Just one week after Ron Capps suffered a violent explosion that sidelined his primary NAPA AutoCare Toyota GR Supra, the three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion bounced back with a runner-up finish in his backup car at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. In a rematch of Capps’ last final-round appearance two races ago, Capps left the starting line together with Bob Tasca III but drove into tire smoke. Capps moved up one spot to fifth in the Funny Car points standings with just two regular season races left before the Countdown to the Championship.
Capps, a native of central California’s San Luis Obispo, went into the Sonoma Nationals prominently representing GearWrench on the rear quarter panels and hood area on his Toyota GR Supra as part of a new NAPA Auto Parts initiative. The ‘VIP Supplier Partner of the Weekend’ program allows NAPA to create additional exposure and sales for a NAPA-affiliated partner through its involvement in motorsports. GearWrench, the official hand tool of Ron Capps Motorsports, was chosen to receive the spotlight with Capps at Sonoma.
After the first-round explosion at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle, crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and the NAPA AutoCare team went to work preparing the team’s backup car for Sonoma. The backup car, which carried Capps to the 2022 world championship and multiple race wins in 2023, showed promise yet again in the first qualifying session at Sonoma. Capps drove it to a 3.988-second pass, the third-quickest run of the session, to earn a bonus point. He then picked up another two bonus points when he made the second-quickest run of the second session, a 3.864 E.T. at 332.43 mph, which was also his quickest pass of the season so far. Capps ended Friday in the No. 2 qualifying position. The strong performances continued on Saturday, with Capps laying down a 3.891-second pass in the third session and a 3.901 E.T. in the final session to collect one more bonus point, for a total of four bonus points in qualifying.
Qualified third, Capps started Sunday eliminations as one half of NHRA’s Marquee Matchup in Funny Car. Facing fellow multi-time world champion and driver/team owner Cruz Pedregon, Capps left the starting line first and charged to a 3.869 E.T. at 335.57 mph to beat Pedregon and his 3.913 E.T. It was the second-quickest pass of the round. Capps was first off the line again in the second round against fellow Toyota driver J.R. Todd, and was the second-quickest of the round again with his winning 3.907-second performance. The trend continued into the semifinals, as Capps left on reigning world champion Matt Hagan and recorded a 3.923 E.T. to advance to his second final round of the season, picking up his 900th career round win in the process. He was the quickest winner of the round, earning lane choice in the finals.
After defeating three world champions, Capps lined up against No. 1 qualifier Bob Tasca III. The two drivers left the line with identical .057-second reaction times and stayed together until Capps started to lose traction. He pedaled his NAPA/GearWrench Toyota GR Supra, but it wasn’t enough to chase down Tasca.
“I’m so proud of our NAPA AutoCare team,” said Capps, a four-time Sonoma winner. “We had a great event with GearWrench Tools, and to be able to showcase their car and have the weekend we did, it’s why I brag about our NAPA AutoCare team. We went down the track under power in every qualifying session, we made great runs, and we had lane choice all day long. That’s really something to brag about. I’m just really proud of Guido and the guys.”
With the two-race Western Swing wrapped up, Capps and the Ron Capps Motorsports team will head east to the team’s home base in Brownsburg, Indiana, before taking part in Summit Motorsports Park’s fan-focused match racing event, the 47th annual Night Under Fire, on Aug. 3. The next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Series schedule is the NHRA Nationals, Aug. 16-18, at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Qualified: No. 3 (3.864 E.T. at 332.43 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.869 E.T. at 335.57 MPH defeated Cruz Pedregon 3.913 E.T. at 315.64 MPH
E2: 3.907 E.T. at 330.72 MPH defeated J.R. Todd 3.943 E.T. at 325.30 MPH
E3: 3.923 E.T. at 329.99 MPH defeated Matt Hagan 3.933 E.T. at 328.70 MPH
E4: 4.729 E.T. at 175.59 MPH defeated by Bob Tasca 4.088 E.T. at 277.15 MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):
| 1 | Austin Prock | 1123 |
| 2 | Bob Tasca III | 912 |
| 3 | Matt Hagan | 869 |
| 4 | J.R. Todd | 823 |
| 5 | Ron Capps | 701 |
| 6 | John Force | 693 |
| 7 | Dan Wilkerson | 595 |
| 8 | Paul Lee | 545 |
| 9 | Chad Green | 534 |
| 10 | Blake Alexander | 531 |
ABM Communications PR
