Ron Capps became the second driver to put a Mopar-powered Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car in the winner’s circle when he raced the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) machine to victory in the 39th annual Arby’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia, on Sunday, May 5.

Ron Capps put the DSR Napa-sponsored Dodge Hellcat into victory lane at NHRA Atlanta — it was his 62 career NHRA national event score.

Capps, one of six Mopar-powered Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car drivers in Sunday’s field, earned his 62nd career win, first of 2019 and third career triumph at the track. Tommy Johnson, Jr. reached the semifinal while Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan, Cruz Pedregon, and Jim Campbell were unable to advance past round one. Leah Pritchett raced her HEMI-powered DSR Top Fuel dragster into the second round.

The victory for Capps was well earned for the 2016 Funny Car world champion. He started the day from the No. 11 position and opened eliminations by taking down last weekend’s Charlotte winner, Shawn Langdon, in the first round with a run of 4.076 seconds. Next in his path was 16-time champion John Force and their 101st career match-up. For the fourth straight year, Capps defeated Force in the Southern Nationals by making his best run of the day at 4.022 to Force’s pass of 4.312. In the semifinals, it was an all Mopar/DSR match-up with Capps out-dueling Johnson, Jr. with a run of 4.071 to reach his seventh career final at the facility.

Appearing in his 500th career event start – Tim Wilkerson had a strong runner-up placing.

The final pitted Capps versus Tim Wilkerson and it marked the third time in the past five years the duo would race for the Atlanta victory. 

Wilkerson won in 2015 and Capps was victorious in 2017. On Sunday, Capps was quicker off the starting line and he earned the holeshot victory with his run of 4.068 seconds compared to Wilkerson’s pass 4.052. The margin of victory was 0.0102 seconds (approximately 5 feet).

Both John Force and Jim Campbell had similar fiery starting line incidents during class qualifying!

Event Essentials:   NHRA Arby’s Southern Nationals (May 3-5th, 2019) 

Paul Lee began his comeback trail in FC — he qualified his McLeod Performance  Dodge #9 and then won his first round.

NHRA points leader Robert Hight set both low ET and top speed at Atlanta

Posted with files by Bill Klingbell & Bruce Biegler

Photos by Luke Nieuwhof – Gary Nastase and courtesy of Auto Imagery