(Photo: Don Schumacher Racing)
By Aaron Bearden
The sun rose Friday morning, and with it came the dawn of another NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. The stars and cars of drag racing’s top tour descended upon California’s Auto Club Raceway at Pomona to begin the new year, roaring down the drag strip to open Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals weekend.
For some in the field the start of a new season brought change and new beginnings. Courtney Force saw her career come to a close, while others like defending champions Steve Torrence and JR Todd arrived at Pomona looking for more of the same results from the prior year.
For Ron Capps, Friday’s qualifying runs served as the start of a milestone season – his 25th in NHRA competition. The mark has led Capps to reflect on his time in the sport.
While he’s mostly stayed the same, the landscape around him has changed significantly.
“Going into my 25th year… I thought that couldn’t be real (at first),” Capps told Motorsports Beat. “Every day I still feel like I’m waking up and going to the track in my sophomore year. It’s so cool to go to the track, learn and be a student every single day.”
A veteran of the drag racing circuit, Capps has been a part of the NHRA for the last quarter-century. He made his debut in Top Fuel Dragster competition, winning a lone race at Seattle in 1995 and running a limited schedule in 1996. But Capps made his name in Funny Car, driving for legendary racer Don “the Snake” Prudhomme through the early stretch of his career before joining Don Schumacher Racing in 2005.
The early stretch with Prudhomme exposed Capps to the racing world. Not only was he driving for an NHRA legend — a fact that he said had him “pinching myself,” but by being with Prudhomme he was offered unique opportunities within the industry.
First came a nice Italian dinner with open wheel legend Mario Andretti. Then was the sponsor-tied friendship with NASCAR veteran Harry Gant, and the opportunity to drive to Dale Earnhardt’s house, and go “out to the shed where his first shop was with him and Snake, and (watch) those two drink whiskey together.”
Drag racing was still relatively niche at the time – Capps admitted to having to “almost school the sportscaster, writer or interviewer about drag racing,” on occasion. But starting with a major name at a top-tier program gave Capps the opportunity to become a star within the sport.
The pairing proved successful. Capps ascended to the top-tier of Funny Car competitors, winning numerous events each season — including the special NHRA Showdown on consecutive years in 1998 and ’99. He was a constant presence in the top half of the Funny Car standings, and poised numerous challenges for the title at season’s end.
But despite his success, two things continually eluded Capps: the series championship and a win in the U.S. Nationals, the NHRA’s premier event. Capps had the unfortunate timing of running during the peak of John Force’s era of Funny Car dominance in the 1990s and early 2000s, leaving him battling for second most years as Force earned 14 of a possible 17 titles from 1990 through 2006.
Capps made the leap to DSR in 2005, and with the move began a steady rise to the top tier of drivers in drag racing history – and a presence as one of the faces of the sport to the outside world.
The first season with DSR nearly brought Capps a championship. The Californian fell just eight points behind teammate Gary Scelzi at year’s end, marking the closest title fight in series history. He would have numerous close calls with titles over the next decade, winning a litany of races along the way as one of the sport’s most consistent drivers. He’s reached the top 10 in points during every season with DSR to date, a fact he’s proud to acknowledge.
‘It’s funny how every year we’re in contention for a championship, it seems like,” he joked.
Capps became the second-winningest driver in Funny Car history in 2015. A year later the championship finally came, with Capps reaching a then-career-best 10 final rounds en-route to the 2016 Funny Car title. He fell just short of a title defense in 2017, but scored an additional eight wins and topped his final round mark from the prior year with 12.
The championship victory was a relief, but lost in his march to it and near-defense in the ensuing year were the various milestones Capps reached along the way. He hit the 50-win mark in 2015 and started his 500th race in 2017. Last year brought win No., 60, and even a 61st Wally trophy followed at the NHRA Carolina Nationals.
Drivers don’t traditionally focus on milestones as they happen, and Capps is no different. But the veteran admits to being humbled over the years as he topped the win totals of some of the NHRA’s biggest stars.
“At the end of the race day, first of all you’re elated to win,” he said. “You start going through the motions, and suddenly somebody pulls out a sign, puts it behind you in a picture and says, ‘Hey man, this is your 60th win.’
