Capps, Pedregon Hungry To ‘Feed The Children’ At Prelude

Ron Capps and Cruz Pedregon, two of the top six NHRA Funny Car drivers and two of drag racing’s more versatile competitors, will be going in circles again.

Originals who have participated in all eight editions of Tony Stewart’s Prelude To The Dream charity Late Model stock car charity event, Capps and Pedregon will return Wednesday to the Eldora Speedway high-banked half-mile clay oval at Rossburg, Ohio.

This year’s proceeds, largely from the live, commercial-free, high-definition broadcast on HBO Pay-Per-View, will go to support Feed The Children, a

U.S.-based charity that domestically has helped more than 365,000 families since 2009 through its Americans Feeding Americans Caravan.

Capps and Pedregon will be competing on the dirt with Danica Patrick, IndyCar headliner Tony Kanaan, World of Outlaws champions Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz, and such NASCAR stars as Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt and Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Bobby Labonte. All will be driving 2,300-pound dirt Late Model stock cars that produce more than 800 horsepower.

That might sound easy for men who try to tame 320-mph-plus, nitromethane-fueled, 8,000-horsepower beasts every racing weekend. But both are seeking a first Prelude victory. Among the winners have been Clint Bowyer (2011), Jimmie Johnson (2010), Carl Edwards (2007), and inaugural victor Kenny Wallace (2005).

No points are at stake, but the racers will feel the peer pressure to earn bragging rights — on a storied racetrack where America’s motorsports legends — A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Don Branson, Roger McCluskey, Johnny Rutherford, and Gordie Johncock –used to race.

In the end, Stewart said, “We all know it’s for a great cause with Feed The Children. We’ll all be racing for a trophy but also to make an impact with the more than 16 million children who are at risk of going hungry right here in America.”

But listen to who’s talking. The über-competitive host Stewart has won this race three times, more than any of his guest drivers.

They’re all are racers, and they want to win. While it’s fun, it’s also a competition. And this year, the top 10 finishers all are winners, in a sense, for Stewart has cooked up something special to help more American families nationwide.

On behalf of each top 10 finisher in the Prelude To The Dream, Feed The Children will send a food truck to that driver’s hometown or city of his/her choice.

Capps said he thinks he has a better chance to win this year than ever. He’ll drive the NAPA Auto Parts / Capital Race Cars entry provided by Phoenix-based John Kennedy and his Kennedy Motorsports WoO Late Model team.

“I’ve got a great car with the Kennedy Motorsports guys again,” Capps said. “They were so excited about a drag racer being able to drive. They didn’t bring all their good stuff last year. They were so impressed that [this year] I get their good motor. I get a brand-new car. I’m excited, because I really feel like we’re going to have a good car. It’s going to be fun.

“This is a first-class car from a first-class team,” he said, “and it makes me feel pretty good that John Kennedy has enough confidence in me that he’s letting me drive it.”

A grin spread across Capps’ face when he talked about the new features Stewart has introduced into the 2012 Prelude.

“He made it a 40-lap main now. And it’s double-file restarts. Tony keeps throwing these things into it,” Capps said.

After qualifying first in the Funny Car line-up for the Toyota SuperNationals at Englishtown, N.J., last Saturday, Capps said he has some extra momentum heading to Eldora. Sunday he added some, with a runner-up finish.

Jimmie Johnson sent him a tweet, congratulating Capps for running 3.964-second pass that was the quickest ever in his class.

“He was just watching the ESPN show. He made a comment about how good this run was on the TV show and he’d see me at the Prelude. It’s been cool how many racers from other series who have texted to congratulate us on the 3.96. When I get to Eldora I’ll definitely have something to talk about. So now the juices are flowing for the Prelude,” Capps said.

“It’s just exciting to go there and have those guys know we just [recorded] the quickest run in the class,” he said. Having that mentioned on the Pay-Per-View is great. It’s such a huge audience.”

Even if it’s for charity — and knowing that even a top-10 showing will benefit children in their hometowns, Capps and Pedregon, a two-time Funny Car champion, want to win, especially for their sport.

“The first couple years it was just for fun,” Capps said of appearing in the Prelude. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a lot of fun, but these guys are very serious. Some of them own their cars and teams now [including Bowyer, who’ll team with Johnson]. I was lucky to drive on a dirt track last month in California, but it was in a modified.

“We’re all racers and racers want to win every time we strap into a car,” he said. “But we’re mainly going there to help Tony raise money for his charity. It’s just fun to hang out with guys from other forms of racing.”

Among the racers will be Ryan Newman, Aric Almirola, the Dillon brothers – Austin and Ty — Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Wallace, and Kenny Schrader.

The Pay-Per-View broadcast will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. Pacific Time) Wednesday, with host Matt Yocum; analysts Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds, and Allen Bestwick, and pit reporters Dick Berggren and Steve Letarte (crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series). A replay will follow immediately.

Suggested retail price for the broadcast is $24.95. All that’s necessary to order the event is a digital cable box or satellite service — an HBO subscription is not necessary. Ordering information and up-to-the-minute racing information is available at either www.PreludeToTheDream.org or www.HBO.com. Net proceeds from the telecast will support Feed The Children.

Updates will be available on Twitter at @PreludetoDream and follow the hashtag #OnePerfectNight, or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PreludetoDream.

We’ll have a complete story on the Prelude here and one sister site, OneDirt, on Thursday following the event.