LAS VEGAS Three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps plans to expand his team in 2026, adding a second car and driver to his Ron Capps Motorsports operation.

As Capps has hinted at for months, he confirmed Thursday that rising star Maddi Gordon will pilot a Top Fuel dragster for the RCM team next year and beyond. Gordon is a third-generation drag racer who has been making a name for herself thanks to her outstanding performance serving in dual roles as both driver and crew member on her familys Top Alcohol Funny Car.

To commemorate this partnership, Gordon will warm up Cappss NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra this weekend during the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In her first year of driving the Alcohol car, Gordon became the 100th woman in NHRA history to win a national event. She also nabbed three regional wins in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, finishing second in national points, an impressive season that even most veteran drag racers would envy.

So far in 2025, Gordon, who is responsible for the clutch and jumps in to assist with engine work when needed, sits third in national points and has already captured a regional win in Phoenix.

This has been in the works for a while now, remarked Capps, a 31-year nitro pilot. When Snake (Don Prudhomme) brought me up to the pros, I was lucky enough to be given that shot despite not already having a sponsor attached. Its rare, these days, for funding not to be part of the equation, especially when youre building a new team. We wanted to do it backward where we wanted to pick somebody who we thought would be great and then come in from the other angle and find sponsors, where its usually the opposite.

I want to give someone a chance like Snake gave me a chance. Were going to build this program around Maddi. Shes crazy talented and shes a hard worker, and at 20 years old, we expect her to have a long career out here. Shes a great representative of the next crop of NHRA drag racers.

While Gordons sponsors, along with her crew chief, will not be announced until later this year, Capps says that NAPA is focused on bringing more women into the auto care space.

NAPA is really recruiting more women into auto care and mechanics. Maddi is a great example of what can happen when women take the wheel, so to speak. I mentioned several years ago at a NAPA conference, that I would like to put a girl in a car, and instantly the women in the audience sat up a little straighter and several wanted to speak with me about it right away, even though it was just an off-the-cuff remark. Thats when it kind of started.

Theres a global push right now to encourage women in the STEM fields and to recognize female athletes. We have women who arent just in the sport, they win in this sport. And they use science, technology, engineering, and math to accomplish their goals. Maddi is a great spokesperson for that.

For Gordon, competing in Top Fuel was something she never dared to wish for. Im very goal-oriented, she said. When I set goals, I plan to reach them. So, I had my sights set on running in alcohol. That was my dream, really, because I thought that was possibly something that could happen. I might be able to get there. Competing as a professional was never something I even thought about because I dont come from a background where I know I can just easily bring a few million dollars to the table. Racing in the pro ranks never seemed attainable to me.

When Gordon earned her Top Alcohol Funny Car license in 2023, Capps was one of the drivers who signed off on the paperwork. It was a milestone moment for the enthusiastic young up-and-comer who is scheduled to run the full slate of NHRA Mission Foods Series events during her rookie season as a Top Fuel pilot.

I was in awe the whole time, Gordon recalled as she reminisced about getting her license. I dont even know if Ron would remember this or if it even meant anything at the time, but he said, You have a very bright future in this sport. There are big things to come. I couldnt believe it! I mean, this is my lifetime dream right here. I had no idea it would turn out where he would want me to drive for him professionally one day.