EPPING, N.H. — Not often does a heavyweight fight happen in the first round of an NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event.
However, a sold-out crowd at New England Dragway was treated to just that in the early afternoon as three-time Funny Car champion Ron Capps faced off against four-time champ Matt Hagan.
The two sides entered the matchup with two extremely different seasons. For Hagan, the Tony Stewart Racing driver was fresh off two straight victories and leading the standings after six races.
On the other side of the coin, Capps, who has won two of the last three championships in Funny Car, has been struggling to find a rhythm due to growing pains of building a better race car.
All bets were off, as Capps cleanly kept his car steady while Hagan, a four-time New England Nationals event winner, hazed the tires halfway down the track.
Rolling into Epping, Hagan sported a handlebar mustache as his good luck charm. The reason? Every victory at the track came hand-in-hand with the mustache.
Capps, however, broke the ‘stache streak.
“I was reading all the stuff about his mustache and how every time he’s grown that mustache, he’s won here,” Capps laughed.
“That was big. Overall, it’s a great team. Obviously, reigning world champions. Very good with what they do. We know, anytime we’re gonna run for a championship, that team, you’re gonna have to go through.”
Capps also mentioned how difficult of a round it was due to the lack of lane choice.
“To beat them first round, not have lane choice, that was the other big deal,” Capps said. “We were the only car to go down the left lane like that. Another big feather in the cap to Guido and our NAPA Auto Care team.
“I’m very encouraged.”
Capps’ climb toward another Wally, however, was cut short due to a second-round loss to Daniel Wilkerson.
The 58-year-old noted how temperature played a major factor in his runs throughout the weekend as it continues to heat up with summer arriving.
In addition, an ever-evolving setup he and crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli have been tuning is a continued work in progress.
“We got a new setup we’re working on,” Capps said. “It makes more power, and that’s the idea. This time of the year, we’re going to these tracks that are going to be literally, today, the track surface was 130 degrees.
“Which is insane to think about a 12,000 horsepower, nitro Funny Car trying to get those Goodyears planted. We made great progress yesterday in the heat. Saturday, great qualifying runs.”
The problem may not be fully solved yet. However, Capps believes he and his Ron Capps Motorsports team will be hitting the sweet spot in short order.
“I haven’t talked to Guido (Antonelli), my crew chief, but I believe it just, had a brand new supercharger on it, probably made a little more power than he wanted,” Capps began. “And again, the track was close to 130 degrees.
“We are going to Bristol (Tenn.) next weekend, it’ll be much like this, and then Norwalk, Ohio. And then through the summer months, we’re gonna see these conditions.
“So, overall, pretty happy.”