Capps skips rained out Prelude race, heads to Chicago

Ron Capps, the leader in the NHRA funny car standings, was supposed to be part of Tony Stewart’s Prelude to a Dream dirt track race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio. But rain washed out the race and Capps headed straight to Route 66 Raceway in Illinois for the NHRA races this weekend.
“It’s unfortunate, but the bright side, and this happened a few years ago when it was rained out, is that the rain-out date is going to be Wednesday night, Sept. 9,” said Capps. “And it happens to be right after the biggest race on our NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule, the U.S. Nationals, which we run on Monday, Labor Day, in Indianapolis. So, I’ll be able to stay in town again and cruise over and run the Prelude. It will be held prior to what they call ‘The World,’ which is one of the biggest Late Model races they have. It’s going to be just as big an event, and we expect the weather will be good at that time.”
Capps is coming off a win at Topeka and leads the funny car standings by 119 points over Del Worsham, a driver from Chino Hills.
Capps has one career win at Route 66 Raceway. That came in 2005. He was the runner up at Route 66 Raceway two years later.
“Chicago is a track which every year, even with conditions that aren't cool, is considered one of the best tracks we go to, surface-wise,” said Capps, a driver for Don Schumacher Racing. “Lanny Miglizzi, our ‘track whisperer,’ as Tony Schumacher once called him, gets so excited when we roll into Chicago, because it’s a place where you can automatically throw a lot more clutch into these cars and that only means good things for a driver. It means hang on and pull your belts tighter.”

Photo: After winning the NHRA funny car portion of the event at Heartland Park Topeka on Sunday, Ron Capps extended his lead in the funny car standings to 119 points.

Dixon, Capps NHRA winners in Topeka

Van Nuys High graduate Larry Dixon won the NHRA top fuel portion of the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas on Sunday. Dixon, driving Al-Anabi Racing, laid down a 3.971-second pass in the final against Clay Millican to win his second race of the year and the 45th of his career.
Dixon’s win comes off a weekend at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee when he lost on one of the closest hole shots in his career in top fuel.
“I’ve had worse weekends [than Bristol], but it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone to say that I’m not where I want to be driving the car, and I think it peaked out last week,” Dixon said Dixon. “Alan [Johnson, team owner] took his crew chief hat off and put his coach hat on and worked on me and getting me right. We went and ran the car at Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday after Bristol and just made a whole bunch of runs. That was just nice, hitting the throttle and getting runs. They learned a lot from that test, and I learned a lot from that test. I was very excited and there wasn’t anything apprehensive about coming to this event. I just wanted to come here and get the gloves on and get in the game.”
Ron Capps, the leader in the funny car standings, won at Topeka, beating Ashley Force Hood in the final.
“It really came around probably from second round on after we beat John Force in the right lane,” said Capps, who extended his points lead to 119 over Del Worsham. “Everybody was saying there was no way you’re going to get down that track. And (crew chief) Ed McCulloch just kept plugging away.”
Worsham, a driver from Chino Hills, had won the previous two funny car events in a row.
Force Hood was the top qualifier and Capps, who drives from Don Schumacher Racing, said he expected her to put up quite a challenge in the final.
"We figured they were going to step up like they were capable of doing,” Capps said. “They were No. 1 qualifier and we figured they were going to run a mid-4.20 and I was going to have to do my job on the starting line. And for Ace to pull out a 4.26 in the final round on a 125-degree track was incredible.”
Force Hood is third in the funny car standings, 126 points behind Capps.
“We’re gonna keep our sights set on that No. 1 spot,” Force Hood said. “I don’t think it’s out of our reach. We just kind of need to stay focused.and keep fighting the fight.”
Jack Beckman, a driver from North Hills, lost Capps, his teammate at Don Schumacher Racing, in the semifinals.
“We had an air line split on the car right at the hit,” said Beckman. “We did everything right for eliminations. And if you look at the numbers up until the time it ran out of air we were hauling butt. It was going to run a 4.25, it was going to turn the win light on, but our car didn’t get there first, so you have to hand it to the NAPA team.”