“It really kind of adds to those moments, and it’s crazy. When it first started getting to numbers like that, wins and being mentioned with my old boss Don Prudhomme. When you get interviewed afterward, and somebody mentions a name that you were tied with, or maybe that you passed on the list, it’s a Wayne and Garth moment.
“You don’t even feel worthy. It’s like, I can’t even be mentioned in that same breath.”
Humble as he may be, Capps’ name rests among the most prolific winners in the sport. But arguably just as important is the star’s efforts to grow the NHRA outside of the track.
Few drivers in drag racing have held the presence Capps has away of the discipline. The Californian earned the sport national recognition with TV ads for longtime sponsor NAPA Auto Parts. He’s also been seen in notable events outside of drag racing – testing both a NASCAR and an IROC car, running at the Chili Bowl Nationals in a car prepared by Tony Stewart, and even competing yearly in Stewart’s “Prelude to the Dream’ charity race at Eldora Speedway before it ended.
Perhaps aided by his efforts, drag racing has steadily risen into the mainstream over Capps’ time in the sport. More people are knowledgable about the discipline, and Capps hasn’t had to explain the sport to local media members nearly as much as he did in the early years of his career.
“It seems like this sport has really become much more mainstream in the past decade with our TV package,” he said. “With me coming onboard with NAPA and all of the national commercials that they did, I really think it did a lot for the sport.
“It’s changed a lot in that respect. I feel like it’s much more… When I go to do things with my teammates – my (NTT IndyCar Series) teammate (Alexander) Rossi, or Brad Sweet from the World of Outlaws, everybody seems to be much more aware of what’s going on with drag racing.”
He’s accomplished nearly everything on his bucket list, and reached the top pantheon of drag racers. Now entering the latter years of his career, Capps has begun to look toward the future.
His first goal is obvious – to conquer the lone crown jewel that’s eluded him in Funny Car completion.
The U.S. Nationals.
“That one is as big as a championship, you know? When you talk the the heroes of our sport, there’s guys that have won Indy and haven’t won a championship that I surely thought had won championships before,” he said. “But they’re okay with it, because they’re multi-time Indy winners.
“The U.S. Nationals is the big one. As a drag racer you certainly want to have that trophy on your mantle. We haven’t done that yet. We’ve come close, but just haven’t had a chance to close it out.”
But beyond race wins or championships, Capps has also begun to look toward life beyond the cockpit.
The benefit of being in drag racing is that he may have many years left to race. NAPA Auto Parts recently signed on for a three-year sponsorship extension with Capps and DSR. The veteran claimed he works out “harder now than I did my first five years, to try to stay ahead and be better,” and said he feels like he “can drive a lot longer.”
Capps was also quick to point out the 69-year-old Force — who continues to compete to this day — as “a great example to follow for longevity.”
But even with the potential to compete for many years to come, Capps has thought about the next chapter.
If things go to plan he may become a team owner, attempting to usher in the next great name in drag racing.
“I’m one of the select few that’s made a living being an NHRA drag racer,” Capps said. “There’s not a whole lot of people that have been in my position. I’ve never had to bring a sponsor. I’ve never had to bring money to a team.”
“I don’t have another business like a lot of the racers or owners have,” he continued “I don’t have tire businesses, or auto shops. I’ve been in this sport. My next step obviously would be to become a team owner and kind of control my own destiny. Eventually when I get out of this seat, do what some of these other owns have done like Snake and Don Schumacher, and keep an eye out for young talent to put into this car. Which I do all the time.”
Even if he doesn’t end up becoming a team owner, Capps will likely continue to be a presence in the sport. Despite being in his 25th year of competition, he contains a passion for drag racing, and the people that make the sport a success.
Drag racing is all the 53-year-old has known for most of his adult life. It’s afforded Capps a blessed existence and numerous triumphs along the way.
So regardless of where he ends up down the road, Capps hopes to return the favor.
“Drag racing has been good to me,” he said. “I want to give back to the sport that’s given me so much throughout my whole adult life.”
