This is your rundown of the NHRA Aussies in action at the 60th annual U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
Top Fuel
One year ago, Top Fuel rookie Richie Crampton was a crewmember for Morgan Lucas Racing that thought he was living the dream when he was asked to fill in and test a dragster for MLR driver Brandon Bernstein. This Monday (Tuesday morning Australian time) at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Crampton was crowned champion of the 60th annual U.S. Nationals, the first Australian to do so in Top Fuel and the second Aussie to win the event after Wally Clark won in Super Stock back in 1985.
“Just like so many things that have happened to me this year, I can hardly believe what’s going on,” Crampton said. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world, bar none. Just to be driving a Top Fuel car is the dream come true for me. Then we were the 100th different Top Fuel winner in Englishtown (N.J.), and now we’ve won the 60th annual U.S. Nationals. That’s two pretty historical moments we got to be a part of.
“After Englishtown I sat down and looked at the 99 other drivers that have won Top Fuel races in the NHRA, and it was so humbling to think I was a part of that group. I’m going to find time to look at all the Indy winners and I’m sure I’ll have the same feeling. This is crazy stuff for a kid from Adelaide (Australia). I’m a long way from home.”
Just as it was when he won Englishtown, Crampton had nothing given to him on race day. He started the day with a 3.782 to 3.795 win over Billy Torrence to set up a second-round date with reigning world champion Shawn Langdon. With the pressure on, Crampton peeled off a daring 3.769 at 324.59 mph, his quickest pass of the race to that point, to get past Langdon’s powerful rail.
The semifinals pitted him against Tony Schumacher, who dismissed Crampton earlier in the weekend in the final round of the $100,000 Traxxas Shootout. This time Crampton got the better of the seven-time world champion, winning by .001-second after a pass of 3.784 seconds at 322.81 mph to Schumacher’s 3.788 at 325.69 mph.
“That might have been the biggest single round-win of my career,” Crampton admitted. “All we heard leading up to that race was that Schumacher was trying to win his 10th Indy trophy. Well, the guys in this pit weren’t going to give in to anything.”
Beating Schumacher set up a huge final against Steve Torrence, who was runner-up in this race one year ago. With everything on the line, Crampton dug down and posted both his best reaction time of the race (.062-second) and quickest and fastest pass of the weekend, beating his rival with a 3.766 at 327.98 mph to a 3.799 at 327.82 mph.
“The GEICO dragster was like a bracket car all weekend; it was up to me not to screw it up,” Crampton said. “It’s pretty special to put your name on the list of U.S. Nationals winners. Big thanks to Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, GEICO, Lucas Oil, and of course Morgan (Lucas) for letting me drive this car.
“Indy is hallowed ground for drag racers and now we’ve left our mark. It feels wonderful.”
Also in Top Fuel, Sydney based Rapisarda Autosport International had earlier set a personal best in qualifying for both team and driver with Dom Lagana at the wheel, the 3.786 at 319.90 mph good enough to put them into 8th.
Meeting for the first time in eliminations in Round 1, Lagana powered past Doug Kalitta who had a small start line advantage only to go up in smoke by 330 feet. Lagana’s pass was a straight and clean 3.862 at 306.12 mph.
Unfortunately Lagana and RAI’s campaign would end around 100 feet into their Round 2 match up with Tony Schumacher, spinning the tyres as ‘The Sarge’ posted his best pass of the day with a 3.777 at 327.77 mph.
Pro Stock
With only six total professional passes at Lucas Oil Raceway in his career, Pro Stock driver Shane Tucker had a solid weekend despite a first-round loss.
A slight issue on his burnout couldn’t faze Tucker, who ran his fastest speed of the weekend in round one of eliminations at 208.71 mph. With almost identical reaction times, .052 to .050, Tucker’s Auzmet Chevrolet Camaro was just one-hundredth off from upsetting No. 3 seed Shane Gray.
“We were prepared for the track today for sure,” Tucker said. “I haven’t been able to look at the speed we ran but we really haven’t found the sweet spot of the car yet. That’s going against us a little bit but it’s getting better. I felt good heading into the first round today.
“We had some stuff go on during the burnout where it dead-headed fifth gear. With all that going on, I was still calm and ready to go. I knew when I let the clutch out that I was late. I thought I was actually a lot later than I was. I expected to look over and see him in top gear but I still couldn’t see him.
“It felt good to have a good run. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t get the win in the end. He was there for the taking; I just didn’t get there in time.”
While he was disappointed that he couldn’t pull off the round-one victory against Gray, Tucker is happy about the dependability that his car is showing with every pass it makes. Tucker, however, would like to try pushing the limits a bit more to try to get that extra edge needed for his first NHRA win.
“I think we definitely have a consistent race car,” Tucker said. “I also think we’re not getting after it enough and we’re really soft. I’m sure when we start to get after it we’ll probably find the limit of the car and where it needs to be.
“It’s just one of those things that we’re racing guys here that have done 800 to 1,000 runs on the racetrack. That gives them so many more runs of data to go back to compared to us. We just need to be a little bit smarter in our decisions and maybe get after it a little bit more.”
Tucker and the team will work on preparing their setup for the NHRA Carolina Nationals, Sept. 12-14, at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.
Top Alcohol Funny Car
NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car championship contender Steve Harker started the weekend in fine form qualifying 3rd with a 5.592 while also setting the second fastest speed at 262.18 mph.
He would carry that form into Round 1 of eliminations defeating Sean Bellemeur in their first ever match up. Leaving the line on almost identical reaction times, Harker steadily and quickly opened his lead to take the win light with a 5.614 at 259.11 mph from Bellemeur’s 5.723 at 253.52 mph.
In Round 2 Harker came up against Fred Tigges having won their previous two encounters. Tigges left the line first and posted his quickest ET of the event, a 5.583 at 258.47 mph to eliminate Harker on a 5.829 at 203.28 mph.
Images of Richie Crampton courtsey: Mark Rebilas. All others courtesy: Dragnews.com.au