Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Funny Car driver Capps gets jollies in IROC car

Thursday, June 5, 2003 | 9:58 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.

NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps spent his past three days off behind the wheel of a racecar -- and had the time of his life.

After testing his Don Prudhomme Racing Skoal Camaro Monday morning at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., Capps headed to nearby Chicagoland Speedway and took part in a three-day International Race of Champions test session that concluded Wednesday. Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta also tested an IROC car.

"I was running back and forth here, running over to the dragstrip testing the Funny Car and then coming over (to the speedway) and putting on the IROC suit and going out and running the IROC car," Capps said Wednesday. "As a racecar driver -- as a kid growing up who loved racing -- that was very cool."

The IROC test session was Capps' second this year and he said he hopes they will lead to him being the first drag racer invited to participate in the all-star series.

"Hopefully it'll happen -- it's looking pretty good," said Capps, who also tested at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this year. "Even if it didn't happen, it has been a real neat experience."

Capps, who is used to running in straight lines over a 5-second period in his Funny Car, said adjusting to running stock cars for prolonged periods of times took some getting used to.

"In drag racing, you get one shot at it (but) this is a little bit different; you get to enjoy it longer," Capps said. "At first, I was having a hard time because my attention span is used to being shorter.

"So when I'm out there -- like Talladega, where we ran 100 miles at a time, or even here where we would have some long runs -- I found myself kind of having to really work hard at concentrating and sustaining that; I'm just not used to that."

Capps likened running a lap under race conditions in a stock car to making four separate quarter-mile runs in his Funny Car.

"In drag racing, you get in there and you do what you do for 4.8 seconds, your adrenaline level flies up, everything just spikes up and then you're done -- you pull the chute and you pull off," he said. "(In stock cars), you get that feeling four times (a lap) -- in each corner."

Nadeau, like Schumacher, is sponsored by the U.S. Army and Schumacher said the two became friends during a goodwill tour at the end of last year to support U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan and Kuwait.

"It was a pleasant surprise to hear from Jerry," Schumacher said. "He sounded good. I thought it was nice that he took time out from his rehabilitation to call me."

Nadeau is recovering from head, lung and rib injuries he suffered in a crash May 2 during a practice session at Richmond International Raceway.

NHRA Junior Dragster competitors also will compete for a special trophy on Saturday afternoon.

"Midnight Mayhem" for street-legal cars will occupy The Strip Friday beginning at 10 p.m. Friday and "Motorcycle Madness" for street-legal bikes will begin at 11 p.m. Saturday.