Ron Capps, the NHRA Funny Car point leader, stepped away from his 300-mph-plus hectic lifestyle recently to reflect on his good life, his past experiences and some of life's pleasures he often misses while rushing around the country vying for his first NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series championship and making appearances for his sponsor NAPA AUTO PARTS. - Editor

I have slowly been jotting these down while in the air flying to my next appearance for NAPA AUTO PARTS or to the next NHRA race.

I miss ... gritting my teeth and squinting my eyes the last 320 feet on a run wondering if it was gonna make it to the finish line.

I miss ... showing up in our pit area and wondering what was gonna come out of Gary Scelzi's mouth.

Ron Capps, the NHRA Funny Car point leader, stepped away from his 300-mph-plus hectic lifestyle recently to reflect on his good life, his past experiences and some of life's pleasures he often misses while rushing around the country vying for his first NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series championship and making appearances for his sponsor NAPA AUTO PARTS. - Editor

I have slowly been jotting these down while in the air flying to my next appearance for NAPA AUTO PARTS or to the next NHRA race.

I miss ... gritting my teeth and squinting my eyes the last 320 feet on a run wondering if it was gonna make it to the finish line.

I miss ... showing up in our pit area and wondering what was gonna come out of Gary Scelzi's mouth.

I miss ... seeing Scott Kalitta in the lanes and waiting to hear what kind of crap (in a good way) he was gonna give me that day.

I miss ... the sound of Fuel Altereds tipping the can at 100 percent nitro.

I miss ... waking up as a 10-year-old during March Meet weekend at the Rancho Bakersfield Motel and wondering which one of my drag racing heroes I might see in the restaurant that morning.

I miss ... getting to the Rancho Bakersfield at night only to walk around and watch those same heroes working on their cars inside and outside of their hotel rooms ... friggin' awesome if you have seen it.

I miss ... that jukebox that had the Kansas song 'Carry on My Wayward Son' that I played over and over at that same restaurant.

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I miss ... hearing the words of wisdom that Snake always had for me. 

I miss ... the top-end interviews that Al Hofmann did when he battled with John Force for those few years.

I miss ... racing Connie Kalitta in Top Fuel my rookie year and looking over at him as I was about to get in the car only to see him look at me and then proceed to spit a loogie in my direction ... wanna talk about intimidation?

I miss ... my rides to the track every morning with Roland Leong as we talked about the night before.

I miss ... the sound of fuel car burnouts without throttle stops.

I miss ... match racing with Force in Spokane the weekend after our Seattle race ... some of the best times of my life.

I miss ... having to call the 1-900 number and pay my $2 to hear Dave McClelland give the 'up-to-the-minute' results from the national events.

I miss ... hanging out with the Top Alcohol racers after the day was over ... some of the best barbeques ever.

I miss ... getting my new Revell Top Fuel or Funny Car model as a kid and tearing the box open and laying out the newspaper to put it together.

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I miss ... still cheering as a kid for the underdog front-motored Top Fuel dragsters, very few of which remain, hoping they could beat the 'new' rear-engine dragsters.

I miss ... watching Willie Borsch driving a Fuel Altered with one hand. 

I miss ... standing at Big Daddy's ropes watching him limp around with half a foot while he worked on his Top Fuel car.

I miss ... waking up on Sunday morning as a kid and going to the Santa Maria dragstrip and crewing on my dad's Altered.

I miss ... when the shutdown area was a place a driver could say and do what he/she wanted and didn't have to worry about it being on the Internet or TV.

I miss ... I miss ... Fremont … drag strip.

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I miss ... the guitar lessons from David Grubnic after qualifying was over.

I miss ... watching the 'Diamond Dave' super-short Top Fuel Dragster hike up the front end for the first 200 feet of a run at Pomona every year.

I miss ... seeing Porky the Pirate ... some of you know what I am talking about.

I miss ... being able to work on the car.

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