11/20/2025
Rob Flynn Named Crew Chief of Maddi Gordon’s Carlyle Tools Top Fuel Dragster
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Nov. 19, 2025) – NHRA team owner/driver Ron Capps is pleased to announce the addition of crew chief Rob Flynn to his expanding Ron Capps Motorsports organization. Flynn has been named lead tuner of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster, which will be driven by Maddi Gordon in 2026 when she embarks on her rookie season competing in NHRA’s professional ranks.
In April, Capps revealed he had plans to expand his single-car operation to a two-car team and had selected Gordon, a second-year, third-generation Top Alcohol Funny Car pilot, as the driver of his team’s first Top Fuel entry. At the SEMA show earlier this month, Capps and Gordon broke the news that Carlyle Tools had signed on to back the future Rookie of the Year candidate as the team’s primary partner.
“It really feels like everything is starting to come together now,” said Capps, who just wrapped his fourth year as an NHRA team owner. “We have the driver, we recently announced the sponsor, we’ve started acquiring assets, and now with the addition of Rob, it feels like we’ve got all the major items in place and can start to fill in the blanks and really proceed full speed ahead with our 2026 plans.
“I’ve known Rob and his family for quite a long time,” Capps added. “We worked together at Don Prudhomme’s years ago when I drove for Snake. I’ve always admired him and his style of leading a team. What’s always impressed me about him is his professionalism on and off the track. He’s got a great record, and we feel he will be a great fit with our organization. Ultimately, it was up to Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief on Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Funny Car). Since we first decided to expand the team and add a dragster, I’ve always said it was his decision because even though they’ll be running two completely different cars, they’ll be working together. Rob has always been at the top of our list, and I’m so happy that it all worked out.”
Flynn brings more than three decades of tuning knowledge to the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel team. His track record includes 36 wins as a nitro crew chief, but what might be his biggest asset is Flynn’s prior experience working with a rookie driver. Before joining Ron Capps Motorsports, Flynn worked at Scrappers Racing, where he was the crew chief on Jasmine Salinas’ Top Fuel dragster. Salinas made her Top Fuel debut in 2024 with Flynn calling the shots, and in 2025, during her sophomore season, the team came out swinging. Flynn tuned Salinas to back-to-back semifinal appearances at the first two races of the year. She advanced to the quarterfinals at the third event and powered to the final quad at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals before funding issues sidelined the team.
“I’m looking forward to working with Maddi next year,” said Flynn, whose crew chief tenure includes working with star drivers such as “Hot” Rod Fuller, Leah Pruett and past world champions Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon, and Tony Schumacher, among others. “I learned a lot working with Jasmine these last two years, and it was a pretty similar situation where she came to the team with driving experience, but was new to nitro, which, as we all know, is a whole different beast. You could really see this past year that she felt comfortable in the car and had grown confident in her abilities, and that really translated on the track. Definitely one of the biggest things I learned was not to rush things and push too hard. Early on that first year, I think I pushed too hard when I should have been focusing on getting the car to go down the track, A to B. I want to give Maddi lots of straight, smooth runs down the track and build some confidence that the car is going to go to the finish line every time. Of course, there will be times where there’s some tire shake or tire smoke, but I think if Maddi feels confident that we’re going to give her a car that will go down the track and not put her in a position where she’s behind it, that will help make her feel more comfortable and at ease. Most drivers say it takes 50-60 runs to get comfortable, and I think that tracks. So, my plan is to spend that time getting Maddi used to making runs, and then we can step it up from there.”
Gordon, age 21, agrees with Flynn’s approach and is grateful to have him in her corner next year when she branches out from her family’s operation.
“I feel so lucky we were able to lock Rob in as my crew chief,” Gordon said. “It’s comforting knowing that he has experience with first-year drivers. Jasmine and Rob were off to a great start last year, and it was a bummer they weren’t able to keep that going but I’m glad when the opportunity became available, we were able to scoop him up.”
Gordon, who closed out her stint as a Top Alcohol Funny Car driver with three national event wins and a third-place finish, will begin the Top Fuel licensing process this winter. She will make her professional debut aboard the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 6 – 8.
