Ron Capps (Jeff Burk photo)

Ron Capps is quick to accept if his crew or crew chief makes a minor miscalculation. He always says "we win as a team, we lose as a team." So crew chief Rahn Tobler and the NAPA Batteries/Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Dodge Charger R/T crew were quick to accept a rare driver mistake by the veteran Capps.

It was unfortunate it happened in the second round of Sunday's championship eliminations.

Capps, who qualified fourth, posted the quickest time of the first round when his Dodge went 4.102 seconds at the round's top speed of 308.00 mph to defeat Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman.

Against Bob Tasca III, Capps was in the right lane and held a big lead by halftrack when his car began drifting toward the centerline and eventually crossed it to be disqualified.

"It was just driver error. I couldn't catch it in time," Capps said. "When our NAPA Dodge got to halftrack it made a little move to the left. When you get the left tires just enough out of the groove it just drives you," said Capps, who was able to hold onto second place in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series standings.

"It just made a hard move. I was out of the throttle with the wheel cranked full to the right just hoping I could save it.

"I didn't even hear Tasca. We were truckin' pretty good out in front of him. "What's hard to swallow is we had good hot rod and were the quickest car in the first round."

For only the second time in 12 NHRA events, a DSR Funny Car did not advance to the semifinals round.

Andrew Hines ((Donna Bistran photo)

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, three-time world champ Andrew Hines claimed his third win of the season on his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson with a performance of 6.929 at 193.43 in the final round against opponent Hector Arana Jr. on his Lucas Oil Buell. Hines is the first rider to win three times at Norwalk (also 2007 and 2009). It was Hines’s 28th career victory.

“It was a good weekend all around for our team, and we just treated it like we did in Joliet last weekend when I got the national event win,” said Hines, who remained in second place in the points standings. “We just slowly picked way at the tune-up. Conditions changed tremendously today.

“The air dried out a lot, and we struggled a little bit with my bike the first couple rounds, but we learned a lot against Eddie [Krawiec, teammate] in the semifinals, and luckily I was able to get the eight-thou win against Eddie in the semifinals and learned everything we possibly could and applied that to the final. That was our best speed of the weekend and our best e.t. of the weekend. It was a heck of a race with Hector Jr. I beat him on a holeshot in Houston, and that was huge, and to do it again is ‘ice cream’ on the cake.”