Ron Capps declared, ‘I think I pooped my pants’ following a harrowing on-track incident Sunday in Sunday’s first round of Funny Car eliminations at the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio.
Opponent Dale Creasy crossed the center line, into Capps’ lane. The two cars didn’t collide, but the margin between them was frighteningly thin on the Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park 1,000-foot course.
Creasy launched first, then Capps lost traction early and was on and off the throttle a couple of times to try to salvage his run. Then Creasy experienced tire smoke, as well, and his car got loose. It drifted across the center line, disqualifying him, and leaving him unable to capitalize on Capps’ mistake.
Creasy, the popular journeyman racer, apologized to Capps when they exited their cars in the shutdown area, and Capps was more unsettled than upset.
Once Capps composed himself, he said, “Wow, what a crazy moment. He did what he had to do. He didn’t see me or hear me. Ours rattled. I waited. I gave it a pedal. Then I pedaled again, and it hooked up. It threw me back in the seat, and about that time, I saw his whole car sideways. I don’t know how we didn’t touch. I really don’t.
“There was no good driving by me, trust me,” he said. “I turned left as hard as I could. We would’ve gone through another car if we touched. Who knows what would’ve happened?”
Grateful for escaping injury and for the win light, Capps said, “We escaped one in two different ways there.”
And he expressed his understanding, saying of Creasy, a second-generation, low-budgeted fellow team owner, “I love that family. That’s the heart and a soul of what NHRA is all about.”
Keyword: Video: Ron Capps Has a ‘I Think I Pooped My Pants’ Moment at NHRA Norwalk