Richie Crampton, Lucas Oil team ready to shine on NHRA Western Swing
DENVER – The NHRA Western Swing comes at a crucial time for Richie Crampton and the Lucas Oil Top Fuel 
dragster team.
Crampton is in the thick of the Top Fuel championship race, having won three times in 2015, but after two difficult races, he is ready to get back on track at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals this weekend at Bandimere Speedway.
“We’ve had some mixed success here lately, so we’re trying to get back to going some rounds and doing better,” Crampton said. “We know we have a good race car in warmer weather, which is obviously what we’re going to see throughout the Western Swing.”
Denver is the first of the three-race swing that includes stops in Sonoma, Calif., and Seattle.
“But going to Denver is always a crapshoot,” Crampton said. “It’s a pretty level playing field when we go to that different kind of racing environment. I’m pretty confident that we can do what we did earlier this year and go some rounds.”
Crampton had won at least one round in nine of the first 11 races, winning in Las Vegas, Topeka, and Bristol, but he failed to qualify in Norwalk and lost in the first round in Chicago, though his Morgan Lucas Racing team showed some speed in the Windy City.
And now comes Denver, a wild-card race on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Denver is in the thinner air at over 5,000 feet, which means there is less oxygen in the air to make horsepower.
“In Denver, being at such high altitude and not having as much oxygen available to make horsepower, NHRA allows us to spin the supercharger a little faster to try to make more boost that way,” Crampton said. “They also raise the amount of wing angle we’re allowed to have. You have to work a little harder to make power, and that’s why you can see some carnage up on the mountain.
“For the most part, you try to make the power by being able to spin the supercharger higher and run a slightly higher nitro percentage than we can at other racetracks. It’s a head-scratcher for all of the crew chiefs in the sport, but Aaron (Brooks) has what it takes to figure the place out. We should be good.”
Top Fuel qualifying sessions will be held at 5:30 and 8 p.m. MDT, Friday, and 4:30 and 7 p.m., Saturday. Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast all the qualifying action from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, Saturday, and the elimination rounds from 9 p.m. to midnight, Sunday.
