Don Schumacher Racing on Wednesday named veteran tuner Rahn Tobler the crew chief for fan favorite Ron Capps’ NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger Funny Car, beginning with the Four-Wide NHRA Nationals at the zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C. next weekend. Tobler, who currently serves as crew chief for Jack Beckman’s Valvoline NextGen flopper, will remain in that role for at least the next two NHRA Full Throttle national events before transitioning full-time to the NAPA camp.

Schumacher meanwhile has hired another veteran tuner, Todd Smith, as the new crew chief for Beckman’s machine. Smith, who has served as crew chief for Kalitta Motorsports, Darrell Gwynn Racing, Don Prudhomme Racing, and most recently Kenny Bernstein Racing, will shadow Tobler beginning at Charlotte before taking over as the primary crew chief for last Beckman, last year’s championship runner-up.

“Rahn will help Todd get adjusted to the Valvoline NextGen team and become acclimated to our DSR operation,” Schumacher said. “Rahn will make the final decisions for at least the next two races.”

“We have a strong enough organization that we can assist Todd, but it wouldn’t take him long to become familiar with DSR and the Valvoline team; he has plenty of background in our sport.”

Tobler replaces the husband and wife tuning duo of Tim and Kim Richards, who resigned unexpectedly following Capps’ DNQ on Saturday at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.

Despite missing the raceday field, Capps still finds himself eighth in the Funny Car standings, just 27 points out of the top five.

John Collins will assist Tobler on the NAPA Funny Car, while Terry Snyder will do likewise with Smith on Beckman’s car.