The NAPA Auto Parts store in Lihue will be hosting a meet and greet with National Hot Rod Association funny car racer Ron Capps from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday. This will be the 20-year drag racing veteran’s first
The NAPA Auto Parts store in Lihue will be hosting a meet and greet with National Hot Rod Association funny car racer Ron Capps from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
This will be the 20-year drag racing veteran’s first trip to Kauai.
“The Hawaiian trip we do every year is crazy. Drag racing is so big in Hawaii. They’re absolutely fanatic about drag racing,” Capps said about the fans he meets on Hawaii. “It blows my mind that (drag racing is big in) these islands in the middle of the ocean.”
His tour around Hawaii starts in Honolulu on Friday. He’ll be making stops to Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
“It tells you how good our sport is,” Capps said. “That’s what great. By going to different islands, I’ve been kind of adopted by the locals.”
Capps has received the local treatment, too.
“I’d even go to their houses and barbecue with them,” he said. “It’s been cool.”
The NHRA racer grew up around the sport as his father raced as a hobby.
“The fact that I get to do it for a living, it morphed into this cool thing,” he said.
Though he has years experience in the sport, Capps added one of the best things about doing these tours is meeting long-time fans who can tell him about drag racing from before he was old enough to get behind the wheel.
“They could tell me exactly what happened back then,” he said. “They could tell you a lot of the history about the sport.”
