Ron Capps’ Top Five Most Influential Funny Cars
Back for 2009 with Don Shumacher Racing, Ron Capps is in his fifth full season with Shoe’s team driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T for the 2nd time and of course, his crew chief is long time friend, Ed “Ace” McCulloch.
Born in San Luis Obispo Capps has always been a So-Cal guy and now lives with his wife and their daughter and son in Carlsbad, CA. With a B.S. in Software Engineering from Santa Clara college, Capps joined the NHRA super-team of Don Schumacher Racing, in 2005 to drive the Brut-sponsored Dodge Charger Funny Car. With Schumacher, he’s won eight national events and finshed 2nd in 2005, 3rd in 2006, and 4th in 2007. He’s hoping to turn that trend around for 2009
Capps joined DSR after driving for longtime friend and team owner Don Prudhomme. DSR is only the second Funny Car team for whom he’s driven since entering the nitro classes in 1995.
Since 1995 Capps has collected 25 wins in 54 final rounds, in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. He’s been close, but has never won it all after claiming that crown, finishing as Funny Car runner-up in 1998, 2000 and 2005. He’s hoping his ongoing commitment to Don Schumacher will offer him the best opportunity to achieve his goal. With Nitro running through his veins, here’s Ron Capps Top 5 most influential Funny Cars…
Ron Capps Top 5 Funny Cars
“No. 5 would be the Whipple McCulloch car because it was one of the first cars to have a roof hatch, side windows, and the first Funny Car to have a narrow chassis. Very influential overall and Ed 'Ace' McCulloch is my hero.”
“No. 4 is the Bud King because all of the technology that was derived from when Dale Armstrong was with that Funny Car and how overall influential it was when you look at Funny Cars today.”
“At No, 3 is “Jungle Jim." Because I built the models as a kid and those guys are my heroes. Whenever I was able to build a model of a car, that’s how I followed the sport at a young age. “Jungle Jim” was one of the first multi-car teams that would match race across the country, and had different guys driving different cars for him. When he showed up to match race, and I remember as a real small kid seeing him and Jungle Pam, and it was the biggest show you could see. It's unfortunate, because if he was alive today he would definitely be the biggest name in the sport.”
“No. 2 would definitely be the Army Funny Car of Don Prudhomme. I built the model of that car, and it was one of the few cars that I actually had a bigger model that I saved all my money to build. That car devastated the Funny Car class when he ran it. It ran a lot of races, and it was feared by a lot of drivers.”
“Of course, my No 1 is any car raced by John Force. I’m not even sure which car specifically. You could say the Castrol car because for a lot of years there was no beating him. That just kind of goes without saying. It’s John Force.”
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gotta love it….=]
i love Ron Capps he is the coolest racer ever
I’M ON FACEBOOK. I’LL SEE IF YOU HAVE A PAGE THERE.
NHRA ALL THE WAY BABY!
Will Ron be making a drivers appearance in Las Vegas? Where and when? I’m a friend of his during his high school days in San Luis Obispo,CA