Each year, Ron Capps has won an NHRA nitro Funny Car world championship in 2016, 2021, and 2022 – there has been one constant.

Capps always performed well at the fall race in Dallas. The star driver had a runner-up finish in 2016 at the Texas Motorplex, and then he won race in 2021 and 2022.

Capps enters the Texas NHRA FallNationals this weekend fourth in the points standings but a mere 33 points behind leader Bob Tasca III. 

“We won Dallas the last two years, and when we won the championship in ’16, even with (Rahn) Tobler, we looked back at the Dallas race as a pretty pivotal one,” Capps said. “We weren’t running well when we got there. For some reason, we didn’t qualify well, and I think we went to the finals. We had a decent finish, and it kept us in position going into Vegas.
“Two years ago, to win there, it catapulted us back into... (the championship hunt). But I just remember you have to get a good springboard off Dallas. I guess you could say that about the start (of the six-race) Countdown. But the way we’ve always looked at it is you can’t win the championship in Dallas, but you could certainly lose a championship. Because if you don’t have a good points weekend, your Vegas changes.”

Following Dallas, the 2023 NHRA season concludes with events in Las Vegas (Oct. 26-29) and Pomona, Calif. (Nov. 9-12).

“To have a good Vegas, you’ve got to have the mindset you’ve had all year long and race the same way,” Capps said. “If you don’t go into Vegas in the fight, you know, in the hunt, that changes the way you race. Last year we were right there. I mean, obviously (Robert) Hight and (Matt) Hagan were running well. There were a few other cars that were right there, and you could feel the tension. You could feel the playoff tension there in Dallas. We had that rain come in; the race got pushed back into cool conditions. We ended up running the final at dark, which was crazy, us against Hagan.

“We raced Hagan the year before in the final, as well. But things changed so quickly, and next thing you know, you’re standing in the winner’s circle there and you’re going to Vegas in two weeks with a really good shot at it. So, that’s the key. You just don’t want to hurt yourself there in Dallas.”
As Capps chases his fourth world title – and third in a row – he does like where his team is at right now. This season, he has three wins and four runner-up finishes, including a runner-up effort to Hagan at the last race in St. Louis.

 

 

 

Capps is trying to become the first nitro Funny Car driver to win three world championships in a row since legendary John Force won 10 in a row from 1993-2002.

“I’m feeling like the fans are like, ‘We’re seeing this parity,’ and we are seeing different people jumping up into the fight,” Capps said. “Last year taught me a big lesson. Coming from behind and winning there in Pomona was something I’ve watched so many times other people do throughout history and to be a part of it the way we did it was certainly not expected. We knew we had a chance.

“The way we won last year taught me a lesson, and we look back at Dallas again last year. It has been fun because it seems like every year has been such a different scenario going into Dallas and coming out of Dallas. We stumbled, and that first-round loss in Charlotte (to Dave Richards) was agonizing.”

Capps, however, was grateful his upset loss in Charlotte didn’t ruin his championship hopes.

“That’s why we fought so hard to win the regular season, to get that extra bump in points. That’s why we worked so, so hard at the (Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge races). That certainly gave us a bump in points going into the Countdown, and we focused on it,” Capps said. “The team talked about how hard we were going to work at that. The Charlotte first round (loss) is the reason that we worked so hard to get those extra points going into the Countdown. Otherwise, it would be brutal right now. We crawled right back up into where we should be and feel like we got our hot rod back from where we were in Charlotte. Every driver that’s in the hunt at the end of the year will tell you that you cannot have a throwaway Countdown race. I think this year, whoever wins the championship is going to have a throwaway.”

If the weather forecast holds true in Dallas Friday through Sunday, Capps expects some lightning-quick elapsed times.

 

 

 

“Right now, my God, you look at the weather and it’s going to be a throw-down,” he said. “Yeah, they got a cold front (coming in). I think it’s going from like a 100 on (Monday) or something ridiculous; it’s going to be in the 70s or something. It’s going to be stout.”

Capps has won his share of national events over the years, but he does have a soft spot for competing at Texas Motorplex, owned by Billy Meyer.

“I love every bit of it. I love the fact that all my heroes, they make a point of coming to that race,” Capps said. “They always get together. The old “Waterbed Fred” Miller and Raymond Beadle would always come out. There’s something about what Billy Meyer’s done. And for me, I was a kid reading about the 16-year-old Funny Car driver Billy Meyer. He was always the coolest to me, man. I had pictures on my wall of him with his shirt off and his fire suit on, working on a car.

“I just thought, ‘Man, that is the coolest thing ever.’ I love going there. His family’s great. Everything they do, they strive to make it bigger and bigger and bigger every year, bigger and better than anybody else. But the fact is, that track is just a great track. When you pull up there, it’s still one of the best places we go to and has provided some unbelievable memories and moments for race fans, including the last couple of years for our NAPA team.”

Being the team owner of Ron Capps Motorsports has changed his perspective on things, but he also has built character through finishing second in the Funny Car points standings in 1998, 2000, 2005, 2012, and 2017.

“Every year, man. I learned a lot from not winning them,” he said. “I lost three or four (world championships) by less than one round. So, back in the day when I lost them, it’s back when rounds were more points. I’ve lost it several times. For sure, three, if not more. And probably even more than that by less than what a race would be. I was in the talk of (winning a world championship) going into Pomona, and then I won a championship (in 2016). I’ve learned something different every time we’ve won a championship or lost it.”

Although Capps relishes what he’s accomplished as a team owner, that’s not something that drives him at races.

“The best weekends, I’ve said this, are me just walking in the pit area as a driver,” he said. “I’ve been having these moments where... and I drove for Don Prudhomme … Just get that feeling of walking in and knowing I’m going to try to make my crew chief and my team as proud as I can, by being the best driver today. Those are those moments (for me). Not walking in and saying, ‘This is my team.’ For me, that’s where my head has to be. That’s when I drive my best, usually.”