{"id":15082,"date":"2015-05-15T14:38:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T21:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=15082"},"modified":"2015-05-15T14:38:39","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T21:38:39","slug":"capps-rocking-to-the-mello-yello-funny-car-points-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/capps-rocking-to-the-mello-yello-funny-car-points-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Capps Rocking to the Mello Yello Funny Car Points Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"15RonCappsCelebratoryGainesvilleFeat\"Ron Capps\u00a0is\u00a0living the dream.\u00a0 His performance this season in the\u00a0NHRA Funny Car class has him going into the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals on top;\u00a0and during\u00a0the recent break in the drag racing calendar, Capps spent time supporting his sponsor at the NAPA Expo and still found a way to keep rocking the night away.<\/p>\n

At this weekend\u2019s race at Atlanta Dragway, he\u2019s ready to bring another win to his camp, but it\u2019s also the closest race to NAPA headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis track in Commerce is usually hot, humid and it\u2019s always been a track that\u2019s tricky and demanding,\u201d said an insightful Capps.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s sort of what we saw at our last race in Houston and we were able to win that race.\u00a0 So, that\u2019s gives me a lot of confidence going to these racetracks.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly put out world record numbers, without a doubt.\u00a0 Track records will probably fall.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s what makes this race so big when I look back as a kid.\u00a0 It was the Winternationals, the U.S. Nationals, of course and the Southern Nationals were always right there.\u00a0 We get a lot of NASCAR fans and racers to come over.\u00a0 It\u2019s close to Charlotte and we get that crowd to come out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can get a win there, it\u2019s in the backyard of NAPA and Coca-Cola with Mello Yello.\u00a0 If you can win anywhere close to where you might have your executives out there, it\u2019s the biggest thing you can do, besides having your entire family out at a race.\u00a0 I feel good about going down there this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capps only has a slim six point leader over Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Matt Hagan.\u00a0 He has collected two wins this season in Gainesville and Houston from\u00a0the first seven events with a runner-up at the season opening race at Pomona.\u00a0 He will be the first to tell you they are close to finding their desired consistency on the track with their new set up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been one of those seasons,\u201d said Capps.\u00a0 \u201cWe had the six-disc (clutch) that we tried early on, which I think is the future of nitro racing.\u00a0 A lot of the teams are running the six-disc and I felt in the last year we had success with the six-disc and a car that could run for the championship and we did pull it out the Friday of the Gainesville race and then end up winning that race.\u00a0 So Rahn Tobler (crew chief) has left that five-disc in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I see us going back to the six-disc.\u00a0 It\u2019s those little things like that has just bit us here and there and caused a little bit of bad qualifying positions at a couple of the races and with that you have those first round exits.\u00a0 Those are going to happen.\u00a0 I feel we have a car that is more consistent and again on that last subject, we brought out a brand new car in Las Vegas.\u00a0 We needed a run under our belt and we didn\u2019t do well in Vegas and went out first round.\u00a0 To get the win the very next race shows the consistency that Tobler is going to have with this new car.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meanwhile, Capps tied Tony Pedregon in Gainesville and then with his Houston win surpassed him making him No. 2 on the all-time Funny Car win list.\u00a0 It\u2019s something he\u2019s still trying to wrap his head around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, because a part of me wants to take that trophy over to Don Prudhomme\u2019s and put it in his shop because he\u2019s the one that took a chance on me as a Funny Car driver when I had never sat in one. That was a big deal,\u201d said \u00a0Capps.\u00a0 \u201cLearning under his tutelage and later on with Roland Leong and Ed \u2018The Ace\u2019 McCulloch and seeing them being the team leaders and what I learned from those guys in the Funny Car ranks.\u00a0 When they told me I was No. 2 on the all-time Funny Car list, it made me really appreciate all the good people that have been around me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m good enough as a driver to be No. 2 in the history of the sport, but rather the awesome people around me and really good race cars.\u00a0 To have all these wins it\u2019s really cool right now with Rahn Tobler (crew chief).\u00a0 He\u2019s proud of each and every win.