Atlanta Winner Capps Rejuvenated With Tobler As New Tuner

NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps had enough troubles as April began, and news of his crew chief doing a disappearing act in Las Vegas was no April Fools Day joke. He missed the cut for the SummitRacing.com Nationals there.

A month later, by May 6, at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals in Atlanta, Capps had transformed into a winner again. And he and his new crew chief and team had accomplished what no one else in the class could do: stop John Force Racing’s impressive winning streak.

The story of Capps’ extreme makeover from disappointment-riddled underachiever back to championship contender is a bit of a meandering plot.

The NAPA deal with Don Schumacher Racing in 2008 reunited him with Ed “Ace” McCulloch, who had helped engineer his Funny Car success with Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing after their Skoal funding dissolved. When McCulloch stepped away from the daily grind, John Medlen came over from John Force Racing and lent his considerable expertise. Then Tim and Kim Richards returned from retirement, and Capps again appreciated their veteran viewpoints.

But the victories had tapered off, and this year’s March 31 failure to qualify at Las Vegas ignited some interoffice politics that resulted in the Richardses departing the team. So Capps once again faced a crew chief change.

“It’s a little like starting the season over,” Capps said.

On one hand, that sounds like a blessing, for a fresh start erases emotional baggage. However, with that comes the reality that the rest of his rivals were moving forward, not stopping to wait for him to catch up. And that put Capps, already uncertain about why he was having trouble with his Charger’s performance, in limbo a bit.

Who would Don Schumacher hire to step in and work with the popular, versatile Capps, who revels in the history and the romance of the sport? The answer was just a hauler away.

Rahn Tobler got the nod, as team owner Don Schumacher shook up his personnel and swapped driver Jack Beckman’s and Capps’ crews. Capps and Tobler began their journey at Charlotte, and they have clicked from Day one. Capps qualified No. 2 and advanced to the final round at each of their first three races and at that third event, at Atlanta Dragway, they hit the jackpot.

That was no surprise to Capps, who had predicted it. “I have no problem saying we’ll be in the winner’s circle soon” he said right away. “That’s a fun position to be in as a driver.”
Capps gave a wire-to-wire performance Sunday on the 1,000-foot course at Commerce, Ga., in 4.166 seconds at 303.91 mph against top-qualifier Robert Hight’s 4.399 at 273.44 in the final. Hight had won four of this year’s seven titles — the ones teammates John Force and Mike Neff didn’t grab.

It was Capps’ first victory since last Halloween weekend at Las Vegas.

“I feel so confident with Rahn Tobler. He looks down the road and plans so far ahead. The way the car is running now I’m confident how well it will run at the end of the year in the Countdown to the Championship,” Capps said.

“We had a rough spot back in April when we didn’t qualify for the Las Vegas race, but I knew good things would happen when Don [Schumacher] decided to move Rahn Tobler over to our team as crew chief,” he said.

“I’ve always admired Rahn and what he’s accomplished,” Capps said. “It’s a good feeling to look out the window and see Rahn Tobler and know the car is going to go down the track. He’s the type of guy that you won’t get a lot of really, really highs or really, really lows.

“I’ve learned so much from listening to him already,” he said. “He’s made me a better driver, and I think helped restart my career. This is such a great team. I’m having so much fun it’s unbelievable. It is so much fun to get in the car and know it’s going to be a hot rod.”

The feeling is mutual.

“What can you say about Ron? He’s a veteran driver,” Tobler said. “I knew when I came here, and Jack was a great driver and we were good together, [but] I knew when I came here I certainly wasn’t going to lose anything in the driver department. We are working well together. All these consistent runs, it’s nothing without the crew. It’s all of those things together that make it work.”

It could be a bigger money-maker, too, for this victory guaranteed Capps one of eight spots in the $100,000-to-win Traxxas Shootout that will debut this September at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

Naturally, the new pairing required some adjustments, but it went as seamlessly as possible.

“It was a big transition at Charlotte with the team,” Capps said, “because they wanted me to do some things differently like how we warm the car and do a burnout. Rahn and I sat down and I asked what he wanted me to do as a driver. We sat down and went over exactly what he wanted to do, things he wanted me to do and it’s been a fun challenge. It has been fun, but the best part is seeing Don Schumacher smiling.”

Capps said, “The hardest part for me was when somebody yelled “Ron (or Rahn)” in the pit area. Tobler and I would look every time.” Another tough task was learning the names, and nicknames, of his new crew members. He even admitted to looking up the team website online and trying to memorize names with faces.

But he’ll never forget them now, neither them nor their first three races together — and certainly not the weekend they were able to produce at Atlanta.