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Ron Capps Motorsports Post-Race Recap: Martin, Mich.

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Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR
Event 15 of 20
Countdown event 1 of 6
US 131 Motorsports Park
Martin, Mich.
Sept. 18 – 20, 2026

By: Ron Capps Motorsports (Photos Courtesy Ron Capps Motorsports)

Ron Capps Sets New Career-Best Speed at NHRA Great Lakes Nationals

MARTIN, Mich. (Sept. 21, 2026) – Three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps opened the 2026 NHRA Countdown to the Championship with a career-best speed of 339.37 mph in the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car during Monday eliminations at the inaugural NHRA Great Lakes Nationals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park. Capps paired the milestone speed with a 3.859-second pass to defeat Chad Green in the opening round before tire smoke ended his day in the quarterfinals. The early exit moved Capps from second to fourth in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car standings after the first of six playoff races.

Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli quickly acclimated to the unfamiliar track surface, as Capps used a 3.947-second pass at 331.13 mph to charge to the provisional No. 4 spot in the first qualifying session. He improved to a 3.930 E.T. at 326.80 mph in Friday’s second session to go into Saturday in the No. 7 position. Tire shake followed in the third qualifying session, but Capps bounced back in the final qualifying session with his quickest pass of the weekend to that point, a 3.899-second pass at 336.07 mph.

Capps went into Sunday eliminations in the No. 7 spot ready to take on Chad Green, but persistent rain forced NHRA officials to postpone eliminations to Monday morning. The wait was worth it for Capps, who set a new career-best speed with his 3.859-second pass at 339.37 mph to defeat Green. In the second round, Capps moved first against past world champion Jack Beckman, but he lost traction almost as soon as he hit the throttle, while Beckman advanced to the semifinals.

“What a great track to start the Countdown to the Championship with,” said Capps, who now sits just over three competition rounds out of first place. “Even when it was raining, the fans kept pouring in. And then with the rainout, we came back to run the finals today on Monday and still had a huge crowd. So, that was pretty cool.

“I always brag about Guido being able to adapt to different conditions, and we saw that this weekend. Every qualifying session seemed to have different conditions. We did a good job of qualifying, and I ran the top speed of my career first round today. Unfortunately, we went out second round, but the good thing is, we’re headed to Rockingham in a few days, another track where a lot of racers haven’t been before. I have some good memories there from early in my career, so I’m looking forward to going back and really excited for all the drivers, like Maddi, who have never raced there and have only heard the stories. I think a lot of the racers are going to be surprised by the fanbase there. We’ve got a lot of guests coming out, and a surprise partner coming on board with NAPA Auto Parts next weekend. We’re looking forward to it and I can’t wait to see all the fans at Thurday night’s Fanfest.”

The NHRA Countdown to the Championship continues Sept. 25-27 at the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina. Like U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, Rockingham is a new stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule.

Qualified: No. 7 (3.899 E.T. at 336.07 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.859 E.T. at 339.37 MPH defeated Chad Green 12.123 E.T. at 80.83 MPH
E2: 7.056 E.T. at 104.26 MPH defeated by Jack Beckman 3.841 E.T. at 334.08 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):

1Matt Hagan2208
2Jordan Vandergriff2185
3Jack Beckman2154
4Ron Capps2145
5J.R. Todd2139
6Austin Prock2099
7Alexis DeJoria2088
8Dan Wilkerson2069
9Chad Green2055
10Spencer Hyde2033
11Dave Richards2022
12Cruz Pedregon2018
Maddi Gordon Takes Positives from Inaugural NHRA Great Lakes Nationals

MARTIN, Mich. (Sept. 21, 2026) – Maddi Gordon continued to make strides behind the wheel of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster during the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by Mopar at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, the opening race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Gordon qualified No. 13 before drawing points leader and eventual race winner Shawn Langdon in Monday’s rain-delayed first round, where the rookie delivered a .018-second reaction time to leave first before losing traction. Though the early exit wasn’t the start Gordon and the Ron Capps Motorsports team wanted for the six-race playoffs, the weekend provided another valuable set of lessons as they move on to the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule.

Without any data at U.S. 131, Gordon and crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching went into Friday’s first qualifying session wanting to establish a solid baseline. They accomplished that with a 3.832-second pass at 318.70 mph to sit No. 10. Gordon lost traction early in her second qualifying attempt and ended the day No. 14. She moved up a few spots to No. 11 in the third qualifying session on Saturday, posting a 3.746 E.T. at 336.57 mph. Gordon then ran into mechanical issues in the final session and locked in the No. 13 position going into eliminations.

After persistent rain pushed eliminations into Monday, Gordon staged up next to former world champ Shawn Langdon in the first round. Gordon, who’s been focused on honing in on her driving abilities over the course of her rookie season, cut a .018-second reaction time to leave first ahead of Langdon. Gordon drove into nearly instantaneous tire smoke, though, and had to watch as Langdon charged ahead to get the round win.

“The first race of the Countdown definitely did not go the way we were hoping,” said Gordon, who carried increased OKUMA branding on her Carlyle Tools dragster this weekend. “We struggled a bit in qualifying, so we had to race Shawn Langdon, which is definitely not the optimal opponent for our first-round matchup. He ended up running the quickest run of the entire year against us, so we would have had to run a career-best E.T. and career-best speed to win that race. We were pushing pretty hard, but we had a little too much in the tank and ended up shaking the tires right at the starting line. But on a positive note, I got off the starting line ahead of Langdon, which is exciting as a driver. That was a different pedal job than I’ve ever done before, a new learning experience, so I’ll take that knowledge with me as a driver, and our crew chiefs will take the knowledge that we learned at this race, and we’ll go to the next race and we’ll try again.”

Another new stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the NHRA Nationals at The Rock, is next up for eighth-ranked Gordon and the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel team. Set for Sept. 25-27 at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina, it’s the 16th of 20 races on the schedule.

Qualified: No. 13 (3.746 E.T. at 336.57 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 4.861 E.T. at 171.17 MPH defeated by Shawn Langdon 3.652 E.T. at 344.04 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):

1Shawn Langdon2217
2Doug Kalitta2206
3Tony Stewart2138
4Antron Brown2115
5Leah Pruett2112
6Josh Hart2093
7Billy Torrence2077
8Maddi Gordon2074
9Justin Ashley2046
10Will Smith2046
11Clay Millican2037
12Tony Schumacher2013