NHRA over NASCAR: Capps beats Waltrip

Funny Car driver Ron Capps, driving a Super Comp dragster, got the best of NAPA Auto Parts teammate Thursday in a heads-up drag race at zMax Dragway near Charlotte, N.C.

Funny Car driver Ron Capps held up the reputation of the NHRA today by defeating fellow NAPA Auto Parts driver Michael Waltrip of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in a heads-up drag race on the newly-built zMax Dragway near Charlotte, N.C., site of this weekend's Carolina Nationals.
Capps, driving a 500-horsepowered Super Comp dragster rolled to a 9.85-second at 115.14 mph to defeat Waltrip, who drove his NAPA Toyota Camry stock car to a time of 11.21 at 79.38 mph.
Waltrip encountered problems near the finish line, and struck the retaining wall, but was uninjured and the car slightly damaged.
"It was a fun thing," said Capps, one of 10 Funny Car drivers who begin their quest for the NHRA's Countdown to 1 playoffs at this weekend's event. "It was scheduled originally that we were going to do a little match race. It got so serious that Michael actually brought one of his real Cup cars. So we were trying to up him a little bit by getting a Super Comp dragster, because I didn't want to show up to a gunfight with a knife. And I didn't want to get beat by Michael at our own game.
"In Michael's defense, he gave it his all, but they hadn't sprayed the track (with traction compound) and both he and I were fighting for traction. I kept seeing him out the window and I was so surprised when I looked out the corner of my eye that he was still out in front of me. And I thought, Uh, oh, this car is fast over here, I'd better stay in the gas, and luckily I got by him because I think the excitement started happening over in his lane right when I went past him."