Richie Crampton Wins Top Fuel Final At NHRA Nationals In Brainerd
BRAINERD, Minn. (AP) — Richie Crampton raced to his fourth Top Fuel victory of the season Sunday to close out a record-setting day at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.
Top Fuel and Funny Car teams took advantage of cool, overcast conditions at Brainerd International Raceway to break all four national records in those categories.
In Top Fuel, Antron Brown set the elapsed-time record at 3.680 seconds, and Spencer Massey broke the speed mark at 332.75 mph. In Funny Car, Jack Beckman set the time record at 3.901, and Matt Hagan broke the speed mark at 329.58. Hagan also had the quickest Funny Car time in history at 3.879, and Shawn Langdon the quickest Top Fuel time at 3.664, but they failed to certify those times.
Crampton beat Brittany Force in the final round with a 3.695 at 325.30.
"This race is going to go down in the history books," Crampton said. "It was just some amazing racing today and there were some super-fast race cars out there. I keep forgetting that I ran a (3.69) in the final, because winning the event is so important."
Robert Hight won in Funny Car, Erica Enders in Pro Stock, and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Hight earned his first Funny Car victory in more than a year and the 35th of his career by beating Tommy Johnson Jr. in the final round. Hight powered his Chevy Camaro to a 3.956 at 323.58.
Enders moved back into the series points lead in Pro Stock by claiming her fifth victory of the season and 17th of her career. She used a quicker reaction time and a final-round performance of 6.552 at 210.34 to edge Jason Line.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Krawiec took his third consecutive victory by racing past teammate Andrew Hines in an all-Harley-Davidson final round. Krawiec finished in 6.844 at 194.30 for his 30th victory.
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