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Photo by Bob Frye

Ron Capps has won eight rounds of racing in four NHRA national events this year in Don Prudhomme's Copenhagen Camaro Funny Car. It took him 11 races to the same in '97. Yet he doesn't have the Winston points lead; it's a fact he hopes to set straight at the Fram Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Capps is involved in one of the tightest Funny Car title chases in recent years even though only four of 22 races have been completed. He opened the season with a win and led the standings through three events before falling to third. He has 298 points, just four behind leader Cruz Pedregon and two less than runner-up Chuck Etchells. John Force, winner of six straight and seven overall championships, is fourth with 288 points and his teammate, Tony Pedregon, follows at 277.

"I know it's early, but it feels like the end of the season because everyone is biting and scratching for every point," Capps said. "We're just four points out of the lead and I can make that up just in qualifying positions. We're all bunched up."

There's no question Capps is enjoying this. In his second season driving for drag racing legend Prudhomme, Capps didn't mount a championship charge in '97, his first in Funny Car. He and crew chief Roland Leong, who took over last May, did partake in a spirited climb up the standings during the last part of the campaign, moving from 15th in May to fifth in November.

Capps is fond of Atlanta Dragway. He advanced to the Top Fuel final in his first visit in 1995, before losing to Cory McClenathan. He qualified 12th a year ago. This will be Leong's first visit since joining the team on May 10.

During Leong's brief tenure (20 races, counting the non-points Winston Invitational, April 6 at Rockingham, N.C.) as chief tuner, Capps has been a finalist six times, winning three (Madison, Ill., near St. Louis; Sonoma, Calif.; Pomona, Calif., in February).

His latest runner-up came against Cruz Pedregon at Rockingham. Capps qualified second (behind Pedregon) with a 4.894-second, 311.41 mph performance. The time was the second-quickest of his career (4.889 seconds, March 20 at Houston), and the speed indicated Leong had solved some of the fuel system's mechanical mysteries.

"The car shook hard against Cruz and the tires started smoking before I could pedal (the throttle)," Capps recalled. "Roland said he learned at lot about the car during the weekend at Rockingham."

Capps defeated Tim Wilkerson in the first round with a tire-smoking 7.460 seconds and Tony Pedregon in the semifinals with a 4.990.

"We're starting to get to tracks where the weather's warmer and I know the Cope Racing Camaro is going to be running real good. When there's high humidity and the summer sun, Roland has a good tune-up ready."