Crampton, Hight, Enders, Krawiec Win at Brainerd
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| Robert Hight |
Robert Hight won his first Funny Car national event of the season on Sunday, stealing the thunder from two fellow drivers who recorded the quickest and fastest Funny Car passes in NHRA history during final eliminations in the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.
Richie Crampton (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec also went to the winners circle in one the biggest record-breaking events in the history of the NHRA, with four National Records set in Top Fuel and Funny Car.
Cool, overcast skies created ideal track conditions during Sunday’s finals, as “Fast" Jack Beckman continued his record-breaking streak during Saturday’s qualifying, recording the lowest ET in Funny car history for the third week in a row, posting a 3.901 in Saturday’s opening round.
Beckman, who set the new National Record of 3.921 three weeks in Sonoma and then ran a 3.912 the following week at Seattle, needed to run better than 3.940 to certify a new National Record.
Coming into Sunday’s race as the no. 1 qualifier, Beckman barely survived his first-round matchup against Bob Bode to get another try in the quarter finals, but just minutes later, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan roared down the track with a record-shattering 3.879 at 329.58 mph marking the quickest and fastest Funny Car run ever in the history of the NHRA.
Hagan, who became the first driver to eclipse the 4-second mark in September of 2011, becomes the first driver to run under 3.9 seconds
Hagan’s euphoria was short-lived, though, as he faced Beckman in a quarter-final matchup pitting the two quickest Funny car drivers in history.
Beckman, needing a quick run to certify his time as the National Record, bested Hagan with a 3.903 to make the record official – and collect the critical 20 bonus points.
"We left with the record and that's 20 extra points," said Beckman, who leads the Funny car points standing by 50 points over Hagan. "That could be big."
Although Hagan wasn’t able to certify his ET as a national record, his speed of 327.19 was enough at earn the National Record for the fastest speed. Beckman, though, wasn’t able to advance to the final round, losing to DSR teammate Tommy Johnson, Jr. in the semi-finals.
Hight, who hadn’t won an event since winning at Denver last July and had made it to just one final round all season, advanced to the final with wins over Ron Capps, Brian Stewart and Tim Wilkerson to face Johnson, Jr. for their first-ever final-round matchup.
In the final, Johnson, Jr. was first off the line but Hight tracked him down by the 330 foot mark and held on to win with a 3.956, 323.58 over Johnson, Jr., who went 4.130, 316.52.
“We had a real good car," said Hight, celebrating his 35th-career victory. “It was running good, but you never know what you’re going to get in these kinds of conditions. This thing was a handful to drive today. We changed a bunch of things on the car, and it’s carrying the front end. It’s tough. I’m not going to get cocky. The DSR cars have been dominant. We closed the gap a bunch this weekend, and I know we have a lot of work to do. We’re going to keep it up and test in Indy."
The records continued to fall in Top Fuel as Spencer Massey set a new National Record for the fastest Top Fuel speed, clocking in at 332.75 mph in a losing effort against Larry Dixon in the opening round.
Just minutes later, Antron Brown stepped up to post the quickest elapsed time ever in NHRA, going 3.680 with a win over J.R. Todd in the opening round, then beating out teammate Tony Schumacher with a 3.696 to certify the National Record.
Not to be outdone, Shawn Langdon topped Brown’s record with a low ET of 3.662, but wasn’t able to collect the record before falling to Crampton in the semi-finals.
Crampton, the no. 1 Top Fuel qualifier, moved on to face Brittany Force for the first time in the finals, winning out with a clean pass of 3.695 at 325.30 as Force slowed up at the end of the run.
The victory was Crampton’s fourth on the season and sixth of his career, advancing him to third in the Top Fuel points standings behind Schumacher and Brown.
“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 racecars out there. I keep forgetting that I ran a (3.69) in the final, because winning the event is so important. You want to carry momentum into the Countdown. The last two rounds today showed what kind of racecar we have and we are right where we need to be for Indy and for the Countdown."
In Pro Stock, Erica Enders notched her fifth win of the season with a holeshot victory over Jason Line to regain the top spot in the point standings.
Enders picked up early-round wins over Mark Hogan, Bo Butner Chris McGaha to advance to her first final round in seven races. In the final, Enders was first off the line with a .014 light and hung on pick up the win light with a 6.552, 210.34 over a quicker, but losing Line, who ran 6.541, 211.06.
Enders now holds a 16-point lead over Greg Anderson, who lost out in the quarter-finals.
“This is a really crucial time in our season, especially heading into Indy, where it’s worth points and a half, so it’s a great time to get that momentum to swing back to our side of the fence," said Enders.
Eddie Krawiec won his third straight and continues to run away with the points lead in Pro Stock Motorcycle, besting teammate Andrew Hines in the finals.
Krawiec defeated Hector Arana, Sr., LE Tonglet and Matt Smith before moving on to face Hines in the final, taking advantage of a slow start by Hines at the light to take the win with a 6.844, 194.30 for his third win of the season and 30th of his career.
Krawiec now leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings by a whopping 166 points over Hector Arana, Jr.