April 25, 2024 • 6 mins
Ron Capps, driver of the No. 1 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car
Ron Capps Motorsports is headed to the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals: April 26-28
The 2024 NHRA season marks Capps’ 30th year competing!
Fans can purchase tickets to the April 26-28 NHRA 4-Wide Nationals online at
charlottemotorspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267). Every ticket is a pit pass, so come
early to see your favorite drivers and their cars up-close before a festival of 44,000 horsepower ignites
the excitement!
Ron Capps Motorsports is headed to the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals: April 26-28
The 2024 NHRA season marks Capps’ 30th year competing!
Fans can purchase tickets to the April 26-28 NHRA 4-Wide Nationals online at
charlottemotorspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267). Every ticket is a pit pass, so come
early to see your favorite drivers and their cars up-close before a festival of 44,000 horsepower ignites
the excitement!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, it's a she Ward.I know my nhr A fans are going
to be excited four Wide Nationals inCharlotte, North Carolina this weekend Z Max
Dragway, and you know we can'thave this event without talking to one of
the greatest of all time around capson the phone with me. How you
doing today, Ron? I'm good. I thought you were going to introduce
somebody else. Any are you kiddingme? That's a great introduction though it
(00:24):
was funny. They were like,well you interview him, and I was
like, well, does he wantto talk to me? Because I are
you sure? We love talking tohim and we love going to Z Max.
We love the four wide, sogood music, four wide, good
drag racing. What goes better?Right? Tell me as a driver,
what is it about the four widethat you like or even don't like?
(00:47):
Oh my gosh, we do ittwice a year, so I don't mind
it. The fans ask us allthe time whether we really like it or
if it's just something we say tothe media and we only do it twice
a year. I mean, there'snot very many racetracks, in fact two
in the world that have four wide, right, and Z Max is one
of them, so I like doingit. It is a completely different animal.
(01:07):
And you know, my teammate andNASCAR, Chase elliott I, used
to tell those guys when I firststarted the four wide, it was like
making Bristol a figure eight or somethinglike that. It's very different from what
we normally do. So we've allkind of gotten used to it. And
listen, people flying from all overthe world for this one race. So
it is definitely creating a lot ofbuzz and uh and I've been lucky enough
(01:29):
to win at it, so it'sdifficult. It's a lot going on.
It's like a video game for us. But once you kind of get it,
it's pretty exciting. You are afour time champion Zmax, so you
kind of have a secret perhaps seethere you go. I mean all these
things I didn't know, and yeah, I listen. I have a great
team obviously been doing it a longtime. But we love I mean,
(01:51):
the one thing about Z Max it'sit's one of premier race tracks. I
mean, they call it the Bolagioof dragstrips, but it is h it's
the greatest place to have an eventlike this, So it's a party.
Every ticket's a pit pass for then HURA, So you buy a ticket,
it's like going to a concert andgoing backstage and hanging out with the
band in between songs. And that'sthe kind of feeling you get n HURA.
(02:12):
I do love that about NHRA too. I mean it's you get to
when you go in the pits andyou see these cars up close and talk
to you guys too. I mean, you're so great with the fans,
spending time with them and pictures thingslike that. It is You're right,
It's just a whole different world forany kind of sports fan. Yeah,
in that area being NASCAR Country.The first time they opened to Zmax,
(02:36):
I'll never forget us walking through withJohn Forrest and you could hear people going,
oh my god, there's the driverright there. Like they didn't have
any idea that they could get thatclose to the driver. So it definitely
created something new for a lot ofthe fans in that area. And of
course, watching on TV all thoseyears, fans never understood the power and
the noise and just the vibration thatgoes on when you see it live.
(03:00):
There's there's not a better ticket,I don't think in the world to bring
somebody out new to see something thatcool. Well, you mentioned NASCAR,
So NASCAR Hall of Famer and threetime Cup champ Tony Stewart is going to
make his first ever top fuel startat Zimax this weekend. I know he's
been around the track obviously, butwhat advice do you have for him?
You know, hang on, hitthe pedal. Yeah, well, Tony's
(03:23):
a good friend. I've known himfor a long time and I don't think
I've ever seen him this happy ata racetrack or this focused. Got to
do a lot of dirt racing withhim in the past. But obviously my
longtime teammate Leah, he ended upmarrying and he just took a to the
drag racing like you couldn't believe.Two weeks ago we had the first four
(03:43):
wide in Vegas and he was inthe final round, so were we.
So I think I think he's gettingit pretty good. He's he's as good
a driver as anybody out there.He's cutting lights like like experienced veterans.
