GAINESVILLE, FL – Lucas Oil/GEICO Top Fuel dragster driver Morgan Lucas sees the positive in having to face the man who replaced him in the first round of the NHRA Gatornationals this weekend at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville.

Lucas is making his first start of the 2014 season after stepping out of the GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster at the end of last year. He was replaced by Richie Crampton as the Morgan Lucas Racing team fields one full-time dragster this season.

And who does Lucas have to line up against in his first round of eliminations? Crampton, of course.

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GAINESVILLE, FL – The NHRA Gatornationals this weekend at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville has been a case of good news, bad news for GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster driver Richie Crampton.

First, the good news: The 33-year-old rookie snagged his best qualifying effort of his young career with a No. 3 spot after a pass of 3.816 seconds at 316.97 mph.

“Really happy with that,” Crampton said. “We unloaded fast Friday. The first lap down the track was an .81, and it felt good. I was really hoping to hang on to that No. 1 spot for at least one night.”

Crampton was bumped back to No. 2 after Q2, then he slid back to No. 3 in the final session.

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GAINESVILLE, FL – Morgan Lucas will carry a different mind-set into this weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville when he returns to drag racing behind the wheel of the Lucas Oil/GEICO Top Fuel dragster.

The nine-time national event winner stepped away from full-time racing in 2014 to tend to his growing family and the family business, but Lucas, 30, is first and foremost a drag racing fan, and he’ll race six or seven times this season to fulfill his passion.

“It’s been a change of pace for me not racing in Pomona and not even going to Phoenix,” Lucas said. “As excited as I am to get in the car, I’m going to appreciate driving it from a different angle: From the part of me that just loves drag racing and loves to compete.

“We want to be respectable, we want to go down the racetrack, and obviously we want to win, but being that we haven’t tested, we’re going down there very open-minded and very enthusiastic. The group we’ve put together to work on this thing are totally in love with this sport, and that makes a big difference.”

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GAINESVILLE, FL – Richie Crampton has been a busy man since last making a pass in NHRA competition in the GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster.

After the race in Phoenix, the team had a successful test, and then Crampton headed to his home country of Australia for a week.

Now, though, he is ready for this weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville.

“We ran well on that Monday,” Crampton said of the post-Phoenix test. “We seemed to get some stuff figured out. (Crew chief) Aaron (Brooks) was able to work through the bugs we were having with the clutch controller, and we went down the racetrack pretty well there, so confidence is pretty high going into Gainesville.”

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OCALA, FL – Lucas Oil Products co-founder Forrest Lucas will be inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2014 in a banquet on March 13 in Gainesville, Fla.

The Lucas Oil Products International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will take place at the Paramount Plaza Hotel & Suites on the Thursday before the NHRA Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway in Gainesville.

Lucas is being honored for his longtime support of drag racing at all levels, from sponsorship of Sportsman racers and racing all the way to the NHRA Top Fuel class.

“I’m real happy that Don Garlits has appreciated what he’s seen us do over the years with drag racing,” Lucas said. “He’s a very nice person, and I appreciate what he’s done for drag racing over the years, too. He’s been a huge part of it, not only as a racer but he started the museum to keep the story of it all. It’s a big piece of history he’s taken care of single-handedly.”

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PHOENIX, AZ – GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton is heading home this week. Crampton will fly to Adelaide, Australia, and will attend the V8 Supercar race in his hometown this weekend with Lucas Oil Vice President of Sales & Marketing Sam Dale.

“I’m heading back to my hometown for the first time in 18 months,” Crampton said. “The V8 Supercar race is a huge event, and I’ll be hanging out with several of the teams that are currently using Lucas Oil.”

The V8 Supercar race is part of a touring-car-style series that hosts events on road and street courses in Australia. The race Crampton will attend is held on the Adelaide Street Circuit.

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PHOENIX, AZ – GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton went down swinging in his matchup with 2012 champion Antron Brown at the Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

Crampton and crew chief Aaron Brooks knew they’d need a quick pass to beat Brown, so they installed an aggressive setup in the Morgan Lucas Racing dragster.

“Antron Brown is tough,” Crampton said. “We knew we had to go out and try to run a high 3.70 or low .80 to get around him. That team is so tough to beat when they’re on fire like they are, so we went for it.”

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PHOENIX, AZ – The start of the Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals this weekend at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park hasn’t been a smooth one for the GEICO/Lucas Oil team, but rookie driver Richie Crampton is confident crew chief Aaron Brooks can get the team’s new car working better for eliminations on Sunday.

“We know it’s going to be a tough day, a long day tomorrow, so we better bring our A-game,” Crampton said. “Everyone on this crew knows that Brooks will get it figured out.”

Crampton is racing a new chassis out of the Morgan Lucas Racing shop, and though it performed well at the season-opener in Pomona, Calif., Phoenix is a completely different track with different weather conditions.

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PHOENIX, AZ – It should be pretty easy to find Top Fuel rookie Richie Crampton at this weekend’s 30th annual Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park; he’ll be the one with the endless smile on his face.

The driver of the powerful GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster is living his boyhood dream since being promoted from clutch specialist to professional pilot prior to the 2014 NHRA season. Now that he’s had a race to shake off the rookie jitters, he comes to the Valley of the Sun expecting bigger things from the race car and much more fun to be had with the fans.

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Corona, CA – GEICO, one of the nation’s leading automotive insurers is continuing its “Presenting Sponsorship” agreement with Team Lucas through 2014. The pact will showcase GEICO insurance policy benefits before large audiences at more than 300 motorsports events across the USA.

Team Lucas is a dynamic, one-of-a-kind “grass roots” advertising and marketing platform created by Lucas Oil that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers a year. Many of these events are televised nationally resulting in hundreds of hours of additional network coverage. For 2014, Team Lucas events will include the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by GEICO, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League, Lucas Oil Modified Series presented by Loan Mart, Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series, Lucas Oil Speedway, Lucas Oil AMA Championship Motocross and the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

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