Richie Crampton has delivered a huge win for Samsel’s Racing and Noonan Race Engineering, storming to victory at the NHRA US Nationals in Top Alcohol Dragster.
Racing alongside teammate fellow Australian team mate Jamie Noonan, who is chasing the NHRA Top Alcohol Championship after recently claiming the NHRA Eastern Division Championship, Crampton qualified sixth in the very same car he drove to his 2014 US Nationals Top Fuel victory.
Crampton did hold down the top spot in qualifying with a 5.34 but an electrical gremlin in the final round shut the car down during the burnout and he was subsequently bumped down the order. Noonan qualified fourth on a 5.27 going into race day.
It was a tough pill to swallow for Noonan with tyre shake robbing him of a round one victory over Corey Michalek, however Crampton shot into round two with a 5.29 to 5.35 win against John Gutierrez. Stepping up with a 5.26 gave Crampton the win light against Angelle Sampey in round two. The semi final wasn’t pretty with Crampton and Brandon Greco up in smoke on the hit, Crampton with the experience stabbed the throttle multiple times to head to his 14th NHRA Final.
His other 13 were in Top Fuel, with 10 wins.
Crampton was unstoppable in the final, dropping a 0.032 to 0.074 holeshot at the tree against TJ Tindle and stormed away to the Wally with a 5.255 best run of the event.
The victory is an especially sweet one for the Samsel team, who have been chasing a US Nationals title for 35 years. For Crampton it was a phenomenal comeback season. The 2014 NHRA Rookie of the Year suffered a horrendous crash and injuries during Drag Week when his 57 Chev wagon crashed into a pole driving between tracks in 2020, and has done little racing until he joined the Samsel team earlier this season to partner Noonan in his championship chase.
Noonan leads the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster National Championship as he looks to be only the second Australian behind Steve Harker in Top Alcohol Funny Car to win a NHRA National Championship.
