Video: Ron Capps Okay After Funny Car Explodes at NHRA Northwest Nationals

Veteran NHRA Funny Car racer Ron Capps is fine following a huge engine explosion Sunday during the first round of eliminations at the Northwest Nationals that detonated his carbon-fiber body.

His NAPA Toyota Supra is not.

His budget is not.

But he credited modern safety equipment for his being able to climb uninjured from the car near the top end of the Pacific Raceways course.

“I’m fine. Thank God we’ve got all the new safety stuff in there, especially the head padding, because four or five or six years ago, who knows? John Force, I know you're home watching. What John and his team have done the past surely made that less on my body,” Capps said.

Force, who’s recovering from injuries sustained in a June 23 crash near Richmond, Va., spearheaded safety improvements in the Funny Car class after the 2007 accident that claimed the life of his protégé Eric Medlen and Force’s own devastating wreck at Dallas later that year.

Capps explained the incident from his vantage point, saying, “We were staging the car, and it was [rain]drops, and I was like, ‘Oh boy.’ But I felt like it wasn't a bad enough that we couldn't run. And I know Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] was trying to throw down pretty good. Just shook [the tires] loose. I pedaled it, and I couldn't get it going. I hear Gary [opponent Gary Densham] over there, and I knew he was a little bit in trouble.”

He said he looked out his side window and saw Densham had regained traction.

“I was just trying to get it going again. Nothing crazy. And as I rolled in that last pedal, I've been there before, the explosion, the concussion, and the body's gone,” he said. Then, referring to the stands of Douglas fir that ring the racetrack, he said, “And when I'm seeing these trees around the track, it's not a good thing in a Funny Car.”

At that point, he said, “I was just hanging on. I don't think I've ever had an accident like that, hitting walls. It’s something I don't think I've ever done in my career that bad. So I was just hanging on, trying not to hit hard. And after I hit the right wall, it just went left. I knew I was going to go head-on into the other wall and braced for it. Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] and the guys are great about the padding around my legs that they got from IndyCar and stuff, and I surely probably kept my legs from getting hurt bad. So I just want to get out and let my wife know - at home, I know she's on nhra.com and watching - and my family... Love 'em. But all good.

“I just hate it... God-dang it, because we finally turned the corner. We're running great and just felt so good about today and how we're doing,” Capps said. “And it set us back a little bit, but we've got great race cars. Precision guys [at Precision Built Race Cars, at Brownsburg, Ind.] will get going on another car. We've got to get to Sonoma and get through there but definitely hurt the budget. The owner is a little bummed more than the driver.”

Capps wasn’t the only one who crashed in the opening round of Funny Car competition Sunday. Dave Richards’ Versatran-Bluebird Turf Toyota made a hard right immediately and crossed the center line. It banged into the right-side wall, damaging the right front of the body.

“It just happened so fast,” Richards said. “I hit the gas, and I could tell I was starting to spin the tire. And as soon as I went off, I was straight right. It was just yanking back left. There was nothing I could do. Hopefully the car’s not hurt too bad, but I’m fine. We'll be back. We'll fix the car. We've got other bodies, so most importantly, I'm fine and I'm glad Ron Capps is fine. Life goes on. We'll be back next week.”