NHRA Funny Car owner-driver Ron Capps has the confidence expected of a 74-time winner who can tame an 11,000-horsepower, nitro-burning terror of a race car.

But that self-assurance went AWOL earlier this year, when Capps got out of his rental car at that small racetrack in North Carolina. He had competed before in circle-track events – at the Prelude To The Dream and at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals – and had tested in IROC Series and SCRA sprint cars. However, he suddenly felt like a David surrounded by a gang of Goliaths.

The Camping World SRX (Superstar Racing Experience) Series had announced in April that Capps is the first full-time drag racer to be invited to run in the Thursday Night Thunder program. After all the “attaboys” from SRX CEO Don Hawk, the drag-racing community, and friends that he’ll be in the mix at the August 10 edition at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway at Rossburg, Ohio, some trepidation set in.

“I went and tested with SRX right after the announcement, and I went to a little track in North Carolina. And I showed up. And there were Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer. And here I am, first-time ever, being strapped into one of those cars, let alone going out in front of all these guys who are classic – I mean, you could say they’re six of the best stock-car drivers in the world,” Capps said.

“So it was very intimidating. And I was very much not comfortable in the car. It’s just so different from what we normally do,” he said. “We don’t get a lot of practice. That’s the only time I’ve been in the car. I haven’t even had a chance to go to Eldora or anything in the last five or six years.

“So I’m nervous. As the days get closer, I’m more and more nervous,” Capps said.

But he’ll regain that reassurance, knowing he has raced on Eldora’s half-mile clay oval against some of the world’s best before. “We’re going to race at Eldora, where I raced dirt cars before with Tony Stewart – although a lot different,” he said.

“I’m going to approach it like I did at Eldora, driving the Prelude, and that was to try to bring somebody else’s equipment back the best I possibly can. I’m surely going to try to win. You’ve got to remember we’re up against the best race-car drivers in the world in all different categories.”

Among his rivals Aug. 10 will be: Stewart, also an NHRA team owner and driver; IndyCar champions and Indianapolis 500 winners Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay and veteran Marco Andretti; and NASCAR notables Hailie Deegan, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte and Ryan Newman.

“It’s an incredible opportunity for any race-car driver,” Capps said, humbled to be asked to represent the sport of drag racing. “People forget there’s a lot of really good race-car drivers – I’m not talking about myself here …I’m talking about Doug Kalitta [the 1994 USAC Midget rookie of the year and the 1994 USAC Sprint car champion] ... J.R. Todd can turn left. There’s a lot of good drivers out here that do pretty well and can do well. So it was definitely a shock to be invited, very cool.”

He said he’s excited to be a part of it, this series that, he said, “is pretty much what the IROC Series was and is. It’s generated so much attention this year, going to Thursday Night Thunder, like we all used to watch when we were younger.” 

One thing Capps has noticed – something that made him say, “I’ve got a lot of things stacked against me” – is that racers from other circle-track series don’t set out the welcome mat for the straight-liners.

“Every time I’ve gone to race other series and other kinds of cars, normally, the other race-car drivers don’t take too kindly to a drag racer passing ’em,” Capps said. ”And I usually get punished. They don’t like a drag racer going around ’em. And they usually get a little upset about it and try to spin you out or something. So we’re going to see how we can hold up without getting taken out and see if we can make NHRA Nation proud on that Thursday night.”

The race, broadcast live on ESPN from 9-11 p.m. (ET) Aug. 10, takes place on the eve of the NHRA’s final visit to soon-to-close Heartland Park Topeka for the Menards Nationals.