BROWNSBURG, Ind. – Rahn Tobler has been named crew chief for the NAPA AUTO PARTS Funny Car of Ron Capps effective immediately, team owner Don Schumacher announced Wednesday.

Tim Richards resigned from the position on Saturday night after the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T failed to qualify for Sunday’s championship elimination rounds of the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Richards took the position after four of 22 national events last season and tuned Capps to national event wins in Sonoma and at the fall Las Vegas race.”I understand the complexity of our race cars and how challenging our sport can be,” Schumacher said.

“But when something occurs like what happened to our NAPA Auto Parts team at Las Vegas, what is paramount is that we work immediately to find the problem and correct it. We owe that effort to NAPA Auto Parts and other associate sponsors on the car.

“I have tremendous respect for Tim and appreciate what he did last year to help Ron win two NHRA titles. I wish Tim the best. The commitment to our marketing partners is we will do whatever is within our power to win and compete on a championship level.”

Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) also has hired veteran tuner Todd Smith as the new crew chief for the Valvoline NextGen Funny Car driven by Jack Beckman in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Smith’s first race with the team will be the April 13-15 Four-Wide NHRA Nationals at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s zMAX Dragway at Concord, N.C.

Tobler also will be the lead tuner for Beckman’s team for at least the next two Full Throttle events as Smith transitions to his new position.

“Rahn will help Todd get adjusted to the Valvoline NextGen team and become acclimated to our DSR operation,” Schumacher said. “Rahn will make the final decisions for at least the next two races.

“We have a strong enough organization that we can assist Todd, but it wouldn’t take him long to become familiar with DSR and the Valvoline team; he has plenty of background in our sport.”

Smith, a native of Oklahoma City living in Cooper City, Fla., has worked as a crew chief for Kalitta Motorsports, Darrell Gwynn Racing, Don Prudhomme Racing and most recently for Kenny Bernstein Racing’s Brandon Bernstein from early in the 2010 season through 2011. While at Don Prudhomme Racing, Smith was co-crew chief for current DSR Top Fuel ace Spencer Massey. Smith is the son of two-time NHRA Comp Eliminator world champion Charlie Smith.
John Collins will assist Tobler on the NAPA AUTO PARTS team and Terry Snyder will assist Smith on Beckman’s car.

Photo Courtesy of NHRA

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron’s Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 177 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.

Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.