ESPN NHRA

	Capps

We're in the Seattle area this weekend -- it's a beautiful location. We're now 154 points ahead of Robert Hight after our runner-up finish to our teammate, Jack Beckman, in Denver. Now we're off the mile-high mountain and down to sea level. It's been raining in Seattle the past couple of days, but the forecast is that it will stop for the weekend. We certainly hope so.

Seattle has always been very good to me. I won here in Top Fuel in 1995, in my rookie year. To go there and beat guys like Kenny Bernstein and Cory McClenathan was unbelievable for a rookie. I was lucky enough to win in Funny Car there in 1998 and I've been close to winning twice since then: I was runner-up to Whit Bazemore in 2001, and again last year when Baze was my Don Schumacher Racing teammate.

It's always a place I look forward to racing at. They've addressed the bumps on the track several times in the past, so it's a lot better now. You always hear the news that they're going to redo the whole place and they've already started, so it's a plus.

It's unique for the NHRA to go to the Seattle area. It's one of the few places we go where the Nextel Cup doesn't, so we're very proud of that. And, for some reason, we always have great mojo at this race.

It's racing back at sea level that makes this such a good event. We've been up on the mountain in Denver and the drivers and crew chiefs are looking forward to good weather conditions. Every time we show up in Seattle we know the power of these nitro engines is probably as high as it's going to get at any circuit we go to, as far as the weather and atmospheric conditions go. It's just a matter of whether or not the track can hold it.

Until last weekend it certainly looked like John Force might not make it into the top eight for the Countdown to the Championship. Well, he proved us skeptics wrong again. With the win in Bristol and a semifinal finish in Denver (he fouled out against Beckman), he's now in ninth, just six points shy of the No. 8 spot.

There have been times in the past when John Force almost had the championship wrapped up going into Seattle, and to imagine him not in the Countdown would be strange. I've been telling people to watch out, because he's the driver you have to look out for. He's coming on strong.

But there are so many good cars, and drivers, that should also be in the Countdown right in front and behind him. Now he's within striking distance of getting in, but he's got to stay in. That's the key. I don't discount him making a run to get into the Countdown. I feel like if we're going to try to win a championship, we have to go through John Force. If he's not in the Countdown, there will surely be an emptiness. Thinking that you're going to try to win a championship down to the wire and not have John Force involved in that championship run would just be wrong.

During qualifying at Denver, at one point it looked like we might run John Force in the first round. It ended up changing, but, when I was asked how big that run would be -- and it was no disrespect to John -- I said I was more worried about Ashley Force and her team and a lot of other teams, because John Force isn't just the only driver to beat anymore. We're great friends -- I get motivated to race him to the hotel in the rental car -- and any time you can beat John Force it is a huge deal, but there's a lot of other great drivers who can be the spoilers in this Countdown.

John Force and crew chief Austin Coil always find a way to scratch back to the top, but I'm not worried about that right now. I'm worried about these other guys, such as Tony Pedregon, Gary Scelzi, Jack Beckman, Cruz Pedregon and Jim Head, and that list just tells you how tough the Funny Car class is. When you imagine that it's not just John Force anymore that you have to worry about, it tells you how many competitive cars and drivers there are.

Wish us luck.

Ron Capps drives the Brut Revolution Dodge Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series and will provide a diary for ESPN.com during the 2007 season.