Ron Capps saw his chances of scoring a three-peat as NHRA’s nitro Funny Car world champion vanish late last season as he finished fourth in the season points standings.

After being part of how things unfolded Capps – the driver and team owner – has had some time to reflect on what took place namely his team’s struggles in the six-race Countdown to the Championship, which included four first-round losses.

“Pretty much everybody who has won for a championship in the last decade knows you can’t have very many mistakes or bad results in the Countdown, the competition is just so tight,” Capps said. “We always talked about being in position going into Vegas (the second to last race of the season) and you don’t want to change the way you race. I talked about that this year. We did OK in (Reading) Pennsylvania and then we went out in the first round in Charlotte.”

Despite the setback in Charlotte – a loss to journeyman Dave Richards – it didn’t sabotage Capps’ title dream.

“At that point and time, I looked back at some of the things I talked about, and we earned the points that we worked really hard at and that was to win the regular season championship like we did in Indy,” Capps said. “That gained us the extra points going into the Countdown and we took the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge very serious, and we ended up winning that in its inaugural year. We took it seriously, and I compliment NHRA and Mission for stepping up and doing it and to put the points into the Countdown like NHRA did was huge. I think everybody’s ears raised up when we heard that. That was cool.

“The first-round loss in Charlotte hurt, but at that point it was like this is why we worked hard to get those extra points going into the Countdown.”

Capps and his team regrouped in St. Louis reaching the final round before losing to Matt Hagan.

“We dug down in St. Louis and had a great car and we battled back and climbed right back into the (points chase),” Capps said. “Going to Dallas, that was again, we were back in it, and we had a chance to make a run at it. Our championships in 2021 and 2022, Dallas was a huge part of us winning those because sometimes you don’t have the best car and you find a way to win, and we did that in Dallas in 2021 and 2022. Well, we went out first round in Dallas (to Alex Laughlin). We had a fantastic car all weekend and smoked the tires first round.

 

 

Surprisingly, the Dallas mistake didn’t knock Capps out of title contention either.

“Almost everybody had certain races that were not so good and probably counted themselves out and there they were again,” Capps said. “It was like ‘Who wanted to win this thing?’ We knew we had to go to Vegas, and we did exactly what I talked about what you don’t want to do and that’s go to Vegas and have to change the way you race.

“We fell back a lot in Dallas, and we changed the way we raced. Vegas, I was mad at myself because I felt like I let it get out of the groove first round and I felt like I cost us that race (a loss to Alex Laughlin). Then you’re out of it going to Pomona.”

Capps acknowledged there were some other factors that weighed on his mind as the Countdown was progressing.

“You throw the little things on the outside with all the NHRA and lack of tech. When the top five cars are running as close ETs as everybody ran all year and then all of a sudden things are changing and cars are stepping up and the competition gets even tougher you start to wonder. You’re trying to play by the rules, but you’re wondering what you have to do to gain that half a tenth that you had all year long to run with some of the best cars,” Capps said. “It definitely changed, I think for every crew chief out there, that unknown that we all had, especially for crew chiefs. Drivers we get in and drive them. Yes, we get mad sometimes and things happen, and you hear about this or that but ultimately you can’t change the way you drive the car.

“The way you race a car, the way the crew chiefs look at it, I can guarantee the top five cars there was a big unknown. I think that played into a lot of this year’s Countdown and the way it went down to Pomona. It is unfortunate all that happened in Vegas. I think it was a lesson learned, especially by NHRA, we all as teams work pretty hard at trying to win in the Countdown and we just have to make sure that everybody is on the same level.”

Capps said offseason test sessions aren’t in his plans necessarily, but he is anxiously awaiting the high-dollar – unsanctioned NHRA race – in Bradenton, Fla., in February. The NHRA season begins March 7-10 at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

“I don’t feel like we have to go test at some of the first test sessions they have, I don’t feel like we are at that point,” Capp said. “Mechanically, I think we are fine to go and run that event (in Bradenton) and then run test sessions (March 6-7) in Gainesville. That’s the great thing about driving for Guido (Capps’ crew chief Dean Antonelli), is I don’t feel like we vary too far away from what he knows works well. As a team owner that definitely makes me smile.

“Even at the end of the year at Pomona when I knew we were out of it come race day I still felt like we could drag our car back up there and run with anybody and that’s a great feeling because not everybody can say that.”

The Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO), in partnership with Drag Illustrated and Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park, are holding the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout, a high-stakes, big-money race featuring the stars of Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock. Set for Feb. 8-10, 2024, at Bradenton Motorsports Park, the PRO Superstar Shootout will pay out more than $1.3 million in total prize money, with $250,000 going to the Top Fuel and Funny Car winners, and $125,000 to the Pro Stock winner.

 

 

 

The entire event will be streamed live via FloRacing, the official livestreaming coverage partner.

“That event started at a test session and then we decided to make it into a cool event,” Capps said. “We still have more money coming into that event, so we are not sure what the actual winnings are going to be for the winners. We have a bunch of the manufacturers who are jumping into help. It kind of reminds me of the old manufacturers meet now that we are talking about it. Back in the day, you heard about these old races when Snake (Don Prudhomme) and Mongoose (Tom McEwen) and (Don) Garlits, they had these manufacturers meets which were not sanctioned by NHRA but were huge events.

“It’s $250,000 to win Funny Car and it is going to be more. That happened within a month of us planning the event. It’s an invitational-only with anybody who is in PRO. Within the first month it was already $1.3 million total purse between Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock and it is going to grow even more. We are not sure of the breakdown, and we are working on different formats that we are going to do that is going to be pretty cool, different from anything we do now. It will be fun.

“Everybody is focused on this event. We’re going to test during the week and most of us have never been to Bradenton in a nitro car and I have never been there, period. It’s going to one of the premier events that any of fans have seen and it also is going to wet their whistle for the offseason before things get started. That will be cool for our fans.”

Throughout Capps decorated Funny Car career he always has either had the No. 28 or No. 1 on the side of the car, but that doesn’t look like that will be the case in 2024.

“I still wakeup and within an hour of waking up, I still get aggravated that we are not going to have the No. 1 on the car,” Capps said. “I got spoiled is a good word for it, but for me it has always been, even before I won the 2016 championship, my first one, I always said to myself if I ever got the chance to be a Funny Car world champion I want to leave the sport better after I have had a championship than when I got it, however that is.

“Whether it be doing stuff in other events or like when Antron (Brown) and I went to Washington D.C. last year. I just want to be the best representative. I want to make everybody else proud to represent them. I felt like I did that. I got spoiled a little bit having the No. 1 two years in a row. I have either had the No. 1 or the No. 28 on my car, but I have to be honest it is kind of weird and cool that we finished fourth (in 2023). We have a lot of Eric Medlen’s stuff all over our car. We have the No. 4 sticker on the back of my injector, and I look at it every run. We have it on the back of the car, and it is on our scooters and is kind of ironic that we finished fourth. So, I think I’m going to use the No. 4 for the first time ever. I always did what Snake did. He either used No. 1 or No. 712, that’s just something I did after I worked for him, so I just thinking the other day we will do something cool with the No. 4 this year.”

 

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