{"id":3315,"date":"2018-10-15T21:14:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T21:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=3315"},"modified":"2018-10-15T21:30:06","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T21:30:06","slug":"milestone-victory-big-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=3315","title":{"rendered":"Milestone Victory = Confidence Boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ron Capps piloted the special edition NAPA NIGHTVISION Lamps Dodge Charger R\/T to his 60th<\/sup> Funny Car victory with a win at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. By claiming 121 points over the course of the weekend, Capps moved up three spots to third in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff standings, injecting new life into his bid for a second career Funny Car world championship.<\/p>\n

Along his way to the zMAX Dragway winner\u2019s circle, Capps defeated Dale Creasy Jr. and three of the top-ranked 2018 Funny Car championship contenders \u2013 Robert Hight, Tim Wilkerson and J.R. Todd \u2013 in crucial matchups with major Countdown implications.<\/p>\n

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In the Championship round, Capps would not be denied as he ran a 3.890 secs at 331.20 mph to defeat JR Todd\u2019s DHL Toyota which slowed to a 4.311 secs at 214.96 mph.<\/p>\n

The milestone victory and 61st<\/sup> overall triumph which includes one Top Fuel win, came after two disappointing consecutive first-round losses, but Capps and his Rahn Tobler-led team were determined to not let their early Countdown stumbles deter their hopes for the 2018 title.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn St. Louis we lost on a holeshot first round and I\u2019m sick to my stomach when that happens,\u201d said Capps. \u201cI go home, I don\u2019t sleep, I\u2019m up in the middle of the night, watching frame-by-frame of when my blades open compared to the person I lost to on a holeshot and it\u2019s not fun. I live it, I breathe it. I just could not wait to get to the next race after St. Louis. We really had a great car there and we really had the opportunity to make a lot of points up and we didn\u2019t, and I wore that. I probably aged a year in that week. Then we got to Dallas, had a great car, and just got outran by John Force first round.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cTobler and I left Dallas, shook hands, gave each other a little hug like we always do when we leave the track and he said \u2018let\u2019s just go win the last three. If we win, they can\u2019t,\u2019 and I\u2019m just so glad we came here and did what we talked about doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 321 points up for grabs in the final two events, Capps enters the next stop on the NHRA tour sitting 109 points out of first. The remaining events on the NHRA schedule are contested in Las Vegas and Pomona, California, two historically cooler-weather events, and Capps has more confidence than ever in Tobler\u2019s cool weather tuning capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make over 330-mph runs two times in the middle of the day today is big for Rahn Tobler. We always talk about race day and hot, adverse conditions, and that\u2019s where he shines, but to throw down those speeds and E.T.s in the cooler weather today when we needed it was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capps\u2019 Carolina Nationals victory, his third of the season, was won in a one-off NAPA NIGHTVISION Lamps livery, and his previous event win in Seattle was also won in a special look \u2013 the Pennzoil Synthetics\/NAPA AUTO PARTS paint scheme. At the upcoming Las Vegas event, Capps will be back behind the wheel of the Pennzoil\/NAPA Dodge, and he feels the special livery will provide his team with a little extra luck going into the race weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always do well when we bring these special paint schemes out. In Seattle we had the Pennzoil car and we won it, and we\u2019ll have that again at the next race in Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of business left to do. It\u2019s not over. Points-and-a-half in Pomona. Anything can happen and we\u2019re going to go down fighting. I can\u2019t wait to celebrate with my race team, get to the next race and finish the year strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Posted by: Allison McCormick\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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JR Todd’s runner-up placing put him just 11 points behind leader Hight with 2 season events to go.<\/p><\/div>\n

Event Essentials: \u00a0 NHRA Carolina Nationals \u00a0(Oct. 12-14th, 2018)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nNAME<\/strong><\/td>\nET<\/strong><\/td>\nMPH<\/strong><\/td>\nCAREER WIN<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winner:<\/strong><\/td>\nRon Capps<\/td>\n\u00a03.890<\/td>\n331.20<\/td>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 61st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R\/UP:<\/strong><\/td>\nJR Todd<\/td>\n\u00a04.311<\/td>\n214.96<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Low ET:<\/strong><\/td>\nTommy Johnson Jr.<\/td>\n3.873<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top Speed:<\/strong><\/td>\nRon Capps<\/td>\n<\/td>\n332.43<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bump Spot:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a04.248<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Event Entries:<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a017 Cars<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n
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Ron Capps’ DSR teammate Tommy Johnson Jr qualified #1 for the second consecutive weekend.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Robert Hight bowed out in round #2 at zMax — but still retains the NHRA FC overall points lead.<\/p><\/div>\n

Photos courtesy of NHRA, DSR Racing\u00a0& Gary Nastase\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ron Capps piloted the special edition NAPA NIGHTVISION Lamps Dodge Charger R\/T to his 60th Funny Car victory with a win at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. By claiming 121 points over the course of the weekend, Capps moved up three spots to third in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff standings, injecting new life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3315"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3324,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3315\/revisions\/3324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}