Capps, Antonelli’s ‘Throw Down’ Style Has Them Gearing Towards Gainesville

Taking on two roles in any profession can be considered as a steep slope to climb. 

Though when it comes to piloting a Funny Car faster than 300 mph with an engine rattling at the ragged edge down a drag strip, an additional task outside the cockpit adds another layer of difficulty. 

For Ron Capps, 2022 presented a new challenge — becoming a first-time team owner. 

Forming Ron Capps Motorsports, Capps not only conquered the obstacles placed in front of him, he dominated them, as the 57-year-old scored his third NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Funny Car title. 

The achievement came amid the challenges of balancing the owner/driver role. As fellow team owners were left in awe of Capps’ title run, the RCM driver reflected on what the reception was from his peers. 

“A lot of it, I rushed to get to the banquet the next night, the awards ceremony,” Capps recalled. “Most of them were just patting me on the back saying, ‘Man, that was awesome that you ran it down in the final round.’ Because nobody on the grounds thought we were going to make a run, including myself and Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief) until I staged the car.”

In the NHRA Auto Club (Calif.) Finals, despite unofficially clinching the title after punching his ticket to the final round, Capps had to complete his final pass of the year to lock up the championship. 

“That was most from the peers. The usual suspects called, which are always great,” Capps said. “Guys that I consider friends, Del Worsham, John Force, (Tim) Wilkerson, guys like that, that called to congratulate me on what we did. 

“I’m more friends probably with crew chiefs on the grounds of an NHRA race than I am other drivers. That’s usually the people I hang out with, if I go out and have beers with or dinner. So, those are those phone calls that were always fun during the offseason.

“It just reminds me, you forget what we did. Not that I forget that we won a championship, you just forget what we pulled off, which was amazing. It’s fun to get those moments as we go through.”

It certainly was an unforgettable season for Capps, who hoisted five Wallys over the course of the season, including a long-awaited victory in the prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.  

Though one stat from Capps’ magical season flies under the radar — a career-high six No. 1 qualifying runs aboard the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra.

Capps said crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli’s approach to qualifying is different than his previous crew chiefs.

“You gotta look at the crew chiefs I’ve had. I’ve had historic racers as crew chiefs, but old-school,” Capps said. “Roland Leongs, Dale Armstrong, then you go into of course Rahn Tobler. But before that, Ed “The Ace” McCulloch.

“Those guys were all racers. Qualifying’s great, it’s like the drive for show, but for dough. Those guys didn’t care as much. No. 1 was great if they did it in qualifying, but it was all about the points and the round wins on Sunday.”

Earning the No. 1 qualifying spot gave Capps and the RCM team not only an advantage on the track on Sundays, but it allowed them to play mind games with their competitors.

“Guido’s a throw down kind of crew chief. I’ve always admired when (Jack) Beckman drove for him, and he was over at John Force’s with all those cars,” Capps said. “He goes up there like Jimmy Prock, and that is to throw down and hurt feelings, and to put crew chiefs into an uncomfortable position if they have to race you from what they saw your car do, previous to that. I love that.

“But I’ve never had that really with those other crew chiefs in my career. I’ve got a lot of trophies from those other crew chiefs. On top of the trophies now and the big ones from Guido, is the No. 1 hats.

“That’s been something pretty fun to roll up to a qualifying run, last pair knowing if you got bumped from that spot, you have a car that can go up there, and quite possibly will go up there and throw down and steal the pole again. So, It’s always fun to drive a car like that.” 

Capps and Antonelli will look to do more than just throwing down stout qualifying runs this weekend in the season-opening Gatornationals at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway. Capps will be seeking a fifth Gatornationals victory.