POMONA, California November 16, 2014 - Top rookie-of-the-year candidate Richie Crampton was hoping to turn his No. 1 qualifying effort at the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals into his third victory of the season. Unfortunately, the driver of the GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster lost a close quarterfinal race to newly re-crowned champion Tony Schumacher by just .017-second to close a very impressive first year.
"I'm eternally grateful to Forrest, Charlotte, and Morgan Lucas for giving me this incredible opportunity to realize 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."
Crampton was actually favored 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.
"As they have so many times this year, the guys gave me a great race car and (crew chief) Aaron Brooks was on his game with the tune-up," Crampton said. "It had warmed up a bit from Round 1 and we were both right on the limit of what the track would hold. In the end, they had just a touch more. Congrats to that team."
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 recognizes 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."
The year-ending awards banquet takes place Monday in Hollywood.
