Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Capps gets out of line, takes spin in IROC car

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Ron Capps, who is used to driving in a straight line on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing circuit, got a chance to race in circles Tuesday when he tested an International Race of Champions car at Talladega Superspeedway.

Capps, driver of the Don Prudhomme's Skoal Green Racing Funny Car, hopes the test will lead to an invitation to race in IROC next season. Capps would be the first NHRA driver to compete in the all-star series.

Capps put in about 58 laps Tuesday on the 2.66-mile superspeedway and got the car up to 180 mph in about 10 laps.

"I'm in the car and the radios are hooked up together and (test driver Andy) Hillenburg and I are having a conversation at 180 mph about how he wants me to pull up closer to him," Capps said. "I said, 'Andy, are you sure about this?' I had only been out there about 10 laps.

"We were going wide open and he had me following him all over the place. We ran down around the apron for a few laps and then he said we were going to explore other parts of the racetrack and before you know it, he had me running 180 miles an hour, about a foot away from the wall. If that doesn't get your heart pumped, I don't know what will."

Capps, who is second in Funny Car points coming into this weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, also had a chance to run in a four-car draft with IROC competitors Felipe Giaffone and Danny Lasoski and test driver Dick Trickle. Capps was last in line and drafting with Trickle when the former Winston Cup driver shot up to the wall between Turns 1 and 2 to pass Giaffone and Lasoski.

"Man, was that unbelievable," Capps said. "I started to go with (Trickle) and then quickly remembered I'm not that good yet. It was exactly like 'Days of Thunder.' "

Capps was to test again on Wednesday before heading to Las Vegas today to prepare for the Las Vegas NHRA race.

Cowin, 23, and the Carrier Boyz Racing team had planned to race this weekend in Las Vegas but now are scheduled to return to the NHRA circuit at Bristol Dragway later this month.

"Andrew has two more appointments with his doctors but they told him if he continues to recover the way he is, there is no reason he can't resume doing what he was doing before the accident," said Kay King, the team's publicist.

Cowin's doctors told him that only one in 100 patients recover from this type of injury. Cowin initially was listed in critical condition and placed on life support when he was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday after falling nearly 15 feet and landing on his head. Cowin had climbed on a crane to take pictures outside his hotel when he fell.

"She will be missed," Schumacher said of his mother. "She was a great fan of the sport and a tremendous supporter of the team. She attended many of our races. I'm happy she was able to see us win the U.S. Nationals last year.

"Hopefully, we can get her a victory this weekend."

Schumacher, driver of the United States Army-sponsored dragster and the 1999 Top Fuel champion, was the runner-up to Larry Dixon in Las Vegas last fall. In last year's spring race, Schumacher lost to Dixon in the semifinals.