Last Thursday in Pomona, Napa Auto Parts Dodge driver Ron Capps suffered a minor eye problem that prompted a visit to an ophthalmologist on Friday morning.  “I got something in my eye, but the problem’s been solved,” Capps told us.  “It happened a couple of times last year.  Just clutch dust pieces, something like that.  Ya know, I’d get on a plane to fly home and suddenly I’d feel something in there.  It’s not fun, but it was never serious.”

Capps acknowledged that he was up most of the night Thursday because of the irritation, and further admitted that the eye had been slightly scratched, but there was no cause for concern, as everything was fine by the next day.

Last Thursday Napa Auto Parts Dodge driver Ron Capps suffered a minor eye problem that prompted a visit to an ophthalmologist on Friday morning.  “I got something in my eye, but the problem’s been solved,” Capps told us.  “It happened a couple of times last year.  Just clutch dust pieces, something like that.  Ya know, I’d get on a plane to fly home and suddenly I’d feel something in there.  It’s not fun, but it was never serious.”

Capps acknowledged that he was up most of the night Thursday because of the irritation, and further admitted that the eye had been slightly scratched, but there was no cause for concern, as everything was fine by the next day.

Capps is very pleased about the Countdown format change, as well as by the addition of the race in Charlotte.  “I think the playoffs will be 100% better than last year,” he said.  “Last year we all raced – ourselves, Robert Hight, the other guys – the way we thought we should with that format.  We were disgusted because we lost our points lead because we actually did some testing during the national events because we had such a big lead.

“You know how Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) is.  He had it all planned out.  We’re going to do this here, and this here, things like that.  We learned a valuable lesson by how we raced last year.  We’re going to stay on it, wide open all year long this time.  We’re not going to test at a race like we did last year.  We had such a big points lead that we thought we should test during a national event to run under those conditions.

“NHRA absolutely should prep some of the tracks for the Monday test sessions.  Some tracks have excellent people doing that, but others don’t, and when that happens you don’t learn as much as you might under better circumstances.  Last year we tested during the races, and that cost us.”

Capps and McCulloch have a very simple plan:  Race all year, do the best they can, but make sure they’re in that Top 10 when Indy ends.  Try to get the extra 20 points by leading the points, leave Indy and then go all out during the last six races.

Two years ago Capps lost the title by less than a round, and last year it was a round-and-a-half.  “I’ve gotten wise about how important the points are,” he said.  “We used to kid about how important those little POWERade points are, but trust me, they’re more important than ever before.  We learned that the hard way by what we’ve gone through the last few years.”

Capps also acknowledges that the 20 point bonus the points leader will get going into the Countdown after Indy could very well spell the difference in who wins the title.  He would very much like to be that points leader as the sun sets on Labor Day Monday.

Surprisingly, having been so close to the title without winning it doesn’t eat at Capps’s soul.  “It really doesn’t bother me,” he said.  “It’s not like I’ve got this Oh, God am I ever going to win a championship thing going on.  It’s not that bad.  The way I look at it, I’m lucky to be where I’m at.  To be honest with you, everyone on this team is trying to win it for Ace, because he doesn’t have a whole lot of years left that he’ll want to do this.   We want to give him a championship.  It’s hard to believe that, with all of the races he’s won, he’s never won a championship ring.  He’s won Indy all those times, and all of those other races, but never the championship.

“Then I’m going to concentrate on getting one for myself and the guys, but the coolest thing imaginable is to come rolling in to Pomona (at the Finals) on Sunday morning, knowing you’re one of the guys who has a shot at winning it all in front of all these Southern California fans on the last day of the year.  That is cool.”

Capps is an optimist about drag racing’s future.  “Our sport’s good right now,” he said.  “No matter what the economy is like, we’ve got a lot of people coming out to see these cars run.  Sure, it could be better, but it’s not like we have something like the split between CART and the IRL where it killed open wheel racing.  What we have is a good, viable product.  I feel good about the future.”