But he's hungry, you can tellit, and so I'm looking forward to
his first win. It's going tobe a big one. He does not
like to do anything halfway. Like, if Tony Stewart gets in a car
(04:05):
or goes to any kind of sportingevent and he is participating, he's in
it to win it. Yeah,there's no doubt. And again I've I've
seen Tony in a lot of differentsituations, a lot of different race cars,
and he's got that focused look.And you know what that means.
When Tony Stewart's that focused about something, you will find a way to win.
You got to pay attention right.Well, you know you said I
(04:27):
knew all these facts about you,know that you set the new funny car
track record last year right at Zeeat the four. I did not know
that either that. Can I haveyou just introduced me everywhere I go?
Yes, I would be glad tobe the town crier in front of you
at Zee Max go out this weekend. Yeah three thirty five? Wow?
(04:49):
So yeah, I do remember thatrun. And yeah, we got a
great toilet asupra, you know,a lot of power, got a great
crew chief, and you got tohave that to run that kind of speed.
How slow does it feel like you'redriving when you're on the interstate?
Very slow? I get asked thata lot. It is pretty I mean
(05:11):
look, I've watched you guys allthe time, but until I just said
that out loud, three thirty five, I'm like, what the I mean?
Like, if I could do threethirty five, I could get to
work in like two minutes. Butwell, what's more impressive is we go
zero to one hundred and less thanone second. So we're going one hundred
miles an hour and less than onesecond from a standing stop. That's that's
(05:34):
the impressive part. I did theschool there at Zmax a few years ago,
and I gotta tell you it wasthe most thrilling thing I've ever done.
I mean, and I was doinglike half your speed, right,
but it felt like I was inan airplane. I was going so fast.
So people do not realize how fastit is when you're coming off that
(05:56):
line. I mean, it's crazy, It is absolutely crazy. We're looking
forward to seeing you this weekend night. A fire is on Friday, that's
the Q two Nitro qualifying, andthen as you mentioned, we've got music
and fun, a lot of stuffgoing on for the Speedway Children's charities there
in Charlotte. I got really excitedbecause it's called the four wide Smoked Brisket
(06:17):
tacos race, and I just startedthinking about brisket tacos, you know,
and forgot about racing. How gooddoes that sound? You know? Man?
I can't I was gonna say,I can't eat that before we get
a car. But my god,you just said that. I got to
go find that. I was gonnasay, actually, they haven't told you
yet, but you're gonna have tobe eating a smoke brisket taco while driving
(06:39):
in the four wide. Is anew world. Oh boy, Ron,
thank you so much for your time. You can get tickets now one eight
hundred and four or five five fansof course. You can go to Charlotte
Motorspeedway dot com. And we're we'revery excited. I want to see you
break some more records so I cankeep bragging about you. Okay, you
got it, Angie. We'll seeyou this weekend, all right,
Hello, it's a she Ward.I know my nhr A fans are going
to be excited four Wide Nationals inCharlotte, North Carolina this weekend Z Max
Dragway, and you know we can'thave this event without talking to one of
the greatest of all time around capson the phone with me. How you
doing today, Ron? I'm good. I thought you were going to introduce
somebody else. Any are you kiddingme? That's a great introduction though it
(00:24):
was funny. They were like,well you interview him, and I was
like, well, does he wantto talk to me? Because I are
you sure? We love talking tohim and we love going to Z Max.
We love the four wide, sogood music, four wide, good
drag racing. What goes better?Right? Tell me as a driver,
what is it about the four widethat you like or even don't like?
(00:47):
Oh my gosh, we do ittwice a year, so I don't mind
it. The fans ask us allthe time whether we really like it or
if it's just something we say tothe media and we only do it twice
a year. I mean, there'snot very many racetracks, in fact two
in the world that have four wide, right, and Z Max is one
of them, so I like doingit. It is a completely different animal.
(01:07):
And you know, my teammate andNASCAR, Chase elliott I, used
to tell those guys when I firststarted the four wide, it was like
making Bristol a figure eight or somethinglike that. It's very different from what
we normally do. So we've allkind of gotten used to it. And
listen, people flying from all overthe world for this one race. So
it is definitely creating a lot ofbuzz and uh and I've been lucky enough
(01:29):
to win at it, so it'sdifficult. It's a lot going on.
It's like a video game for us. But once you kind of get it,
it's pretty exciting. You are afour time champion Zmax, so you
kind of have a secret perhaps seethere you go. I mean all these
things I didn't know, and yeah, I listen. I have a great
team obviously been doing it a longtime. But we love I mean,
(01:51):
the one thing about Z Max it'sit's one of premier race tracks. I
mean, they call it the Bolagioof dragstrips, but it is h it's
the greatest place to have an eventlike this, So it's a party.
