Ron Capps moved his career NHRA event winning total to 49 – after another convincing victory during the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk Ohio.

Capps raced his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T to a winning pass of 3.956 seconds at 317.49 mph to the losing run of Courtney Force at 4.010 at 314.17.  This is his third win in four races, he has a commanding 130 point lead over Force who is second and credits his Don Schumacher Racing team for the success.

With the win, the 49th of his career, he ties legendary racer Don Prudhomme for 11th on the all-time NHRA win list. Capps is a former driver of ‘The Snake’ and continues to admire the pioneer of the sport.

“He was my hero growing up,” Capps continued. “These wins happen and you are told you have tied someone you are completely enamored with growing up, so when you are mentioned like that it blows me away. It doesn’t seem possible, to be mentioned with someone like Snake is crazy.”

Capps defeated Jeff Diehl, Cruz Pedergon and Robert Hight prior to the final round.

For Capps, his third win in the past four weeks and fourth of the season, shows continued dominance by his Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund/NAPA team led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant Eric Lane. The win helped overcome mild disappointment of qualifying second at Norwalk that ended the team’s run of three straight poles.

“It feels awesome.” Capps said. “This is one of the only two tracks where I hadn’t won. It’s just a great place to race and now I have a trophy from Norwalk.”

“I want Tobler to get the recognition for another race when all eight runs down the track were in the 3-second range. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to be driving this NAPA Dodge. Four runs in 3 seconds on a hot day like this … that’s a big deal.

“What Rahn Tobler and this NAPA team is doing right now is just old-fashioned hard work and using their NAPA Know How. It’s not bolting on one piece or bolting on headers, it’s these guy working their tails off. Eric, his assistant, is going to get this trophy.

“Rahn is all about the big picture. He’s not just a good crew chief, he’s a good racer. I love when he points at me in the windshield before a run. It gives me all the confidence in the world. I’ve been around this long enough to know this won’t last forever.

“Our NAPA guys have been giving me a perfect racecar.”

Norwalk marks the end of the season’s most gruelling stretch called the Eastern Swing that had Mello Yello teams racing in four states over four weekends. The Mello Yello series resumes action in two weeks at Route 66 Chicago.

Event Essentials:   NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals (June 23-26th 2016) 

(Del Worsham set both low ET and top speed at Norwalk – both new track records!)

(Class newcomer Brandon Welch qualified #14 of 15 cars entered)

(Tim Wilkerson raced his rebuilt Mustang at Norwalk)

(John Hale debuted a new sponsor – Hubert’s Lemonade – for Jim Dunn Racing)

Posted with files by NHRA Communications, Jeff Wolf and Bruce Biegler

 All photos by : Steve Embling