Three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps opened the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season in commanding fashion, securing the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.
Capps powered his NAPA Auto Care Funny Car to the top of the field Friday night with a standout run of 3.890 seconds at 334.07 mph, a performance that held through Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions in warm and humid conditions to earn the 38th No. 1 qualifier of his career and his third at the historic facility.
As the only Funny Car team to clock a run in the 3.8-second range, and with their spot in the 16-car field secured after Friday night, crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli and the NAPA team used Saturday’s sessions to gather data and prepare for Sunday’s elimination rounds.
“Our NAPA team, we were quietly getting ready for this season,” Capps said. “We were disappointed with how we ended last year, and we figured out the problem at the end of the season and what was going on with the car, and I could not wait to get here and sure enough, testing the first week and then Tuesday and Wednesday, the car flew, so we knew it was there.
“We ran that 89 Friday night, and that allowed us today to push in what will be similar conditions tomorrow. First round, I bet we’ll see the quickest runs we’ve seen all weekend. Conditions are going to be better than they were Friday night, so if you get past that round, it’ll turn out like today. There were a lot of 4.0s in the heat first round today and Guido was wanting to run a 3.96, and I was like oh if we do that, it’ll be awesome, and the second run, he tried to run 95, so just seeing what the lanes will hold in those conditions if we can get far enough tomorrow. It’s going to be huge moonshots in the morning, and anybody’s game. It’s been fun to see Guido in that whole mindset. It was a lot of hard work in the off-season, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Securing the No. 1 qualifier award wasn’t the only highlight of Capps’ weekend. Before qualifying got underway, he announced the addition of Monster Energy to his Ron Capps Motorsports roster of partners and debuted as a multi-car team owner for the first time with 21-year-old rookie Maddi Gordon driving the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster.
“I knew Maddi would be great, and it’s been such a fun process over the two months we put this together,” Capps said of his new teammate, who earned three bonus points for running low E.T. of the final Top Fuel session (3.797 seconds) and qualified 15th in her professional debut.
“We knew that’s what (crew chief) Rob Flynn was all about. It’s just been baby steps, getting her laps, and when it’s time to turn the wick up, he will. To be able to get down that track today, it was greasy and tricky, but she’s so smooth. I only have to give her advice one time on something and she’s like a sponge. She just picks it up right away. She just came out of an Alcohol Funny Car, and you have to drive the crap out of ‘em. First day of testing we went over all the stuff I think about, and I had one little meeting with her and Rob, and she went out and did exactly everything we talked about, and it was really cool. She’s an incredible talent and there’s some things you just can’t teach.”
Capps will face No. 16 qualifier John Smith on Sunday morning in the first round of eliminations as he pursues the first diamond Wally trophy up for grabs in honor of NHRA’s 75th anniversary season. The 77-time national event winner will attempt to tie his former team owner Don Prudhomme’s five victories at the historic venue when race day begins Sunday at 10 a.m. ET. Capps has seven prior final round appearances at Gainesville Raceway, including last year’s runner-up finish.
