DALLAS (Sept. 21) - Richie Crampton was certainly ready for Sunday's elimination rounds at the 29th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals, peeling off a best-of-the-year .052-second reaction time against first-round opponent Spencer Massey. But the early lead soon evaporated when his huge rear tires lost traction in the tricky right-hand lane, allowing Massey by for a 3.831-second, 321.27-mph victory.
"It's really hot out there and the track just didn't want to hold what we gave it," said Crampton, who crossed the timers with a resigned 4.755 at 161.67 mph. "The car launched hard and I couldn't see Spencer, so I knew we were ahead but then the tires started spinning. I grabbed the brake and pedaled as quickly as I could, and the car actually hooked back up, but Spencer was too far ahead at that point.
"No lack of effort from anyone on the GEICO/Lucas Oil team. The guys have certainly sweat buckets this weekend down here in Texas getting our two team cars ready to go. The difference was lane choice. Spencer had us by the smallest of fractions in qualifying, so he got to select the lane he wanted and he took the better one."
The difference was very slight as Massey posted a best-of 3.814 at 320.89 mph in qualifying eighth, with Crampton close behind in ninth with a 3.816 at 319.60 mph.
"Sometimes lane choice is critical, like today, and other times it's not a factor at all," Crampton said. "And then you'll have days where it varies back and forth depending on what happens along the way. It's something we all deal with and you can't complain because we should have just qualified a bit better.
"Moving forward, things will start getting a bit easier as the weather cools off. It's hard to throttle these things back because they just want to go. When it's cooler you can pour the coals to it and just race."
The NHRA schedule continues with two more races on consecutive weekends, first in St. Louis and then in Reading, Pa. Last year in Reading the conditions were so spectacular that national records were set.
"It was fun to be a part of that as a crewman, and I'm hoping to experience it now as a driver when we get back to Reading," said Crampton, who served on the crew for eight years before taking over the pilot's seat. "I've heard the St. Louis track is in tip-top shape as well, so we may have some big runs there as well.
"We'll keep fighting. We do have a chance to stop by the shop and work on some things this week, so we'll be restocked for St. Louis. We'll be good to go."
