ESPN NHRA

	Capps

When it comes to Memorial Day weekend, most people think of the Indy 500, but the weekend is huge for racing overall. Yeah, you have Indy going on, but we're in Topeka and NASCAR competes at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600. Four years ago, NHRA moved the Topeka race to Memorial Day weekend and I think it was a terrific move because we can take advantage of the holiday weekend and piggyback off the other big races going on.

The fact that it is a three-day weekend makes the Topeka race fun because loads of people come and camp out at the track. It's a really fun atmosphere, kind of like our Indy race on Labor Day Weekend or even the race in Brainerd, Minn. Now that place rocks. Talk about a party. I've also won at Topeka. So, it's always good to go back to a place where you've experienced success. The win was back in 1998 and might actually be the most memorable victory of my career. The final round didn't go off until after midnight because of rain and in the final round my Camaro blew up in the lights and I got the win light over former Funny Car driver Al Hofmann. Talk about a dream victory.

I'm really fired up about the Topeka race this weekend. We made a huge change on Tuesday afternoon announcing that we've rehired Roland Leong as the crew chief for my green Snake Racing Funny Car. Roland tuned my car for 2 ½ years from 1997-1999 and we won seven races and finished second in the points chase in 1998. I was 100-percent behind this move because Roland and I have remained really good friends. We talk often. He's a great guy and should help improve our performance. Roland's first time around, he joined us in May 1997 and we were 15th in points. We went on to win two races and finish fifth in the points standings. I'm confident he'll have that same effect on our car this time around.

For those new fans who don't know about Roland, he's a drag racing legend. He's right up there with my boss Don "the Snake" Prudhomme and Don Garlits with the pioneers of the sport. In fact, Snake's first driving job was with Roland in 1965. They won the U.S. Nationals that year with Roland's Hawaiian dragster.

Last weekend might have been disappointing for my Snake Racing Funny Car on the track, but on Sunday night I got a call from my mom saying that my brother Jon won the Top Alcohol Funny Car title at the Lucas Oil Division Seven race in Bakersfield, Calif. After hearing that, as bad as our weekend was, I felt like I had won the race. I'm so proud of my brother getting his first win. The Lucas Oil Series is drag racing's feeder series. It's sort of like the Busch Series on the NASCAR side.

I went straight from Joliet, Ill., after the race last weekend to Topeka, Kan. I've been doing lots of press stuff and other things to help promote the race. Thursday is a really big deal because the Topeka Country Club is going to be closed and we're having a celebrity golf tournament with the Governor of Kansas, the Mayor of Topeka and other local dignitaries. There also will be a bunch of NHRA stars like Gary Scelzi, Tony Schumacher, John Force and Brandon Bernstein playing with the fans. It will be nice for the drivers to come out and relax before the racing action heats up at Heartland Park.

We only have one weekend off with six races in seven weeks, and one of the downsides of being gone Memorial Day weekend is that I can't spend it with my family. So, next weekend, we'll load up in the motor home and head south on I-5 to hang out in Mission Bay for the weekend and have our own little holiday weekend before I head back out on the road the next three weekends for the NHRA races in Columbus, Ohio, Englishtown, N.J., and St. Louis. It will be nice to hang out on the beach and jump on the watercraft for a couple days.

Right now, I'm focused on Topeka and the weekend's O'Reilly Summer Nationals at Heartland Park because I'm really eager to get behind the wheel of my Snake Racing Chevy and see what kind of numbers we'll post with the Roland Leong tune-up.

Ron Capps drives a Funny Car in the NHRA for Don Prudhomme. He is providing a diary to ESPN.com throughout the 2004 season. The team's Web site can be found at www.snakeracing.com.