Crampton’s crew celebrates the win. (Richard Muir photo)

After qualifying No. 2 on the grid, he seemed to be the clear favorite in the opening round until he noticed his right front wheel was going flat as he backed up from the prerace burnout.

"I'd never had that happen, so I didn't know whether to give up or just go for it," he said. "I decided to just go and it was surprising how well the car steered considering the rubber was shredding the entire way down the track."

Crampton then had to pedal his car in both the quarter- and semi-finals to get to the other end, outdriving JR Todd and reigning world champion Shawn Langdon in the process.

The final against top qualifier Kalitta was a straight-up drag race with Crampton winning with a 3.819 at 320.51 mph to Kalitta's 3.848 at 317.34 mph. Including the reaction times, Crampton's margin of victory was just .009-second.

Kalitta was appearing in his fifth final of the season in his Mac Tools dragster and the 73rd of his career. Despite the defeat, Kalitta increased his lead over second place Antron Brown to 103 points.

FUNNY CAR

Somehow the cars look a lot cooler when the header flames shine in the dark. (Ron Lewis photo)

Cruz Pedregon was the class of the Funny Car field all weekend, going from No. 1 qualifier to the race victory with a performance of 4.126 at 301.33 in his Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry over Del Worsham’s 4.189 at 296.70 in his DHL Camry in the final. The win was a relief for Pedregon, whose team has struggled early this season.

“It was a tremendous points day,” said Pedregon. “To say I’m excited and happy would be an understatement, but I also feel relieved a little bit. We’ve dug ourselves a pretty good hole this year.”