Epping, New Hampshire (June 14, 2015) - After posting the quickest and fastest pass of the day in a convincing Round 1 victory over Quebec native Dan Mercier, reigning Auto Club Rookie of the Year Richie Crampton and his Lucas Oil teammates had high hopes for a big day at New England Dragway. But just one round later their dreams were dashed when his car overpowered the track near the midway point and Crampton lost to Brittany Force.
"To be low e.t. and top speed of the entire first session, running that 3.779 at 321.88 mph against Mercier, our confidence was sky high," said Crampton, who hails from Adelaide, Australia. "Then you see heavy hitters like (Shawn) Langdon and Antron (Brown) get knocked out and you see a great chance to make up some big ground in the championship points. We were dreaming big at that point, for sure."
But as easy as the first-round victory looked, the second round was completely different as increased temperatures caused the track surface to deteriorate enough that Crampton's 10,000-horsepower dragster couldn't stay connected. Despite a big head start -- a .061-second reaction time to Force's .085-second launch -- Crampton's dragster began spinning its rear tires around 600 feet enough that Force was able to steam by for the win, 3.885 at 316.08 mph to 4.121 at 265.06 mph.
"We had some (time) in the bank for the second race in a row," said Crampton, who also left ahead of Mercier by .012-second. "I thought we were cruising away to a win. Then it spun down there and I just couldn't believe it. I thought we were past the point where it would break loose.
"Aaron (Brooks, crew chief) held the power back early in the run so we could get past the Christmas Tree, but at some point you have to apply those horses, and when we started pouring it on just before half-track it started spinning. It was probably gonna run a 3.83, 3.84 but this car is just such a beast it wants to run harder than we ask it to."
After teammate Morgan Lucas lost a close race to Tony Schumacher in Round 1, Crampton's team swapped bodies with Lucas' car to help promote Sig Sauer, the locally-based firearms company that supported Lucas' efforts the last two races.
"We were hoping to give them a little more fun," Crampton said. "They truly have been so kind to us up here. I wanted to pick up the torch from Morgan and take Sig Sauer all the way to the winner's circle. We just couldn't get it done and that's a bummer."
There won't be much time to lament the loss as Crampton will be racing again next Friday-Sunday at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee.
