NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps was able to walk away from a scary crash in the first round of eliminations for the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways Sunday.
Shortly after the green, the engine in Capps’ NAPA Toyota exploded and shredded the body. Capps held on for a bouncing ride, a slap on the right-side guardwall, then a coast across the centerline and nose first into the other wall.
The incident comes just a few short weeks after a similar incident happened in the NHRA Virginia Nationals that sent John Force to the hospital. Force is still recovering.
“I know Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] was trying to throw down pretty good, and it just shook, shook them loose,” said Capps. “I pedaled it and I couldn’t get it going. I could hear Gary over there and I knew he was a little bit in trouble, but then he started going out my window and I was just trying to get it going again, nothing crazy. As I rolled in that last pedal, the explosion and concussion and the body’s gone and then I’m seeing these trees around the track. It’s not a good thing in a Funny Car, then I was just hanging on.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.