Richie Crampton and Rapisarda Autosport International reached the second round while newly crowned NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car Champion Steve Harker claimed his fifth National event win in row.
Top Fuel
Earning the No. 1 qualifying position for the NHRA Finals on Saturday was a fitting cap to an astounding rookie season for GEICO/Lucas Oil driver Richie Crampton.
In his first season in Top Fuel, Crampton has won two races, including the U.S. Nationals, and reached the Countdown to the Championship. Until Saturday, though, a No. 1 qualifier had eluded him. But after nearly making the quickest pass in Top Fuel history, Crampton now has one.
“It feels great,” Crampton said. “We’ve been so close to being No. 1 a few other races this season, so it’s an awesome feeling to put that on the list of my accomplishments this year. Obviously, it’s been an amazing year.”
Crampton’s pass of 3.711 seconds at 316.30 mph set a Pomona track record for elapsed time, and it also marked the second-quickest run in the history of the class.
“It did surprise me that we ran that fast. I was looking up at the scoreboard as we were going through the lights, which I probably shouldn’t have been. It nosed over and slowed up right before the finish line, and I peeked up and saw the 3.71.
“It was almost like when I won Indy across the finish line. I was pretty pumped. I was clapping my hands and was pretty excited that we put that number up on the scoreboard.”
Hoping to turn his No. 1 qualifying effort into his third victory of the season, Crampton unfortunately lost a close quarterfinal race to newly re-crowned champion Tony Schumacher by just .017-second to close a very impressive first year.
Crampton was actually favoured in his match with Schumacher after running a low-of-the-day 3.720 at 320.89 mph in beating first-round foe Troy Buff. But after posting a similar reaction time to eight-time champion Schumacher, Crampton could only watch as his opponent’s dragster inched ahead, winning with a 3.752 at 327.35 mph to Crampton’s 3.763 at 327.82 mph.
“I’m eternally grateful to Forrest, Charlotte, and Morgan Lucas for giving me this incredible opportunity to realise my dream this year. I’m humbled by the faith GEICO, Lucas Oil, Toyota, and all the other sponsors of this team showed in an unproven driver. This year has been beyond anything I could have hoped for and it’s a bit sad it’s over.
“Of course, I wanted to reward everyone with one more win and we had the car to beat Schumacher. It just came down to a few inches and he was on the right side of it this time. No matter, we still had a great weekend and a superb year and I’m so pleased with everything that’s happened.”
The 30-year-old from Adelaide, Australia, has one more bit of business to attend to before the off-season begins, as he’s one of the finalists for the Auto Club Road to the Future Award, which annually recognises the top rookie in the sport. Crampton leads the other rookies with two victories, including an historic win at the 60th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, the sport’s longest-running and most prestigious event.
“That would be such a great way to finish the season,” Crampton said. “Of course I want to win it for all of the people that took a chance on me. It would be an awesome thing to share with my teammates, who are all my great friends. I worked side-by-side with these guys for many years, and when I got the call to drive they were nothing but supportive. It would be something we could all share together.
After a tough start to qualifying the Rapisarda Autosport International / Dom Lagana combo ran their quickest pass since joining the NHRA tour in 2010, a breathtaking run of 3.763 at 322.42 mph to nail down tenth spot as part of the quickest Top Fuel field ever assembled in the 63 year history of drag racing.
The Oz team’s previous best of 3.78 seconds was recorded at the U.S. Nationals in September. For 29 year old Lagana this was also his career quickest ever run eclipsing that same 3.78 sec pass at the U.S. Nationals, where he made his debut with RAI.
Lagana led all the way to crush Al Anabi gun Khalid alBalooshi in the first round then fell to 2012 NHRA champ Antron Brown after smoking the tyres in the quarter final.
“I’m extremely proud of my boys and how they performed over the weekend,” said team owner Santo Rapisarda.
“This is only our second NHRA meeting this year and to run our fastest time ever, qualify10th and make it to the second round is a great effort. My sons work well as a team and have developed a strong relationship with our driver Dom Lagana. If the track is hot cold or whatever they take it in their stride.”
The recently recruited Lagana echoed Rapisarda’s sentiments.
“We forget Santino and Santo are only 21 and they are going up against Americans who have been tuning and racing week in week out for years. Since they returned to America in September we have done around 14 runs only and have gone up against some teams that have racked up close to 100 runs in 2014.”
Top Alcohol
Newly crowned Top Alcohol Champion Steve Harker racked up his fifth National event win in a row to close out his Championship year in style.
Harker defeated John Lombardo Jr. in the final with a near perfect 0.002 reaction time and another great sub 5.5-second pass for the win with a 5.489 at 266.21 mph from Lomabrdo Jr. on a 5.519 at 263.36 mph.
That made it 10 career NHRA National event wins and the sixth this year for the ex-pat Queenslander.
Harker defeated Brian Hough, Doug Gordon and Tony Bartone on his way to the final.
In other news John Cannuli qualified 19th with a best of 5.872 in his first qualifier to sit 10th after one qualifier but he was unable to improve and missed the raceday the field.