\u00a0 There\u2019s no ego.\u00a0 He\u2019s really is proud of the fact that every win he gives me, it\u2019s another notch in the belt of my career.\u00a0 It\u2019s great to have a crew chief like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping his personal momentum going Capps attended the NAPA Expo in Las Vegas for his long time sponsor and again got to share some time with his NAPA teammate, 2014 NASCAR XFinity champion, Chase Elliott.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, last week, I was at the NAPA Expo for the first time and had only heard about these events,\u201d said Capps.\u00a0 \u201cI feel they outdid themselves.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking 22,000 NAPA people for five days in Vegas.\u00a0 It was an unbelievable amount of people.\u00a0 They took over the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor hotels and they had celebrities left and right coming in.\u00a0 It was a week-long unbelievable event topped off with a concert put on for 17,000 NAPA people.\u00a0 We signed autographs all week.\u00a0 Dale, Jr. and Chase, my teammate, of course Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano were all there.\u00a0 It was just a very happy, happy event and it might have been work, but it was fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good to catch up with Chase.\u00a0 We get to do a lot of autograph sessions and we\u2019re doing one before Atlanta in Marietta.\u00a0 It\u2019s been fun.\u00a0 He came in as an 18-year old and it\u2019s going to be even more funner to watch him jump into the 24 car and I can\u2019t wait to get to some of his races and hang out in his pits.\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to get him to a drag race and almost had him there in Charlotte last year.\u00a0 We\u2019ll get him out this year.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to stand this kid at the starting line.\u00a0 At our last appearance, he went to my YouTube.com channel where at one of my tests I had put these little cameras all around the inside of the car on one of our 4 second, 320 mile per hour runs.\u00a0 It showed the mayhem.\u00a0 So at our last appearance we did together the first thing he said was he had seen the camera view looking back at me and he said that was unbelievable.\u00a0 I would love to get him in the car to do a burnout.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s ever going to happen.\u00a0 Still can\u2019t wait to stand him up on starting line have him to experience the power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capps had time for a little fun as well, finding himself\u00a0at the Rock in Rio weekend hanging with Metallica and Linkin Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell last weekend was Mother\u2019s Day weekend so I wanted to put something together since I was in Vegas,\u201d said Capps.\u00a0 \u201cI flew my wife over on Friday and I was going to surprise her by taking her to the Metallica show at the Rock In Rio festival.\u00a0 I got in contact with my friend, lead singer, James Hetfield (Metallica) and he set us up early on and had some friends come over.\u00a0 Honestly, I wasn\u2019t big on going to festivals, but it was a blast to watch.\u00a0 We also have a friend with Linkin Park, who\u2019s a big race fan and they played right before Metallica.\u00a0 What a great event right in the middle of downtown Vegas and you thought you were in Rio, almost.\u00a0 It was like a little city inside this place.\u00a0 It\u2019s always good to see Metallica.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been on the road and in between working on a new album.\u00a0 It was their first playing in the States in a long time.\u00a0 I think they were just as excited to be on stage as the crowd was to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then while at the show, Capps got another message about an upcoming Snoop Dog show in LA on Monday.\u00a0 How could he turn it down?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis last week has been crazy,\u201d grinned Capps.\u00a0 \u201cI got this note from a friend of ours with Nikki Sixx that the little theatre up in Burbank that used to be The Tonight Show building is now holding these really intimate concerts.\u00a0 They had the Foo Fighters not that long ago when they debuted their last album.\u00a0 He told me Snoop Dog is going to play a surprise show for his new album coming out on Monday night and I looked at my calendar and went \u2018Holy Smokes\u2019 I\u2019m home for a day, but I need to spend some time with my daughter. So I invited her and she brought a girlfriend of hers along and we jammed up to LA and it was more than I could have ever imagined.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun. \u00a0Pharrell Williams, it turned out is the producer of this album and it has Stevie Wonder on it.\u00a0 He got up on stage and performed with Snoop Dog.\u00a0 They had a chat session beforehand and we\u2019re only talking around 300 people in this small venue with unbelievable sound.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I went spending some fun time with my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n