Ron Capps has accomplished a lot in his storied career. He has won a lot of races, he has been fastest of the weekend several times, and he has even set a record or two in his time behind the wheel.

But through a career that spans more than two decades, Capps doesn’t recall ever having a car this competitive and this much fun to drive. And that has him pretty excited about just what the season ahead holds for the NAPA Auto Parts team.

“Rahn Tobler’s given me such a fun car to race. I almost felt embarrassed driving this car today because it’s so good. You just don’t want to mess up when it’s that good; it’s yours to lose,” Capps said. “Other guys are struggling to get down the track, and our car’s going .95 and .96. It wasn’t that we didn’t struggle; we did. We just worked so good together today. A lot of communication.”

Capps raced to his third win of the season and second straight Sunday at the NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, besting his friend and teammate Jack Beckman in the final. After an emotional day filled with big-time victories, Capps completed the weekend sweep when Beckman’s Funny Car hazed the tires at the hit of the throttle, allowing Capps to drive the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T to victory with a 3.954 at 316.90 mph pass in the final.

The win vaulted Capps from third to first in the NHRA Funny Car championship standings, as he now holds a 27-point lead over Beckman after 10 of 24 events.

“With the competition, you can’t imagine it’s going to go as planned, that easy,” Capps said. “We had some big matchups and it was neat to see Rahn Tobler step it up again. It was a big day, a big race. This is one of the biggest. Back in the day, this one was one of the big three and we still consider it a historic track. So it was a big win for us.”

Capps collected wins over John Hale, John Force and Del Worsham on his way to the final, and faced his fair share of obstacles in each.

In round one, Capps lost a cylinder in his win over Hale, while his second round matchup with Force saw the 16-time champion try and get in the head of his opponent by switching lanes multiple times before the race. But it was his semifinal victory over Worsham that left Capps feeling a little emotional as he advanced to this fourth final of the season.

“We had an emotional one against Del with Scott Kalitta’s car. I told them down there that there probably wasn’t a person on the grounds that wasn’t pulling for them. Even me, a little bit,” Capps said. “I think it would be a lot of healing to see that car back in the winner’s circle for Connie (Kalitta) and all of the Kalitta family. It was neat to win, but it was a tough win.”

One week after becoming the first Funny Car pilot to complete all eight runs of a weekend in the 3-second range, Capps came one run shy of repeating that feat in Englishtown. Capps claimed the top qualifier award Friday night and ran a total of seven sub-4-second runs over the three days, with only his cylinder dropping 4.057 pass in round one standing in the way of yet another perfect weekend. Capps’ other Sunday passes were 3.996, 3.960 and 3.954.

“You dream about being a race car driver when you grow up, which is a big enough thing to dream about, but to be one and have a race car like this is something you really dream about. I’m just trying to ride the wave and enjoy it,” Capps said. “It won’t go forever, but at least we’re having fun right now.”

While Capps was certainly excited to see his name atop the Funny Car standings, he was adamant that there is still a long season ahead, and he refuses to think about the possibilities with more than half of the season remaining. Especially considering that he was sixth in the standings just two races ago.

“I don’t even want to hear championship talk right now,” Capps said. “It is so far off and the competition is so tough, we are just taking it a little bit at a time.”

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