Crampton looking for revenge in Gainesville eliminations

GAINESVILLE, FL – Battling the infamous Florida weather and historic track surface at Auto-Plus Raceway, Lucas Oil/GEICO Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton is prepared to leave it all on the line during the second eliminations appearance of his career at the NHRA Gatornationals.

Crampton has made small gains throughout the weekend in Gainesville that so far have culminated in a best pass of 3.829 seconds at 319.14 mph in the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon for the No. 8 spot. He will have a close head-to-head battle with No. 9 Steve Torrence in the first round of final eliminations on Sunday.

“The last session of qualifying went pretty well for us,” Crampton said. “We had been running pretty well up until then, but that last pass definitely felt the best.

“Sunday for us will start with a No. 8 vs. No. 9 pair-up in the first round of eliminations against Steve Torrence, and any time we run against those guys it’s always going to be a good race. Hopefully, we’ll be the one putting up the win lights and moving on to the second round.”

For the first time this season, Crampton is joined at the track by team owner Morgan Lucas, who is running in another team dragster. While he looks forward to the opportunity to run with a teammate, Crampton can’t forget last year’s NHRA Gatornationals when Lucas ended his day early in the first round of eliminations.

“It’s good to have Morgan Lucas out here at the track again with us,” Crampton said. “It also means that (crew chief) Aaron Brooks gets two swings at the racetrack, which is a great feeling as a driver because he does a great job.

“I’m hoping for an exciting first-round win and hopefully a second-round matchup between Morgan and I.”

Eliminations will start at approximately 11 a.m., Sunday, with both qualifying and elimination action broadcast on ESPN2 on tape-delay basis.