In only his sixth NHRA Pro Stock appearance, Shane Tucker achieved a career best semi-final appearance after disposing of current Championship leader and team mate Erica Enders-Stevens in the quarter final match up. After qualifying in tenth position with a 6.628 at 209.14mph the team were set to take on Chris McGaha in Sunday’s first round of eliminations. Tucker and McGaha had previously met in a round one match up in Phoenix Arizona, with Tucker prevailing and taking his first NHRA round win.
Race day in Joliet, Illinois proved to be one that would have Shane Tucker showing glimpses of why he had decided to make the move from the Gold Coast to take on the world’s best in the USA. In round one Shane was awarded a solo pass after McGaha was shut down with an oil leak issue, Shane took the opportunity to collect some track data and ran a solid 6.639 with an aggressive 0.014 reaction time.
Round two was a battle of the Elite Performance power plants with Shane and Erica meeting in a quarter final showdown that was reminiscent of their previous time together as team mates. In an epic display of Pro Stock racing Shane took the holeshot and the win light outrunning Erica with a 6.658/0.055 to her 6.647/0.069.
The semi-final paired Tucker against Vincent Nobile and Shane was focused on getting one back after their last encounter in Bristol went Vincent’s way. With the Chevrolet Camaro staged and the engine on the limiter, Tuck dropped the hammer and hit his shift points with precision. Unfortunately Shane’s 0.013 reaction time and E/T of 6.699 was not enough against Nobile’s 0.012 / 6.638.
Crew Chief Rob Tucker was happy with the result, “Look it would have been nice to go through to the finals today, but it was just Vincent’s day” said Rob. “As a team we are seeing progressive results and we will be looking to better ourselves again next week in Norwalk”.
Rob Tucker Racing will travel to Norwalk Ohio before returning to Australia for a short period.
In Top Fuel, Richie Crampton won an unlikely first-round race despite a mechanical malfunction that quieted his 8,000-horsepower motor well before the finish line. He then had a chance to take out past world champion Antron Brown but came up short after an exciting pedaling contest in the quarter finals.
“We fully expected to run another fast pass in Round 1 and the car was marching along but it suddenly broke an intake valve,” Crampton said. “That caused the motor to backfire, which initiates the safety system, so the parachutes popped out and we were just coasting along, completely dead in the water.
“I fully expected (opponent T.J.) Zizzo to go whizzing by but he didn’t. Those few extra seconds it took to get to the finish line seemed like forever. You just expect that your opponent may have smoked the tires but then see that you’re in trouble and get back on the gas to beat you. Fortunately, he had bigger problems and luck went our way.”
Eventually, Crampton crossed the timers in 7.147 seconds at 68.90 mph, which yielded lane choice to Brown in the next round. In his race, Brown had posted a competitive 3.803 at 319.07 mph in taking his victory.
“Not having lane choice proved to be a big issue,” Crampton said. “We didn’t get down the right lane in qualifying and most of the nitro cars that were winning were in the left lane, so we had to push the car extra hard.
“Sure enough, the tires started breaking loose just a little bit into the run but I saw Antron smoking his tires just ahead of us, so I got on the gas again. The car just wouldn’t calm down. I was on and off the gas four times, but he managed to pedal his car and get it to hook up a moment sooner. That was all it took.”
Officially, Brown carded a winning 4.813 at 221.85 mph to Crampton’s 5.899 at 175.16 mph.
“What’s exciting is we have a great hot-weather tune-up now and summer is just starting,” Crampton said. “We’ve all been working hard to get this car to perform in the heat, and when we won in Englishtown a few weeks ago the track temp was 126 degrees when we went up for the final. That’s pretty awesome.”
The teams won’t have long to wait until racing again as the NHRA tour turns to Norwalk, Ohio, for next weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.