RON CAPPS RACING PHOTO
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 9, 2025) – One month after winning the SCAG
PRO Superstar Shootout preseason event, three-time NHRA Funny Car world
champion Ron Capps kicked off his 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing
Series campaign by racing to the final round of the NHRA Gatornationals.
Battling ever-changing weather conditions all weekend at Gainesville
Raceway, Capps in his new-look Carlyle Tools Toyota GR Supra qualified
third before turning on three win lights on his way to the final round.
Capps, who kicked off his fourth season as a team owner, is now second
in the Funny Car points standings.
Capps was on the outside looking in after the first qualifying session
when he smoked the tires early in the run. He quickly moved on from
that, though, as he threw down a 3.857-second pass at 335.73 in the
second session to move up to the third spot. It was the third-quickest
pass of the session, giving Capps one bonus point. When rain washed away
Saturday’s two planned qualifying sessions, Capps locked in his No. 3
spot going into Sunday eliminations.
Rain showers pushed Funny Car round one of eliminations back into Sunday
afternoon. Capps, crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli, and the Carlyle
Tools team made the most of the break and came back to record the
second-quickest pass of the round, a 3.964 E.T. at 325.30 mph, to get
the win over John Smith. Capps then set low E.T. of the second round, a
3.951 at 330.07 mph, to defeat young gun Bobby Bode. Capps had to pedal
his way to a 4.012 E.T. in the semifinals, but it was enough to get past
Alexis DeJoria, who had to lift early.
“I felt like the semifinals was all me letting it get out of the
groove,” Capps said. “Our Carlyle Tools Toyota GR Supra was on a
string, and when it’s a Funny Car you’re talking about, you rarely hear
that. These are such hard cars to drive. They’re just 13,000 horsepower,
insanely fun, but very, very difficult – one of the most difficult
race cars there is on the planet. We felt like the right lane was
better, and that semifinal run, we were going for lane choice. Our car’s
really just been cruising. It’s like a Sunday afternoon cruise for me,
and then I let it get out of the groove and smoked the tires down there
a bit.”
Capps didn’t get lane choice over Chad Green for the final round,
putting him in the left lane. He picked up a starting line advantage but
struck the tires a few hundred feet out. Though he tried to recover,
Capps had to watch as Green went on to get the win.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever been that upset going into a final with a win,
but I was really mad at myself,” Capps said, “and I feel like I cost
us the final because we hadn’t been in that left lane all day. I know
Guido could have gone a high 3.80 in that right lane. It’s all good,
though. By the end of the night, I’ll feel better about it.”
Already thinking about the positives of the weekend, Capps praised his
Ron Capps Motorsports team and his partners for their efforts over the
offseason and into the Gatornationals.
“Our guys put in hard work,” Capps said. “I’m really impressed
with the 2025 GR Supra bodies. So many good improvements this year. It’s
been fun with Slugger (Labbe of Toyota Racing Development) to watch the
work that they did in the wind tunnel in the offseason. It means a lot
that Carlyle picked our team to represent their brand and its new look.
To debut this car and take it to the final, you couldn’t really ask for
anything better except to win, so it was a fantastic start. We’ll be
near the top of the points and we’ll head West.”
No. 2-ranked Capps will be back in his traditional NAPA Auto Care colors
when he rolls into Phoenix for the NHRA Arizona Nationals, March 21-23,
at Firebird Motorsports Park.
Qualified: No. 3 (3.857 E.T. at 335.73 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.964 E.T. at 325.30 MPH defeated John Smith 5.644 E.T. at 132.14
E2: 3.951 E.T. at 330.07 MPH defeated Bobby Bode 5.155 E.T. at 145.03
MPH
E3: 4.012 E.T. at 280.78 MPH defeated Alexis DeJoria 5.949 E.T. at
115.35 MPH
E4: 6.500 E.T. at 110.23 MPH defeated by Chad Green 3.921 E.T. at 329.18
MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings
(Unofficial):
1
Chad Green
111
2
Ron Capps
97
3
Alexis DeJoria
73
4
Matt Hagan
72
5
Jack Beckman
64
6
Bob Tasca III
59
7
Bobby Bode
54
8
Buddy Hull
52
9
Paul Lee
37
10
Dan Wilkerson
35