Home is wherever Capps chooses to park

DINWIDDIE At the end of the day, Ron Capps enjoys walking through the front door and being greeted by the smell of his wife's cooking.

Since Capps is one of the top Funny Car drivers on the NHRA circuit, he would seem to have limited chances to experience such greetings during the 24-race season.

That is not necessarily the case.

Capps, 44, has a home away from home nearby at almost every event. He owns a motorhome, a Monaco Executive, to be precise, and it has all the comforts of home, and a few comforts many houses do not have.

For Capps, the motorhome is a respite from the hubbub of the track. And for the dozen or so races his family wife Shelly, daughter Taylor (13) and son Caden (8) attends, the motorhome serves as their nesting place.

"I was talking to my wife the other day and I said I don't know how we did this before we had the motorhome," Capps said.

NHRA races are three-day events, and Capps has the motor home at 22 of the races. Even when his family is not around, he finds the mammoth vehicle to be valuable.

"The best part is sitting here in the morning having coffee and watching the line of cars getting in, the guys who are staying in hotels," Capps said. "I don't have to go from hotel to hotel. I have the same pillow here, same shower, everything is the same. It takes a lot of things out of the equation that you can stress about.

"It helps me get more rest. Sometimes between qualifying rounds, it can get really crazy at the track, and I can come over here and, ahh, quiet. It definitely helps with my racing."

What Capps likes best, though, is the opportunity to have his family at almost half the races.

"It takes the burden out of being on the road," Capps said. "When the kids are out of school, we make a point of spending a certain amount of races on the road and making a vacation out of it. Some of my best memories from racing are of watching movies with the kids."

Capps has a driver, a member of the merchandising team of Kenny Bernstein Racing, who moves the motorhome from track to track.

The Capps' home on wheels, with a list price in the $300,000 range, has two televisions, one in the living area and one in the back bedroom, with separate satellite hookups.

There is a convection microwave, an oven, a refrigerator with French doors and a freezer on the bottom, a king-sized bed, a full-size closet, a ceiling fan, a shower, a bathroom, wooden cabinets, tastefully appointed countertops and furniture.

Capps even has pictures of his children and a self-portrait of his daughter on the refrigerator doors.

Shelly Capps selected everything in the motorhome.

Capps' family is not here this weekend. Instead, Capps' used his rolling home to entertain his track "family."

"Some of the guys from the pit crew were in last night [Thursday], and we played X-box and Madden football," he said. "I looked around at one point and it was 12:30. Where did the time go?"

Ron and Shelly will celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary next month. Like her husband, Shelly doesn't know how they managed with two children and no motorhome at the track.

"We get to spend some good times with Ron and be part of his world." Shelly Capps said from their home in Carlsbad, Calif.

"I like staying at the track. We don't have to worry about waiting for traffic to die down. We have home-cooked meals. We get the kids to bed at a good time, not to mention Ron."

When the X-box games are not in session, that is.