It might be an event built on show more than go, but for Ron Capps, a No. 1 qualifier is still a No. 1 qualifier.
The multi-time NHRA Funny Car champion made sure of that Friday, delivering a 3.895-second pass at 330.72 mph to lead the field on the opening day of the 49th annual Night Under Fire at Summit Motorsports Park.
Capps came out swinging, laying down the quickest Funny Car run of the night on his first attempt.
“Considering the talented cars that are here; it’s four of the really good cars in Funny Car right now,” Capps said. “So it was weird to run the single and have [Jordan Vandergriff] shut off like that. Singles are always weird in Funny Car. You feel like you’re on stage naked because you’re so used to having somebody next to you, but it was so smooth. The car went down. I figured it was a high 90 and 89 came on the radio. So great job.
“Me and Guido joke that we’ve had a couple testing issues on the West Coast swing and there’s nothing like America’s track to get yourself right again, and that’s what he did. He just put the tune-up we had here a month ago and went right down there.”
Spencer Hyde, in his second season of nitro Funny Car competition, qualified second with a 3.997 at 323.74 mph. Cruz Pedregon was third, followed by Jordan Vandergriff.
While the Funny Cars battled for the quickest elapsed time, Doug Kalitta continued to show why his team has been among the fastest in Top Fuel all season.
Kalitta topped the Top Fuel field with a 3.757 at 335.57 mph.
“It’s exciting to be here at the Night Under Fire,” Kalitta said. “My car’s running good, so we made a good run on that one. Track will hopefully just keep getting better and we’re hoping to have some for them.”
Clay Millican, the winningest Top Fuel driver in Night Under Fire history among this weekend’s four-car field, was second quickest with a 3.811 at 321.73 mph. Maddi Gordon followed in third with a 3.821 at 322.19 mph, while Antron Brown rounded out the field with a 6.191.
Saturday’s schedule begins with the Nitro pre-race parade at 6 p.m., with nitro competition scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
