Big Show Funny Car driver Ron Capps just plain loves to drive racecars. At this weekend’s California Hot Rod Reunion he is at the wheel of a AA Funny Car owned by Chuck and Del Worsham. He took time to answer some questions from DRO’s Darr Hawthorne about “nostalgia” racing.

:  How and when did you discover current nitro funny car racing?

Ron Capps: I can remember going to some of the Goodguys races and I think that Larry Huffman's "Soapy Sales" funny car was what sparked the interest. I remember going there and seeing him make an exhibition pass when Goodguys just had the front-motored Top Fuel cars in the show.  When nostalgia funny cars became more popular, you (Hawthorne) put together a deal with Jeff Gaynor, but we couldn't do anything about it because of my affiliation with GM and Chevrolet at the time and Gaynor had a Chrysler 'Cuda. But I had the bug and remember going to the race and watching the funny cars, watching the class grow with Steve Romanazzi's Vega, Larry Pettit in the "Crazy Horse," Bob Godfrey's Vette and Dan Horan's Mustang.

Anyway, when I went to DSR I could drive a Chrysler and we were able to put together a deal to run at the Goodguys Pomona race and I drove Gaynor's car with Dale Pulde tuning it and I really got the bug.  Then going to the March Meet and the California Hot Rod Reunion, those were the events that really got my blood pumping because I grew up going to Famoso Raceway as a kid and it was a double whammy for me: first of all, being able to drive one and being able to spend the weekend at Famoso.

:  You were successful running at the World
Series of Drag Racing at Cordova.

RC: We were involved in an Internet grudge race with Gaynor
and some of the guys in the Midwest and back East. (laughs)
A lot of Internet challenging was going on of who really had
the faster cars, East or West.  And the guys back East
weren't running the same fuel pumps, blowers and not the
same specs, but it was still a pretty good challenge and it
kinda reminded me of going back in time and hearing Garlits
calling out the racers and going to Famoso to race
against all the hitters of the time back in the
Sixties, with Connie Kalitta and everybody
coming together.