The adrenaline was flowing at a fevered pitch for Ron Capps. After winning a semi-final match at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, the NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored driver, instead of celebrating a final round berth in a challenging first-half of the season quickly became defensive. He came to the defense of a friend.

Capps had just beaten 16-time champion John Force, who nipped a foam block in the finish line. While others have criticized Force for aggressive driving, Capps dug in his heels and came out in full defense mode for the driver he admits inspired him. 

"Anytime you're racing John Force ... God dangit ... I'm torn, that's my hero over there John Force," Capps said. "He has more Funny Car in him, in just his pinkie than most of us in our whole bodies. It's hard to watch him struggle. It ain't him. I am not saying it's his guys. That guy is one of the best; he's why I became a Funny Car driver. 

"I know not to let it go. You get up there, and you race John Force, I had in my heart that old man is going to get up and bite me. That's what he does; he knows how to get up. It's tough right now. Don't give up on the guy. I'm not."

Blame it on Capps being an old soul.

No, he's not old, but admittedly he'll quickly point out he should have been born about 15 years earlier. Then he would have been racing back in the day when Force was trying desperately to keep himself from being on fire, robbing Peter to pay Paul in order to race, and struggling just to be relevant. 

On this day, Capps was ready to have Force's back. 

Capps was already inspired, legendary Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, another one of his mentors sent a text with a sage bit of advice.  

"I had gotten a text from Don Prudhomme out of the blue at the beginning of the season,  just telling me to be careful and make sure I stick up for those that we should have respect for, no matter what they’re doing on the race track," Capps explained. "And in a roundabout way, I think he was just sort of talking about his end of his driving career, and I think he didn’t come out and say anything."

Prudhomme's motorsports soulmate, the late Tom McEwen, randomly contacted Capps and reiterated the advice. 

"Goose said, ‘You’re the guy out there that needs to stick up [for Force]," Capps conveyed. "Force has carried the sport, he might be having problems, but you’re the guy, you need to carry the flag, and you need to say something." 

Capps shook his head at the irony of the uncoordinated and unsolicited advice. 

"It was less than a week apart that these out of the blue comments came from those guys," Capps explained. "It just tells you the kind of respect I have for them but the fact that they knew that they could say something to me and I would understand it. Snake didn’t have to elaborate, it was enough said, and I told him, ‘Okay, got it."

Capps understands he's lived a sheltered life of sorts in the fuel ranks, having driven for Prudhomme for nine years, and then Don Schumacher for another 13. 

To whom much is given, much is expected.

Understanding how to heed the advice of the legends, Capps believes, is what put him in the position, to begin with. 

"I think it’s mostly because I kept my mouth shut and listened to these guys and I didn’t overstep my boundaries," Capps said. "I didn’t talk when I wasn’t supposed to; I didn’t talk unless I was spoken to. When you’re around these legends, you’ve got to know your place."

That day in Chicago, Capps knew his place.