Every ticket's a pit pass for then HURA, So you buy a ticket,
it's like going to a concert andgoing backstage and hanging out with the
band in between songs. And that'sthe kind of feeling you get n HURA.
(02:12):
I do love that about NHRA too. I mean it's you get to
when you go in the pits andyou see these cars up close and talk
to you guys too. I mean, you're so great with the fans,
spending time with them and pictures thingslike that. It is You're right,
It's just a whole different world forany kind of sports fan. Yeah,
in that area being NASCAR Country.The first time they opened to Zmax,
(02:36):
I'll never forget us walking through withJohn Forrest and you could hear people going,
oh my god, there's the driverright there. Like they didn't have
any idea that they could get thatclose to the driver. So it definitely
created something new for a lot ofthe fans in that area. And of
course, watching on TV all thoseyears, fans never understood the power and
the noise and just the vibration thatgoes on when you see it live.
(03:00):
There's there's not a better ticket,I don't think in the world to bring
somebody out new to see something thatcool. Well, you mentioned NASCAR,
So NASCAR Hall of Famer and threetime Cup champ Tony Stewart is going to
make his first ever top fuel startat Zimax this weekend. I know he's
been around the track obviously, butwhat advice do you have for him?
You know, hang on, hitthe pedal. Yeah, well, Tony's
(03:23):
a good friend. I've known himfor a long time and I don't think
I've ever seen him this happy ata racetrack or this focused. Got to
do a lot of dirt racing withhim in the past. But obviously my
longtime teammate Leah, he ended upmarrying and he just took a to the
drag racing like you couldn't believe.Two weeks ago we had the first four
(03:43):
wide in Vegas and he was inthe final round, so were we.
So I think I think he's gettingit pretty good. He's he's as good
a driver as anybody out there.He's cutting lights like like experienced veterans.
But he's hungry, you can tellit, and so I'm looking forward to
his first win. It's going tobe a big one. He does not
like to do anything halfway. Like, if Tony Stewart gets in a car
(04:05):
or goes to any kind of sportingevent and he is participating, he's in
it to win it. Yeah,there's no doubt. And again I've I've
seen Tony in a lot of differentsituations, a lot of different race cars,
and he's got that focused look.And you know what that means.
When Tony Stewart's that focused about something, you will find a way to win.
You got to pay attention right.Well, you know you said I
(04:27):
knew all these facts about you,know that you set the new funny car
track record last year right at Zeeat the four. I did not know
that either that. Can I haveyou just introduced me everywhere I go?
Yes, I would be glad tobe the town crier in front of you
at Zee Max go out this weekend. Yeah three thirty five? Wow?
(04:49):
So yeah, I do remember thatrun. And yeah, we got a
great toilet asupra, you know,a lot of power, got a great
crew chief, and you got tohave that to run that kind of speed.
How slow does it feel like you'redriving when you're on the interstate?
Very slow? I get asked thata lot. It is pretty I mean
(05:11):
look, I've watched you guys allthe time, but until I just said
that out loud, three thirty five, I'm like, what the I mean?
Like, if I could do threethirty five, I could get to
work in like two minutes. Butwell, what's more impressive is we go
zero to one hundred and less thanone second. So we're going one hundred
miles an hour and less than onesecond from a standing stop. That's that's
(05:34):
the impressive part. I did theschool there at Zmax a few years ago,
and I gotta tell you it wasthe most thrilling thing I've ever done.
I mean, and I was doinglike half your speed, right,
but it felt like I was inan airplane. I was going so fast.
So people do not realize how fastit is when you're coming off that
(05:56):
line. I mean, it's crazy, It is absolutely crazy. We're looking
forward to seeing you this weekend night. A fire is on Friday, that's
the Q two Nitro qualifying, andthen as you mentioned, we've got music
and fun, a lot of stuffgoing on for the Speedway Children's charities there
in Charlotte. I got really excitedbecause it's called the four wide Smoked Brisket
(06:17):
tacos race, and I just startedthinking about brisket tacos, you know,
and forgot about racing. How gooddoes that sound? You know? Man?
I can't I was gonna say,I can't eat that before we get
a car. But my god,you just said that. I got to
go find that. I was gonnasay, actually, they haven't told you
yet, but you're gonna have tobe eating a smoke brisket taco while driving
(06:39):
in the four wide. Is anew world. Oh boy, Ron,
thank you so much for your time. You can get tickets now one eight
hundred and four or five five fansof course. You can go to Charlotte
Motorspeedway dot com. And we're we'revery excited. I want to see you
break some more records so I cankeep bragging about you. Okay, you
got it, Angie. We'll seeyou this weekend, all right,
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