“It was a great weekend,” Capano said of the Cajun Nationals. “We had extra help with my wife’s father with us that weekend. We really needed him. We’re a small team and we were struggling to get the car ready after each round, but the car was consistently getting faster and faster. How can I say it was not a great weekend? We won, which was awesome. This was our first final and first win. We were ecstatic.

“We’ve been really working on the suspension of the car, trying to get it to go down the race track,” Capano continued. “If you watch, our car goes straight down the track now. We’re always trying to make engine modifications to get more power. It’s a struggle every weekend to keep up with everybody else. There are a lot of big teams, and we’re such a small team. So we’re always trying to find every little bit of power we can.”

Although Gerry Capano may be the star, he’s only one-third of the Split Racing Team. His son, Gianni, competes in PDRA Top Junior Dragster and his wife, Heather, has her Top Dragster competition license and is currently earning seat time at local bracket races before making her PDRA debut.

“My son was ecstatic [about the win],” Capano told. “He loved holding the trophy. It’s going to be awesome for him when he wins, because it’s coming. I really want him to have his own trophy. But he’s happy for us because he sees how much we sacrifice to do what we do. I can’t wait for him and Heather both to have their own trophies.

“Heather loves being behind the wheel. We got home late one night from the NHRA race in Atlanta, and the first thing she did was go out to the garage and kiss the wing of her dragster. She calls her car Denise and she said to me, ‘Boy I sure missed Denise.’ I'm the one that’s holding her back because I want her to have seat time before she races nationally. I want her to be safe. It’s more important to me for her to be safe than to be fast. So once we feel she’s comfortable behind the wheel we’re going to have her debut in PDRA Top Dragster. She’s doing real good and we’re learning a lot together about bracket racing, which is new to me. I’ve always been a heads up racer.

“Our team is definitely a family affair. If I couldn’t bring my family, I wouldn’t go.”

This racing family from Greenville, Delaware spends most weekends at the track and wouldn’t have it any other way. Although they are a small, family team, Capano points to several others who help them compete on a national level.

“We work with HE&M Saws out of Pryor, Oklahoma. They’re a really nice, family-operated company, great people to work with. We also work with Amalie Motor Oil. Terry McMillen has been very nice to us, as well as Jim Walczak. They like to help us because we’re so small. We buy all our motor components from Brad Anderson Enterprise. They are awesome. They’re always striving to make the best stuff. Our newest sponsor is Modern Outlaw Apparel. They have helped us get the first Pro Mod shirt for sale on the midway at NHRA. They helped us with a new design that has Heather pulling me into the beams on the back of the shirt. It’s really cool. That shirt is also for sale on our website at www.splitracing.com. We now have a web store, which is really cool for us. My brother, Joe Capano, with Capano homes helps me out a little bit as well. Heather’s step dad, Robert Mirante, makes all our decals at home. He and Leroy Dewdney are our home team. Not everyone can travel with us, but I appreciate the help at home.

“I would like to thank my team,” Capano continued. “My wife Heather works really hard. She keeps us all organized. She’s very involved in tuning the car. She does everything from cook for all of us to take weather samples and change jets. She’s really involved. I could not race without her. She is my co-crew chief. My other crew chief is Chris Cheek from Cheek Performance in Fredericksburg, Va. He’s a fabricator by trade and he prides himself on being a ‘can do’ guy. He would rather fix something than go buy something new, which saves me money. Our diver is Casey Leavell. He’s a 21 year old kid from Maryland. He just loves racing. He’s learning more and more every day. Every task I give him he has no problem doing. He’s got a great attitude. He loves being at the drag strip. My son, Gianni, will be 10 this June. He travels with us all over the country racing and still makes good grades. We’re proud of him. My team is small. We work real hard and try our best. We’re having a lot of fun and we really enjoy what we do. We are very blessed to have the opportunity to do this.

“I really want to thank the PDRA for giving us the opportunity to race there,” Capano concluded. “It’s a great organization. I think it’s getting better and better. I’m glad I got in on the ground floor and raced the first season. I was in the top 10 the first year and I hope to improve on that this year. I really feel blessed to race the PDRA. I like the guys I race with. I like the guys that run the organization. The Traction Twins do an awesome job with the track. It’s all good.

“Now we’re looking forward to going to St. Louis!”


ABOUT THE PDRA
Based in Pittsboro, North Carolina, the Professional Drag Racers Association is the top sanctioning body in the United States for the sport of eighth-mile drag racing. The PDRA’s professional categories include Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous, Pro Boost, and Pro Extreme Motorcycle along with Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Pro Jr. Dragster, and Top Jr. Dragster. The 2015 PDRA schedule consists of ten national events. For more on the world’s premier eighth mile drag racing organization visit www.pdra660.com. Follow the PDRA: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube.


Photo: Gary Rowe / RaceWorks.com / PDRA660.com


PRESS CONTACT: Lisa Collier
Professional Drag Racers Association
lisa@pdra660.com