CRAMPTON, TOYOTA WIN NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, FL – Toyota driver Richie Crampton defeated Shawn Reed to win Sunday’s Amalie Oil NHRA 
Gatornationals at the Gainesville Raceway. The victory is the eighth career Top Fuel win for Crampton and his first with Kalitta Motorsports.
Crampton knocked off teammate Doug Kalitta on a hole-shot in round one and then eliminated Mike Salinas in round two to set up a semi-final match-up with fellow Toyota driver Antron Brown. Both cars would smoke the tires in changing conditions that saw track temperatures rise by almost 40 degrees during the day, but it was Crampton that would come away with the victory. He then won an anti-climactic final where he would run a solo after Reed’s car broke on the starting line as the Kalitta Air Toyota driver registered the top pass over the final two rounds with a 3.854-second run.
“It was a great day for Connie and everyone with this Kalitta Air team,” said the victorious Crampton. “We had a lot of great help from Slugger (Labbe) and the TRD team trying to figure out this hot race track. We had it dialed in for the final run. The 3.85 was a heck of a run, but it was unfortunate that Shawn wasn’t able to make a pass. You hate to take a win by default like that, but I’ll take it. It feels good to win again. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was sitting on the sidelines, reminiscing about when I used to drive a Top Fuel car. So to be back in a car for Connie, Kalitta Air, DHL, Toyota and everyone, I’m just really lucky. I’m just working hard to try to make sure I deserve to drive for this team. It’s going to be a good year.”
While Brown’s day ended in the semi-finals, it was a productive day for the Matco Tools Toyota driver as he climbed up into second place by defeating Audrey Worm and Leah Pritchett. He is now just seven points out of the Top Fuel point lead.
“It was tricky out here,” relayed Brown. “The track got hot. It just kept getting worse and worse during the day. We were trying to keep up with it and we were getting close. We made a good lap in the second round and then we backed it off for the third round. We just didn’t back it off enough. With that being said, we’re going rounds and we’re picking things off one at a time. We just need to keep improving. Our Matco Tools/U.S. Army Toyota team is starting to get our feet under them. We’re taking it one step at a time and it’s coming. We’re going to be fine. We just need a little bit of time.”
In Funny Car, Shawn Langdon continued to lead the way among the Camry drivers as he advanced to the semi-finals before falling to eventual winner Jack Beckman. The race marked the second semi-final appearance for Langdon in just three Funny Car starts since switching over from the Top Fuel ranks. Langdon eliminated Gary Densham and Tommy Johnson Jr. in the first two rounds. His 3.943-second pass in the first round was the third-quickest of the day in Funny Car.
“We’re going rounds,” said Langdon. “For being our third race and we’ve already been to the semi-finals twice, it shows we’ve got a competitive racecar. Our Global Electronic Technology Camry team is doing a great job. I’m having fun, but I really want to win.”
Del Worsham advanced to the second in Funny Car today after defeating fellow Camry driver J.R. Todd before falling to Beckman in round two. Cruz Pedregon was eliminated in the opening round.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Las Vegas for the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the inaugural four-wide event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 6-8.
