Lucas Oil pro Richie Crampton continues impressive qualifying streak

TOPEKA, KS – Lucas Oil Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton continued his top-half qualifying streak by speeding to the No. 2 spot at the NHRA Kansas Nationals this weekend at Heartland Park Topeka.

Crampton and his Morgan Lucas Racing team have qualified in the top eight at all eight races of 2015, and the streak extends to 10 through the final two races of 2014.

Crampton’s best run at Heartland Park was 3.744 seconds at 327.66 mph, which was .017-second off the pole-winning elapsed time.

“We’re really happy to be No. 2 right now,” Crampton said. “Obviously, we were swinging for the fence in Q2 and Q3, and we were pretty disappointed that we didn’t get to try that one more time in Q4, but nonetheless we’ve got a good race car for tomorrow.”

Crampton is quick to credit crew chief Aaron Brooks for the impressive performance in Topeka.

“When it comes down to good conditions that are conducive to national-record-style runs, Aaron Brooks is on top of that game right now,” Crampton said. “The decent run in Topeka is continuing on how well Aaron can run a race car when the weather is cool like this.”

Crampton will line up against No. 15 qualifier Kyle Wurtzel, whose qualifying pass was 3.927 seconds, in the first round of eliminations scheduled for Sunday. Rain is in the forecast for Sunday, though Crampton holds out hope of getting all four rounds in.

“We absolutely want to race tomorrow,” Crampton said. “If we have to deal with a few showers throughout the day, so be it, but that will reconfirm that the racetrack will be really good when we do get to race on it.”

Crampton was the 2014 Road to the Future Award winner as NHRA’s top rookie, winning two races, including the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. He has already scored one victory this year, in Las Vegas, and his qualifying spot in Topeka helped him move up one spot to fifth, unofficially, in the Top Fuel points standings.