Crampton (near lane) and Torrence in the Top Fuel final.  (Richard Muir photo)

NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis

Upset City

Results compiled by Kay Burk
Photos by Richard Muir, Chris Haverly, and Ron Lewis

It was a day of surprises for many of the pro racers at the 60th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals.

TOP FUEL

One year ago, Richie Crampton was a crewmember for Morgan Lucas Racing when he was asked to fill in and test a dragster for MLR driver Brandon Bernstein. This Monday at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Crampton was crowned champion of the 60th annual U.S. Nationals, making him the newest king of the drag racing world.

"Just like so many things that have happened to me this year, I can hardly believe what's going on," Crampton said. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, bar none. Just to be driving a Top Fuel car is the dream come true for me. Then we were the 100th different Top Fuel winner in Englishtown (N.J.), and now we've won the 60th annual U.S. Nationals. That's two pretty historical moments we got to be a part of.”

Crampton and Schumacher in the semi. (Ron Lewis photo)

Crampton started the day with a 3.782 to 3.795 win over Billy Torrence to set up a second-round date with reigning world champion Shawn Langdon. With the pressure on, Crampton peeled off a daring 3.769 at 324.59 mph, his quickest pass of the race to that point, to get past Langdon's powerful rail.

The semifinals pitted him against Tony Schumacher, who had dismissed Crampton earlier in the weekend in the final round of the $100,000 Traxxas Shootout. This time Crampton got the better of the seven-time world champion, winning by .001-second after a pass of 3.784 seconds at 322.81 mph to Schumacher's 3.788 at 325.69 mph.

"That might have been the biggest single round-win of my career," Crampton admitted. "All we heard leading up to that race was that Schumacher was trying to win his 10th Indy trophy. Well, the guys in this pit weren't going to give in to anything."

In the final Crampton met Steve Torrence, who was runner-up in this race one year ago. With everything on the line, Crampton dug down and posted both his best reaction time of the race (.062-second) and quickest and fastest pass of the weekend, beating his rival with a 3.766 at 327.98 mph.