The Mopar brand continued it’s early season domination of NHRA’s Fuel Funny Car class winning it’s 3-straight 2015 race and placing 1-2 during NHRA’s Amalie Oil Gatornationals….

Ron Capps proved it again — the 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T NHRA Funny Car is a winning machine. Capps raced the new body to its third consecutive victory during eliminations on Sunday at the 46th Annual NHRA Gatornationals, marking the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver’s third career win at Gainesville Raceway.

(Funny Car Winner – Rob Capps)

Including Matt Hagan’s victories at the NHRA Pomona and Phoenix events, the new 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T is three-for-three in competition this season. Counting Hagan’s 2014 NHRA Finals win, Mopar-powered Dodge Funny Car drivers have also won the last four events, and the final marks the second all-Mopar Dodge money round matchup this season (Hagan defeated Capps at Pomona). Five Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars advanced to the quarterfinals at Gainesville Raceway, with a trio earning three of four spots in the semifinals.

“All of us at Mopar are very proud to see the new 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the winner’s circle for a third consecutive event with this big win by Ron Capps at the Gatornationals,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO – Mopar Brand Service, Parts and Customer Care. “The new Mopar-powered Funny Car package looks strong this year, and we look forward to seeing the Don Schumacher Racing drivers contend for more wins and another championship this season.”

Capps’ road to the final was anything but easy. Lined up against No. 8 qualifier Courtney Force to start his day, the No. 9 starter was quicker on the trigger at the starting line, clocking a .072 reaction time paired with a 4.112/312.42 to Force’s .091 and 4.105/315.86 numbers, scoring the holeshot win. Next up, against No. 1 qualifier Cruz Pedregon, Capps cruised to victory with a 4.130/310.55 to Pedregon’s 4.728/190.43.

In the semis Capps emerged victorious in the ultimate nail biter, edging out No. 4 qualifier Tim Wilkerson on a holeshot by just one thousandth of a second. With a 4.120/308.71 to Wilkerson’s quicker and faster 4.112/308.85, once again the Mopar-powered Dodge driver’s reflexes off the start proved the difference, his .066 reaction time to his opponent’s .074 providing the margin of victory. In his 86th career Funny Car final round appearance, Capps’ 4.115/311.05 beat Hale’s 4.208/289.32 to the stripe earning him a 43rd Funny Car victory to tie him for second on the all-time list with Tony Pedregon.

“The Dodge people worked real hard on this new car and while I was happy for my teammate Matt (Hagan) when he won at Pomona and Phoenix, I had wanted to get them the first win with the new body,” Capps said. “They really did their homework. Don (Schumacher) and Dodge really worked hard together as a team to get back to the top. We won a lot of races with the old Charger but this new one is like night and day. When I came to work for Don in 2005 we had the Dodge Stratus and then the Charger and it was so hard to see out of these bodies but you never wanted to complain because it’s a Funny Car and they are supposed to be the hardest things in the world to drive.”

Capps jokingly added that the only negative thing he could say about the improved visibility on his new Mopar was that for the first time he could look out the side window and see how exactly how tight a race it was while running 320 mph: “Against Wilkerson I looked over and I actually got to see how very close it really was. It’s really helped with everything including reaction time.”

Hale pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the young season, coming out of the No. 14 spot to put 16-time champ John Force on the trailer home with a 4.541/203.16 to Force’s 5.899/122.27. Hale continued his unexpected charge to the money round, recording a 4.196/277.37 in his Jim Dunn Racing Dodge Charger to best the higher-seeded Alexis DeJoria.

(Rookie series driver John Hale drove Big Jim Dunn’s Dodge Charger to the final round)

Hale squared off in an all-Mopar semifinal against another Dodge underdog, No. 15 Blake Alexander, who drove his Charger past No. 2 qualifier Del Worsham in round one and Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T DSR pilot Tommy Johnson Jr. in the quarterfinals. In the battle of No. 14 vs. No. 15, No. 14 triumphed, with Hale reaching the finish line first thanks to a 4.203/301.20, while Alexander slowed to a 7.443/93.94 after smoking the tires.

Event Essentials:   46th Amalie Gatornationals (March 12-15th, 2015) Gainesville FL

(Courtney Force set top speed of the meet at 315.86 mph)

(Cruz Pedregon won the pole in the class with a 4.022 secs – low ET run)

Posted with files from Pat Caporali

Photos by:  Bruce Biegler & Tracy Waters