Funny Car team owner and driver Ron Capps, center, speaks with team manager Paul Mecca, left, as they discuss where to place sponsor stickers on his hot rod in the pits at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Pomona Raceway. Capps, who raced for Don Schumacher Racing for the past 17 seasons, is in the first year of running his own team. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria warms up her hot rod in the pits prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, from Redlands, climbs out of her dragster after warming it up in the pits prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Justin Ashley, left, speaks with crew members in his pit prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, from Redlands, warms up her dragster in the pits prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Pruett is among the drivers who left Don Schumacher Racing in recent years. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Austin Prock fuels up his dragster in the pits prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Crew chief Del Worsham makes engine adjustments as Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria warms up her hot rod in the pits prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Eight-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher autographs the shirt of Dominic Kell, 5, from Santa Maria, in the pits at the NHRA Winternationals, as his older brother Jaydn, 9, watches on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Schumacher is returning to full-time racing this season after being unable to attain sponsorship the past three seasons. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car team owner and driver Ron Capps, center, speaks with team manager Paul Mecca, left, as they talk about where to place sponsor stickers on his hot rod in the pits at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Pomona Raceway. Capps, who raced for Don Schumacher Racing for the past 17 seasons, is in the first year of running his own team. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car team owner and driver Ron Capps walks out of his trailer carrying racing gear prior to warming up his hot rod in the pits at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Pomona Raceway in Pomona. Capps, who raced for Don Schumacher Racing for the past 17 seasons, is in the first year of running his own team. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Eight-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher does his burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria does her burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, from Redlands, heads down the track during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Eight-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher hits the throttle as he heads down the track during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Defending Funny Car champion Ron Capps does his burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta heads down track during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel drivers Brittany Force (near lane) and defending Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence (far lane) head down the track during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Justin Ashley (near lane) races to the provisional top qualifying position as he races against Mike Salinas, who took the second top position, during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car driver J.R. Todd heads down the track during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, from Redlands, does her burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Defending Funny Car champion Ron Capps (near lane) qualifies against Matt Hagan (far lane) during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson gets sideways on his burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
POMONA — It has been only three months and one week since the NHRA Finals were held at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. The NHRA is now back with its season-opening, four-day event, the Lucas Oil Winternationals. And much has changed.
The sport remains the same – two drivers, side by side, trying to cover 1,000 feet faster than the other. In the Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Camping World series, there are two days of qualifying to determine the seeding for the final-day four elimination rounds that crown the event champions. The elimination rounds are always on a Sunday (although at the 2019 Winternationals, rain caused a one-day postponement).
What is different now is the behind-the-scenes business.
For years, megateams have dominated the sport. Under this system, the drivers’ job is basically to show up wearing a helmet and fire suit and drive. They are also expected to sign autographs, hobnob with sponsors and talk to the media. The money from sponsors and race purses goes to the team owners, with a portion going to the drivers.
But now, a significant number of drivers are going in a different direction, either becoming both driver and team owner or joining another team. In the case where the driver and team owner are one and the same, this means the money goes directly to the driver. But it also means that he or she must handle all of the detail work that comes along with being a team owner.
The hardest hit by this new trend has been Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), a behemoth in the sport since 1998. DSR drivers have compiled 366 trophies and 19 season championships (the NHRA calls them world championships).
DSR enters the 2022 season minus major drivers Antron Brown, Matt Hagan, and Leah Pruett in Top Fuel, and, most recently, 2021 Funny Car national champion Ron Capps. Funny car drivers Tommy Johnson and Jack Beckman Jr. left DSR after the 2020 season. The departures have all been amicable, at least publicly.
Hagan and Pruett are now members of Tony Stewart Racing (TSR). Stewart, the NASCAR legend, is married to Pruett, a native of Redlands.
Veteran motorsports writer Susan Wade of Autoweek asks, “Is DSR becoming a shell of its former self, or is this more of a case of megateams, in general, dying?”
Del Worsham, a past winner in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, left Kalitta Motorsports two years ago to establish a Funny Car team featuring Alexis DeJoria, the daughter of billionaire John Paul DeJoria. John Force Racing, which lost mechanics during the pandemic, had to pare down from four to three drivers but is now back to four with the addition of Austin Prock.
And a good sign for Force Racing came Friday evening when Robert Hight had the fastest time in the one qualifying run with an elapsed time of 3.882 seconds with a top speed of 330.39 mph.
DSR is now down to one major driver, Tony Schumacher, the son of the team owner. Tony said in an interview earlier this week that his father deserves some “fishing time.” Don Schumacher is now 77.
But Tony Schumacher, who is returning to racing full time after three years of a semi-hiatus, also pointed out that most of the former DSR drivers are still associated with DSR. They house their cars in the company’s mammoth 150,000 square-foot shop in Brownsburg, Ind., and buy parts made by Schumacher’s DSM Precision Manufacturing.
“The money now goes directly to the driver-owners and then flows back to us,” Schumacher said.
Capps announced his split in December. In Pomona, while preparing for Friday’s qualifying round, he said: “The timing was perfect for me, particularly since I was coming off a world championship.”
Capps was able to reach a new deal with longtime sponsor Napa Auto Parts, and he also retained his entire crew.
“I couldn’t have scripted it any better,” he said. “The only thing is I have had to learn about health insurance, taxes, invoices and all those kinds of things. Thankfully, my wife Michelle has been a huge help. I could not have done this without her.”
In Top Fuel qualifying Friday evening, 27-year-old Justin Ashley had the fastest time at 3.676 seconds and a top speed of 331.45 mph. This was a far contrast to Ashley’s last Winternationals appearance, when, due to the pandemic, the 2021 event was run during an August heatwave.
Related Articles
Tony Schumacher returns full-time to NHRA at Winternationals
Ashley, of Farmingdale, N.Y., made it all the way to the final elimination round but had to scratch at the starting line because of heat stroke.
“I learned a lesson there,” he said after his qualifying run. “I did not eat and drink properly.”
Tony Schumacher, in his return to full-time racing, burned his tires at the start and did not complete his run. Steve Torrence had the fourth-fastest qualifying time.
In Pro Stock, 38-year-old Erica Enders was the top qualifier with a run of 6.521 seconds and a speed of 210.44 mph.
Two more qualifying runs will be run today, followed by the four elimination rounds on Sunday.
WINTERNATIONALS AT A GLANCE
SATURDAY
9 a.m.: Lower division eliminations
10:45 a.m.: Top Alcohol qualifying; eliminations at 3:15 p.m.
Noon/4 p.m.: Pro Stock qualifying
4:30 p.m. Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying, FS1 (4 a.m. Sunday)
SUNDAY
9 a.m.: Pre-race ceremonies
11 a.m. Pro Stock, Funny Car and Top Fuel eliminations, FS1 (7 p.m.)
