ST. LOUIS (Sept. 27) - As much as he wanted his first career No. 1 qualifier, GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton can't help but remember the last time he found himself seeded No. 2: He went on to win his first career race in Englishtown, N.J.
Hoping to repeat that success during the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park, the top rookie of the year contender is more than ready to get eliminations underway.
Laying down a blistering pass under the lights at Gateway Motorsports Park during Q2 of 3.764 seconds at 322.73 mph, Crampton held the No. 1 spot heading into the second day of qualifying but was dropped to No. 2 after Q4.
"Honestly, that wasn't really weighing heavily on me," Crampton said. "I knew we were probably going to be trying to better that .75 that (Doug) Kalitta had run. Unfortunately, we had a hiccup with the fuel pump on the car and it cost us the run.
"Qualifying No. 1 is nice but it's not everything. We'll still be good for tomorrow."
Looking to back up his incredible run from the night before, Crampton and the GEICO/Lucas Oil team pushed the limits during Q3. Though the engine gave out before Crampton could complete his run, the team was still able to gain valuable information to use for race day.
"We were running really good," Crampton said. "We dropped a cylinder about half-track, but the incrementals before that were good. We were on pace to run .80 or .81, which would've been a very good run for that session.
"We didn't make it down, but we did learn some very valuable stuff for tomorrow."
As much as he would have loved to keep the top qualifying spot, Crampton is still happy with his No. 2. Facing No. 15 Kyle Wurtzel in the first round of eliminations, Crampton will look to progress his way through the ladder in hopes of another win.
"It would've been cool to hang on to that No. 1 slot, but, hey, we'll start from No. 2," Crampton said. "That's still a pretty good place to start from."
"We did a good job yesterday," Crampton said. "We kind of missed it a little bit today, but we've got everything in order for tomorrow, so we should be pretty racy."
Eliminations will start at approximately 11 a.m., Sunday, with action broadcast on ESPN2 on tape-delay basis.
