Mopar-brand drag racing driver Ron Capps greatly enhanced his chances for a NHRA World Championship title defence with another timely win.

Driving his Napa-sponsored machine, Ron Capps marched to his second win in a row driving in his HEMI®-powered Dodge Charger R/T at a packed Gateway Motorsports Park, giving him his eighth victory of the year and the 14th overall for Mopar in the category in 2017.

The win in the sixth annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, held in the shadow of St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, also extended Capps’ points lead as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship playoffs reach the halfway mark.

(Ron Capps extended his winning ways of 2017 with another very convincing victory to move closer to another potential World Championship title)

Capps’ victory was the 19th overall for Mopar HEMI power in the Nitro categories (Funny Car and Top Fuel) in 2017. It was also the 18th time in 21 events to date this year that at least one Mopar Dodge Funny Car from DSR appeared in the final round.

Capps bested Swedish driver Jonnie Lindberg in the final, turning in a 3.879-second pass at 331.53 mph from the right lane to better Lindberg’s 3.904 at 326.87. The two left the starting line at nearly the same time, with Capps posting a .072-second reaction time and Lindberg leaving just .001 later.

Capps, the defending Funny Car champion, began the Sunday elimination rounds by powering past fellow Dodge competitor Jim Campbell when Campbell turned on the red light. Capps then defeated teammate Jack Beckman by .010 to set up a showdown with 16-time champion John Force. Force got a slight advantage off the line, but neared the wall down track, while Capps maintained a clean pass in the center of the groove to reach his 11th final round of the year.

“The toughest cars in the Countdown are the ones that didn’t make the Countdown,” said Capps. “We saw that today with Lindberg and Alexis’ (DeJoria) car. We fear them more so than we do a lot of the Countdown cars because you’re trying to race smart. We’re just trying to get as many points as we can get.”

(Sweden’s Jonnie Lindberg raced to his 3rd final round of 2017 – but the rookie driver fell just short)

The win was the 57th Funny Car win for Capps, which is second all-time in the category.

Event Essentials:   NHRA Dodge Nationals (Sept. 21-24, 2017) 

(Robert Hight qualified #1 and reset track records to 3.830 secs and 338.60 mph – but lost out in the semi-final round)

Posted with files by Dan Hodgdon and Bruce Biegler