Funny Car driver Ron Capps loves coming to Thunder Valley. After all, Bristol Dragway has been hosting an NHRA National event since 1965, which is the same year the San Luis Obispo driver was born. The NAPA Funny Car pilot now ranks second all time in Funny Car wins with 58 and earned a Wally for Top Fuel dragster back in 1995. Moreover, Capps secured his first victory of the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The win was Capps fifth at Bristol Raceway and his second consecutive breaking a tie for totals wins he had shared with John Force. Capps only qualified 11th overall for the event but wasted no time in eliminating three Funny Car greats, John Force, Robert Hight and J.R. Todd, on his path to the final round.
Capps secured Schumacher's milestone 300th nitro team win with a 4.234-second pass over runner up Bob Tasca III. Not to be out done (or out run), Top Fuel pilot Tony Schumacher handed his dad his 301st win when Mike Salinas went up in smoke during the final round. However, the blown engine likely would not have mattered as Schumacher's winning run of 3.946-seconds at 313.58 mph resulted in his sixth career victory at Thunder Valley in eight final-round attempts. Schumacher qualified second before defeating Terry McMillen, Pat Dakin and points leader Steve Torrence on his way to victory. Mike Salinas qualified eighth and took down Leah Pritchett, top qualifier Clay Millican and Scott Palmer to secure the first runner-up finish of his career.
In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin Jr. became the third driver to earn two victories in the Pro Stock division of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series. It was Coughlin's 60th Wally in the class. It was the second time this season that the Pro Stock points leader finished in second place with Coughlin's JEGS.com/Elite Performance Camaro edging Anderson by .032 seconds at the line. Coughlin ran a 6.709 ET at 205.10 mph to defeat Anderson with a 6.741-second pass at 205.07 mph. In the 2018 E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Drag Racing Series, Khalid alBalooshi put the Bahrain 1 Chevy Camaro in the winner's circle for the first time this season. Now, teams and drivers head north for the June 21-24 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, OH.
