Words by Jeff Burk - Photos by James Drew

Ron Capps joined a very elite group of racers -- including his crew chief Ed McCulloch --of professional class racers who’ve won the first two races in an NHRA season.  Capps took a single after the clutch linkage in JFR driver Mike Neff’s Mustang broke on the burnout and he was forced to idle the car through. Even though Capps could have idled down the track for the win the team and tuner Ace McCulloch chose to make a statement and Capps launched and never lifted  running an ultra impressive  of 4.048 at 306.81  for the win. 

In Top Fuel action both pre-race favorites, Larry Dixon and Tony Schumacher, were defeated in the semi-finals, setting up a final round between Antron Brown and Brandon Bernstein. Brown got the win and the points lead.

Pro Stock saw a final round match-up between a couple of second generation drag racers. Kurt Johnson lined up against Jeg Coughlin Jr. In eight final-round matches between the two racers Johnson had beat Coughlin each time. Coughlin got off of that jinx at Phoenix with his first final-round win over Johnson.