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The victory for the Green Skoal Racing team was a mix of a good, competitive
race day setup coming from crew chief Ed "The Ace" McCulloch and Capps'
driving ability. It included an upset win over Whit Bazemore, the race's
No. 1 qualifier and the hottest driver on the NHRA Winston Series tour.
It ended with Capps getting an automatic win light when Bob Gilbertson
fouled away his chances in the title round. The victory was Capps' 12th
overall, 11th in Funny Car.
The Skoal Racing team swept the two races here. Tommy Johnson Jr. was
victorious in April.
Capps used a superb reaction time, .447 seconds (.400 is perfect),
to stop Bazemore. By leaving the line first, Capps got to the finish
line first on a 4.884- second, 314.02-mph run, beating Bazemore's 4.875
at 317.57.
"I tell you what, that second round against Whit felt like a final
round," said Capps. "I used up so much energy getting ready for that
round. They have been tough in the latter part of the year. But I wanted
it bad and when I got the win light I celebrated like it was a final
round win.
"Bazemore drives one of the best cars out there now, if not the best,
and I knew it was going to be a tough race," added Capps, who defeated
Bazemore in the finals at Brainerd, Minn., earlier this year.
SKUZA UNLEASHES THE 'SPIDERMAN' MOPAR
Dean Skuza took his new Mopar Parts 'Spiderman' Dodge R/T Nitro Funny
Car entry to the fifth slot following the first day of qualifying for
the ACDelco NHRA Nationals at The Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Skuza, who smoked the tires on his first pass, came back strong in
the second round and posted a 4.855-second elapsed time at 315.64 mph.
"We're real pleased with that," Skuza said. "We know that the car has
a lot more in it, but we wanted to make sure that we made the race after
smoking the tires in round one. The guys did a great job with the car."
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| Summit Racing Equipment sponsored teams made
it to the Vegas winners circle twice. Mark Pawuk picked up the win
in Pro Stock returning to his early season form and many time World
Champ Dan Fletcher (above) took the gold in Super Stock. Fletcher
is writing his "My First Time" for an upcoming issue of DRO. |
PAWUK GETS FIRST WIN OF SEASON
Pro Stock driver Mark Pawuk claimed his first victory of the season
driving the Summit Racing Pontiac Grand Am past Tom Hammonds in the
final round. Pawuk became the 15th different winner in the Pro Stock
category this season.
"It just shows how tough this class is," said Pawuk. "Fifteen different
winners in 23 races. It's phenomenal just how competitive this category
is. Unless you're racing against some of these guys, it's hard to comprehend
how difficult it can be just to qualify. Next year it's going to be
even tougher, so I'll take it any way I can get it."
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