FUNNY CAR

Ron Capps  (Ron Lewis photo)

Ron Capps started the NHRA Countdown to the Championship as the points leader and built it to 96 points after the second of six playoff events.

But after losing the lead at the fifth event to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman, Capps started this weekend trailing by 23 points.

Capps won his series-best fifth Funny Car event title Sunday by beating Beckman in the championship round of the NHRA Nationals near Las Vegas. The victory pulled him to within four points of the lead in his quest for the first NHRA world championship of his 15-year professional racing career.

Capps and the NAPA Carlyle Tools Dodge Charger R/T, tuned by crew chief Rahn Tobler, was the dominant car in championship eliminations and saved their best run for their last at The Strip.

A jubilant Ron Capps shares his Full Throttle drink with ‘Wally.’  (Ron Lewis photo)

Capps completed his last run with the team's best effort of the weekend with an elapsed time of 4.070 seconds at 315.12 mph to easily beat Beckman, whose Dodge lost traction early and spun the tires.

"It showed how this team can battle back," Capps said. "Qualifying was tough, and again Rahn kept saying 'we're alright, we're alright, we're just sneaking up on it.'

The day started when Capps beat two-time world champion Tony Pedregon in the first round and then eliminated his brother Cruz, another two-time world champ, in the second round. In the semifinals, Capps beat DSR teammate Johnny Gray.

The NAPA team had a rough time in qualifying and was the eighth quickest to make the 16-car eliminations field. But Capps knew Tobler would have his Dodge ready to run Sunday when the team improved on each run by going 4.105, 4.095 and 4.086 before recording its best effort of the weekend to beat Beckman.