Ron Capps Rallies from Fiery Explosion to Win NHRA Funny Car Trophy at Phoenix
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The Firebird Motorsports Park dragstrip at Chandler, Arizona, was blistering hot enough already all weekend, with the surface temperature soaring to as high as 150 degrees. But it got even hotter for Ron Capps during final eliminations at the NHRA’s FMP Arizona Nationals.
The Funny Car owner-driver escaped unscathed Sunday after his engine exploded in a ball of flames after the finish line in his quarterfinal victory against Daniel Wilkerson. His NAPA Auto Care entry wiggled a bit, then blew up, cracked the body, and flattened the headers against the right-side guard wall.
Shortly afterward he exited the car on his own power, Capps questioned whether the costly round-win was worth it. By the end of the day, he decided it was. Capps earned his 78th career triumph, defeating 2025 Phoenix winner Paul Lee in the semifinals and Spencer Hyde in the final. Hyde was seeking his first victory in three final-round appearances.
It was Capps’ fourth victory at Phoenix, where he also has been runner-up five times.
Lee, last year’s winner here, graciously waited for the struggling Capps team to repair the car and get to the starting line. And Capps—after extra help from several rival teams—won their semifinal face-off. In his 165th final round, Capps beat Hyde to inch closer to the 1,000th round-win plateau. He’s just 57 more round-wins away from the milestone.
Ron Capps.MARC GEWERTZLike Pro Stock winner Dallas Glenn, who won against KB Titan Racing teammate Cody Coughlin, Capps oohed and aahed over the trophy: “Oh, its’ so heavy. And this is the coveted one right here, man. Snake [Don Prudhomme, his former boss and the NHRA legend] was here all weekend. I mean, just think of the legacy and what's gone into this. This is unbelievable. You want to just take these and chop them all up in a thousand, 6,000, different [pieces to share with those who have contributed to his success]. This is so awesome to win here. I can't even get over this thing. This is awesome.”
Glenn gushed over the NHRA 75th anniversary diamond “Wally” trophy and said, “I really wanted one of these diamond Wallys. Aren’t these things cool? Look at this.”
He didn’t have to wait long to claim one of his own. His defeat of Coughlin for his 22nd career victory was a rematch of the September 2025 Countdown-opening Pro Stock final at Reading, Pennsylvania. Glenn won that one, as well.
“Everybody at KB Titan Racing, they’ve had this car on rails today. This thing has been… glued to the track. It’s hot. It’s tricky out here. I don’t know how I got a [.0]27 out of that,” Glenn said, referring to his stellar reaction time against Coughlin’s equally outstanding .030 light. “It’s not easy to cut a light right now. This feels good.”
Shawn Langdon records ‘three-peat’
After spoiling Leah Pruett’s second race back from a maternity hiatus at Sunday’s FMP Arizona Nationals, Shawn Langdon threw all the credit to crew chief Brian Husen and his Kalitta Air Dragster team for making his third-consecutive triumph at Firebird Motorsports Park a reality.
NHRA“Honestly, it’s all about the team you surround yourself with,” Langdon said, as his weekend began with a safety-box malfunction in the first of four qualifying sessions. He rebounded to earn the No. 1 qualifying position and parlayed that into four elimination round-wins Sunday and a 22nd career victory.
“We got behind the eight ball, but Brian Husen and the whole team, everybody at Kalitta Air, we got a great group behind us. We knew it was going to be a good final. We got a pretty good run here going on in Phoenix,” Langdon said, “so we might need to talk to the NHRA about putting on a second one now. To win three-straight here is a credit to my team.
“Brian and the guys have done such a great job over the last three years. It’s cool to be able to have a track like that where you have a lot of confidence. It’s all Brian. I just I hold the steering wheel straight. It’s Brian’s work ethic, his determination, and his passion for the sport. He’s made everybody better. For him, it’s always in the details. I just try to leave on time and hold the steering wheel straight and just let Brian’s talent speak for itself,” he said.
“Luckily, the driver gets to go into the air conditioning and put a towel over his head, but the crew guys don’t get that luxury. This one is definitely for them. They battled the heat, did a great job with it, and the car was great all day today. Some little issues with the car popped up throughout the day, and the cool thing about being a part of this team is that even though you won the race, they’re still looking at the finer details. Brian demands perfection. If the car’s not perfect, we’re gonna make it perfect so we’re staying to test tomorrow, even though we won the race, to try to make the car better for Pomona.”
The series heads west to Southern California’s In ‘N’ Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip for the third of 20 races this season
Hobbling Justin Bond gets ‘miracle win’
Three weeks ago, Pro Mod driver Justin Bond suffered a broken ankle, run over by his own race car at a non-NHRA event at Orlando. He ditched the crutches and got back in his race car, came to Chandler, Ariz., and won Sunday’s FMP Arizona Nationals.
“It’s a major miracle to be here,” the Canadian businessman from Mission, British Columbia, said.
He said he “sucked all day” and gave full credit to his team for his seventh triumph: “I had a real awesome car.”
Justin Bond.NHRABond also had a tricky strategy that paid off. He said he “tried to rush” final-round opponent Stevie “Fast” Jackson at the starting line – “and it worked.” Something uncharacteristically wonky happened on Jackson’s launch, and he was charged with an ugly -.146 foul start, while Bond registered a winning 5.736-second elapsed time at 251.81 mph.
Bond’s company, JBS Equipment, is the NHRA Pro Mod Seirs sponsor this season. “I love this class. This is our golf. This is our fishing. This is it. You can’t always take from the sport. This is my way of contributing.” And he received a diamond specialty trophy in return Sunday.