Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Capps wary of Force in LV Funny Car competition

Thursday, March 27, 2003 | 9:35 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.

John Force had first-round losses in two of the season's first three NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series events and is an uncharacteristic 12th in the Funny Car points standings heading into next weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Force may be down, but fellow Funny Car driver Ron Capps isn't counting out the 12-time NHRA champion.

"There are guys that say, 'We've got him where we want him' or 'He's down on the ropes,' but you can't count Force out because he'll come back and bite you," Capps said. "I've learned my lesson."

Capps, who is second in Funny Car points behind Force teammate Gary Densham, has finished second to Force in the final standings on two occasions (1998 and 2000) and said he has learned to pay attention to his own team rather than worrying about what the competition is doing.

"You've just got to go out and race your race," Capps said. "It's great to gain this amount of points and put them in the bank on (Force) because you know he's going to be there at the end, but I'm more worried about some of the other cars. My teammate, Tommy Johnson, Tony Pedregon ... there are other cars to worry about now besides Force -- it's weird to say that but it's true."

Capps, whose Don Prudhomme-owned Skoal Racing Camaro exploded during the first-round of eliminations two weeks ago at the Gatornationals, said he is looking to next week's race at The Strip, where he won the fall NHRA event in 2001.

"I love coming there," Capps said. "I've won there and Tommy has won there ... it's a great place for us."

Drivers who are scheduled to attend the free session include Warren Johnson, Darrell Russell, Tony Schumacher, Mark Pawuk, Rhonda Hartman-Smith, John Smith, Jim Yates, Del Worsham, Johnny Gray, David Baca, Mark Whisnant, Greg Anderson and Terry Haddock. Schumacher's U.S. Army-sponsored Top Fuel dragster also will be on display.

Following an extensive investigation and re-evaluation by NHRA tech officials, who visited Johnson's shop in Birmingham, Ala. last week, it was determined that Johnson's engine did not exceed the specifications for two-valve engines.

"After the event, NHRA officials had some questions regarding the engine measurements we had observed and recorded," Cary Menard, NHRA's vice president of technical administration, said.

"The results of the investigation determined that the device used at the event to measure the engine displacement registered a false reading, despite verifying calibration of the device at the event. As such, the engine was legal at the time Johnson was participating."

Johnson has been awarded the championship points he would have earned at the event as a qualified first-round participant. He now has 32 points and is tied for 10th place in the Pro Stock Bike standings.

The service is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Hughes Center near Paradise Road and Flamingo Road, in the park on the north side of the Wells Fargo tower.

Tomlinson, who drove the 1971 Ford Thunderbird "Bird of Prey" in the Pro division at The Strip, died Sunday in a local hospital. He had been hospitalized since March 10 following a choking incident at a Las Vegas restaurant.