In what has been one of the worst kept secrets in drag racing, Ron Capps made official on Thursday his intention to campaign a Top Fuel Dragster piloted by sophomore Top Alcohol Funny Car sensation Maddi Gordon under the Ron Capps Motorsports banner in 2026.

The three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion has teased the move for months, but the official announcement puts a spotlight on one of the most promising young drivers in the sport. Gordon’s meteoric rise in the Alcohol ranks, highlighted by a national event win (in which she became the milestone 100th female national event winner), three regional victories, and a runner-up finish in the 2024 national points, made her a natural candidate for the seat. At just 20 years old, she’s already established herself as not only a driver but a hands-on mechanic, handling clutch duties and jumping into engine work when needed on the family-owned funny car. Her versatility, capability, and work ethic made her impossible for Capps to ignore.

“This has been in the works for a while now,” Capps remarks. “When Snake (Don Prudhomme) brought me up to the pros, I was lucky enough to be given that shot despite not already having a sponsor attached. It’s rare, these days, for funding not to be part of the equation, especially when you’re building a new team. We wanted to do it backward where we wanted to pick somebody who we thought would be great and then come in from the other angle and find sponsors, where it’s usually the opposite. I want to give someone a chance like Snake gave me a chance. We’re going to build this program around Maddi. She’s crazy talented and she’s a hard worker, and at 20 years old, we expect her to have a long career out here. She’s a great representative of the next crop of NHRA drag racers.”

This is my lifetime dream. I had no idea it would turn out where [Ron] would want me to drive for him professionally one day. – Maddi Gordon

When Maddi Gordon earned her Top Alcohol Funny Car license in 2023 with plans to take over the driving duties from her father, Doug Gordon, Capps was one of the drivers who signed off on the paperwork. “I was in awe the whole time,” Gordon recalls. “he told me, ‘You have a very bright future in this sport. There are big things to come.’ I couldn’t believe it!”

Gordon’s sponsors will be announced later this year, but Capps notes that his longtime primary backer, NAPA Auto Parts, is focused on bringing more women into the auto care space. “NAPA is really recruiting more women into auto care and mechanics. Maddi is a great example of what can happen when women take the wheel, so to speak. I mentioned several years ago at a NAPA conference, that I would like to put a girl in a car, and instantly the women in the audience sat up a little straighter and several wanted to speak with me about it right away, even though it was just an off-the-cuff remark. That’s when it kind of started.

Much like Capps in 1996, Gordon admits she didn’t expect to be given an opportunity to race professionally in the nitro ranks. “I’m very goal-oriented,” she says. “When I set goals, I plan to reach them. So, I had my sights set on running in Top Alcohol Funny Car. That was my dream, really, because I thought that was possibly something that could happen. I might be able to get there. Competing as a professional was never something I even thought about because I don’t come from a background where I know I can just easily bring a few million dollars to the table. Racing in the pro ranks never seemed attainable to me.”

Gordon will complete the 2025 season in Top Alcohol Funny Car before beginning her Top Fuel licensing process in the off-season. She’ll make her first official nitro warm-up this weekend, firing up Capps’s NAPA GR Supra Funny Car in Las Vegas. For a racer who once viewed Top Fuel as out of reach, the moment marks the start of an incredible journey. “This is my lifetime dream,” she says. “I had no idea it would turn out where [Ron] would want me to drive for him professionally one day.”