SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — While El Cajon native Jimmie Johnson is one of the best of all time in NASCAR, Carlsbad happens to be home to another great San Diego racer, and that would be NHRA Funny Car champion, Ron Capps.
When Capps gets behind the wheel of his car, it's all about speed, and racing down a 1,320 asphalt track all in the blink of an eye.
"Listen, when I put the helmet on, I got to be prepared to go from zero to 330 miles an hour in three point eight seconds."
Talk about being prepared, after a strong final day of racing last week at the NHRA Championships in Pomona, Capps was able to grab the points lead and go on to become the first driver in 20 years to win back-to-back funny car championships.
"With every win and every trophy I get, I pass these heroes of mine. One of those being another North County and San Diego resident Don "The Snake" Prudhomme. To watch myself go past him in the amount of wins and championships, and to see those accolades come is crazy."
For Capps, this championship is extra special, as he doubled as a driver and a first-time team owner.
"On top of being a first-time team owner and driver, to go back-to-back winning championships in 2021 and 2022 is something crazy. It hadn't been done in a long time."
Capps made his racing debut in 1995 and has since won 3 NHRA Funny Car Championships. In his line of work, it's all about the need for speed. He says the question that he is most often asked is what is it like to get behind the wheel of a funny car.
"Zero to 100 miles per hour in less than one second. It's more g-forces than anything on the planet earth except for a fighter pilot. We go 6 g's and when the parachutes come out to slow me down from zero to 337 miles per hour, it's almost 10 g's negative, and that is all going on in less than four seconds."
As proud as he is of winning championships, off the track he takes even greater delight in giving back to the community.
"We do something very cool with A Soldiers Child Foundation, which takes care of kids with parents, moms or dads, that were lost while serving. It has been very fun and very unique to have somebody come out and sort of lose what is going on in their real life for a weekend, and get to hang out with our race team.
