As North Carolina residents, fans, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
competitors and officials prepared for this weekend's inaugural NHRA
Carolina Nationals at the all-new zMax Dragway, drag racer Ron Capps
was challenged by NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip to a duel on the very
same dragway.
Waltrip issued the challenge to his fellow NAPA AUTO PARTS racing
partner to race down the quarter-mile at Bruton Smith's stunning
facility to continue the pair's on-air rivalry and banter promoted in
NAPA AUTO PARTS' clever ad campaign using the two racers with disparate
racing backgrounds.
Arriving with his fully race-functional NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry,
Waltrip faced Capps driving an NHRA Super Comp dragster, owned by
Charlotte's Tisha Wilson, in the pair's first head-to-head match-up on
a racing surface.
It was a heady experience for both, as neither had been down the new
dragstrip touted as the "Bellagio" of drag racing. For Capps, because
it was an all-new venue; for Waltrip because it's doubtful that he had
ever been down a state-of-the-art dragstrip in a powerful car in his
lifetime.