Photo: Ashley Force Hood lost in the NHRA funny car final to Ron Capps on Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas.

Worsham looks to for third straight NHRA funny car win

Del Worsham, a funny car driver from Chino Hills, will be looking to make it three wins in a row at Heartland Park Topeka, site of this weekend's NHRA races. He won the race at Bristol despite blowing an engine in the semifinals.
“I saw both sides of a team come together, the top fuel and the funny car guys, to put this car back together and basically change every part on it for the final round,” said Worsham, who drives for Al-Anabi Racing. “That shows you what kind of team this is; they all work together. Aaron Brooks leading this team, it’s basically his first full season working as a crew chief and he’s really stepped it up. This whole team has, and I just can’t say enough about all of them.”
Worsham has closed the gap on Ron Capps, the leader in the funny car standings. Worsham trails Capps by 57 points after posting back-to-back wins.

Photo: Del Worsham won the funny car portion of the NHRA races at Bristol Dragway. It was his second win in a row. (NHRA)

Sunday auto racing roundup

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Camping World Series East-West race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday night. The race at Iowa Speedway included drivers from the Camping World Series West and East Series.
David Mayhew of Atascadera won the West portion of the race. Busch, a driver from Las Vegas who races for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, was in the Sprint All-Star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday night. Busch was seventh in the all-star race.
Jason Bowles of Ontario was fourth in the West Series portion of the race at Iowa Speedway. Greg Pursley, a Canyon High School graduate, was 12th in the West Series portion of the race.

Photo: Kyle Busch celebrated the Long John Silver's 200 win in Victory Lane Sunday at Iowa Speedway. (Photo Credit: David Purdy/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Tony Schumacher won the NHRA top fuel portion of the drag races at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee on Sunday. The reigning top fuel champion won for the third time in his career at Bristol and recorded his third win of the season.
Del Worsham won for the second time in a row in the funny car division. He beat Tony Pedregon in the final at Bristol.
Jack Beckman, a funny car driver from North Hills, beat John Force in the first round at Bristol, but lost in the second round to Tim Wilkerson.
“We just didn’t get the job done," said Beckman, who drives for Don Schumacher Racing. “Wilkerson outran us that round. I think we had a great recovery from smoking the tires first round to put that competitive lap up there, but it wasn’t enough.”
Ashley Force Hood made it to the semifinals at Bristol and lost to Pedregon by 0.012 seconds.
“That shows how far our category has come,” said Force Hood. “Our class is almost like Pro Stock with how close the racing is. They are showing these races at the finish line where my team is driving down track along side of us and they can’t tell who won. I can’t tell who has won when I am in the car. That is a good thing. I am glad that I am in those races, the close races. That means our team is up to par with everyone else is doing. If we can keep that up we’ll have a really good chance at the end of the year.”

Stanton Barrett, a stuntman in movies and television, NASCAR driver and IndyCar Series driver, failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
He was one of a handful of drivers trying make the 33-car field on Bump Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was one of three drivers who did not qualify for Sunday’s Indy 500.
"I don’t know. We just gave it our all,” said Barrett. “Team 3G worked really hard, and all these guys just put a huge effort forth. It’s just a real bummer it didn’t work out. I don't know. They called it off because we didn't have the speed the first lap, and I just think taking time to learn without a teammate and taking time to learn what a difference this year and last year. We definitely made a change with the car speed-wise, aero-wise. I think it’s right in there. Too much scrub in the corners really killed our lap times, and unfortunately tough to go back and study what I can do better and what we can do as a team better. It’s a real disappointment.”
Former Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier and Alex Tagliani were the other two drivers who did not qualify for the Indy 500.
With Barrett not qualifying for the Indy 500, it could hurt his team financially.
“We need to make this race for sponsors that we had in line,” Barrett said. “It’s just one of those things. A lot of other guys didn’t make it too. There were (two) others. It’s not an easy deal.”