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<\/a><\/p>\nPhotos: Courtesy of the NHRA<\/strong><\/p>\n In his 20th<\/sup> season of NHRA Drag Racing, Ron Capps drives into 2014 with the same sure-minded passion he’s exhibited for the last 10 years with the Don Schumacher Racing NAPA Dodge team.<\/p>\n He knows the game of NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing and despite never winning a formal championship,\u00a0 the radiance he shows on and off the track is undiminished.<\/p>\n So that leads to the proverbial question: What does Ron Capps need to do to win his first Funny Car championship? \u00a0The Vista, Calif. resident has been runner-up in the Funny Car standings four times: 1998, 2000, 2005, and 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, it\u2019s funny now because in this era of the playoff-style atmosphere that we have been going through the NHRA with the Countdown and of course, NASCAR with their Chase, we\u2019ve seen the changes to the format, trying to improve, just different scenarios of trying to make excitement for the fans and winning a championship has sort of really become \u2018Who has the hot car for the last four or five races,\u2019\u201d said Capps.<\/p>\n \u201cIt actually has taken a little bit of the shine off of winning a championship, because obviously, back then you had to do all year long.\u00a0 You had to start off hot and had to sustain that and if you slowed a little bit, you couldn\u2019t struggle for very long.\u00a0 We used to see John Force dominate and wrap up a championship early.\u201d<\/p>\n His fan appeal increases every year, and Capps remains a spokesman for always making the sport better for the fans. It\u2019s that fan support\u00a0 that keeps Capps motivated to win his first title.<\/p>\n \u201cYou get the support of the media and fans saying things like \u2018you\u2019re due to win\u2019 or \u2018does it hurt to have so many runner-ups?” said Capps.\u00a0 \u201cI consider myself so lucky to be in a spot where I could be even No. 2 at times.\u00a0 As bad as I want to win not to say that I\u2019m okay with it, but there are a lot of drivers would almost jokingly give away a limb to have a chance to wake up Sunday morning at Pomona in November and have a chance that day of winning a championship.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been there several times and it\u2019s a great feeling.\u00a0 I can\u2019t change anything to try and win a championship.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think (crew chief Rahn) Tobler, none of the team guys can do anything different and I feel it just has to happen.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been hot at the beginning of the year; I\u2019ve seen our team be hot at the end of the year. It\u2019s a strange thing now that the regular season becomes less important.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re trying to win more for your sponsor during the regular season because the points will come with it and gets you in the Countdown.\u00a0 There\u2019s really not much doing in the regular season other than trying to win races.\u00a0 On that side note, which would be a great thing for NHRA to do is to make winning races during the regular season a much better thing for the Countdown, where it adds points and can move you up quicker in the championship.\u00a0 To answer your question, you got to make sure you have your act together at the U.S. Nationals; race that race because right after that race the Countdown starts and you better have your ducks lined up in a row.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it never happens, I\u2019m okay with it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had a heck of a career. If it doesn\u2019t happen, it doesn\u2019t happen, but I have been pretty lucky to have a lot of Wallys.\u201d<\/p>\n The 41-time Funny Car winner and his NAPA Dodge team have taken a positive stride forward in 2014. In preseason testing, he led the two-day sessions with the quickest elapsed time of the weekend at 4.003 seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s always nice to get a good start,\u201d said a relaxed Capps. \u201cYou spend most of your off season thinking of ways to get better than you did before.\u00a0 You\u2019re building new little trick parts, developing new little gadgets, things to make you better.<\/p>\n \u201cThen everybody gets to Palm Beach for testing and usually you\u2019re too good at the beginning and everyone is smoking the tires.\u00a0 It was different this year.\u00a0 A cold front came in and we saw conditions we only see at places like Reading, Pa., where records are set.\u00a0 Yeah, it was very cold, but our team did a great job.\u00a0 We tested what we wanted to test and got that out of the way earlier in the week.\u00a0 On the weekend, Tobler said we\u2019re putting our game face on, the one we\u2019re going to put on at Pomona in a couple of weeks.\u00a0 It was \u2018let\u2019s get ready to race\u2019 and we came out with a 4.04 and later that night with a 4.00 on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n Sensing they would be satisfied with their previous runs and on Saturday work on repeating the consistency in his race car, this determined bunch of drag racers wanted more and went for it.<\/p>\n \u201cSaturday was \u2018let\u2019s run 3.95\u2019,\u201d laughed Capps. \u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s go quicker than we\u2019ve ever gone before.\u00a0 Let\u2019s make this the quickest run ever.\u00a0 Tobler surely wanted to make a statement on Saturday and unfortunately, the track wouldn\u2019t hold it.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest with you, I admire their effort and after Friday\u2019s runs, even if we had run a 4.01 on Saturday, it would have been a little disappointing since we were trying to go quicker.\u00a0 Rahn told me before the run on Saturday morning that we were getting after it and see what kind of statement we could make.\u00a0 We were pushing it pretty hard.\u201d<\/p>\n That hard driving style reflects on his personal life as well.\u00a0 He had a love for live rock \u2018n roll music and that is something that has propelled this driver from Backstage to the Winner\u2019s Circle on more than a few occasions.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year, I try to line up the NHRA schedule first of all with what is going on with the NASCAR team and my new NAPA teammate, Chase Elliott, on Dale Jr.\u2019s Nationwide team,\u201d said Capps.\u00a0 \u201cI try to figure out schedule-wise where either I can get them to a NHRA race, or more importantly, me get to one of their races and hang out with the team.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time I sit down and figure out who\u2019s playing where and try to get a hold of someone I know and work it out where I can go see the concert.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last few years, every time I would get to a concert prior to a race, I’d end up winning the race that weekend.\u00a0 Before the Charlotte race before the Countdown two years ago, I went to Atlanta for a festival starring Shine Down and bunch of other bands and then the next day, I won the race.\u00a0 Then the next year at Atlanta, I won after going to see Seether and Nickelback the night before for my first time at Atlanta Dragway<\/p>\n \u201cThen it became a fun kind of trend and as everyone knows I love going to see live music and it\u2019s my favorite fun passion.\u00a0 So when I can mix it in with a race weekend I do and the one thing I especially love to do is taking care of my crew guys.\u00a0 They give me the best hot rod in the world.\u00a0 Taking them backstage at a rock show to meet the band, is so cool, just so they can enjoy the time since they work so hard. \u201c<\/p>\n Bringing bands to the track is something Capps has been doing for years with friends help and the look of some of rock\u2019s biggest names and their faces of astonishment at the sound of 8,000 horsepower taking off is something Capps will never forget.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s like that every time,\u201d said Capps. \u201cI just tweeted the photo last week of when the Scorpions came to Denver on Throwback Thursday.\u00a0 All the rock guys, as big as they are, the most impressive thing you can do is to take them to an NHRA race and down to the starting line.\u00a0 Because they love the feeling of everything that it brings.\u00a0 The roar, the shaking, the vibration, the excitement, it\u2019s everything they are use to.\u00a0 For someone like a big rock star who is used to playing in front of thousands of people on stage, you really need to show\u2019em something to impress them.\u00a0 It never fails.\u00a0 It blows them away when you take them to a drag race.\u00a0 They always tell me, it\u2019s one of their favorite things to stand up there.\u00a0 It\u2019s always been a pleasure to bring someone that you admire up there and it\u2019s like going backstage for us. It\u2019s where all the action is.\u201d<\/p>\n