme go through that with different teams. I’ve always said to myself I’d try to handle it a certain way. This is just a payoff right here.”
Along with becoming the winningest pro driver at Bristol, Capps joined 16-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force as a driver to have eight or more wins at the same event.
“No disrespect to those guys (Paul Lee’s team), but I just felt like we weren’t going to lose to them,” Capps said. “We didn’t have lane choice, it rained, and it washed away everything, and the right lane was not the lane to have for a lot of cars. But we didn’t have a choice, and Guido also knew they were going to throw down a mid-3.90 and maybe even better. So, what do we do? Do we go up and run 4-flat and just go down the right lane and just get defeated? No.
“What I love about Guido is he can throw down when it is good conditions, but he throws down when they are tricky. We came up, the track had got washed out and the NHRA (Safety Safari) did a great job, and we didn’t have lane choice, but I felt like we could get down that lane. If I drove the way Guido wanted me to, he said when I hit the gas I needed you over by the wall. That’s not what you want to hear as a Funny Car driver, but you have to stay to the right because the bumps are less although there’s less traction. In a Funny Car, you are lucky to even keep it straight. When your crew chief tells you that, you’re like, ‘Whatever. I will try.’”
Capps did more than just give it his best shot.
“Sure enough, I got it over there and it lifted the front end up and I didn’t see him, and it was hauling, and I thought, ‘Here we go,’” Capps said. “I gradually brought it back when I knew the bumps were gone. I didn’t mean to do it, but I somehow did it. He just put the perfect tune-up in it. Those are the moments when you just want to bottle that up and save it for down the road for 10 years and open that up and feel that – what that felt like.
“To go up there down, out, no lane choice, another team thinking they have their thumb on you – the I love that.”
Capps acknowledged the difficulty of conquering Thunder Valley. The legendary Force is second on Bristol’s nitro Funny Car win list with four – and the last came in 2013.
“This is a grueling track,” Capps said. “Any time you can win more than John Force anywhere, it’s huge. I’ll be No. 2 to John Force in everything my whole life, but even when I’m dead and gone, it’s going to be people looking back at the record books. To say we’re in the same era as John Force is going to be cool, but when you’re able to win this many times at a track that is so demanding on drivers and crew chiefs and teams, you feel like you won a championship when you win here.”
Capps will carry his momentum into the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, the June 20-22 NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park south of Richmond.
