For drag racing fans on Australia’s east coast, breakfasts tasted just a little bit more flavorful with the news that Adelaide native Richie Crampton had won the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

The GEICO / Lucas Oil Dragster driver used a 3.766-second, 327.98-mph effort Monday to defeat Steve Torrence, who countered with a 3.799, 327.82 on the 1,000-foot course.

For drag racing fans on Australia’s east coast, breakfasts tasted just a little bit more flavorful with the news that Adelaide native Richie Crampton had won the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

The GEICO / Lucas Oil Dragster driver used a 3.766-second, 327.98-mph effort Monday to defeat Steve Torrence, who countered with a 3.799, 327.82 on the 1,000-foot course.

But it was about 7 a.m. Tuesday in Australia when the early risers there watched Internet reports and learned that rookie Crampton had earned his second victory – at this celebrated 60th edition of the NHRA’s most prominent event.

So maybe his friends’ toaster biscuits got a little colder and their cereal a wee bit soggy as they immediately filled up his cell phone with text and voice-mail messages. He already had received 96 before his father was able to contact him to congratulate him.     

So the racer from Down Under was over the top as he joined other first-time Indianapolis winners Alexis DeJoria (Funny Car), Shane Gray (Pro Stock), and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) in the winners circle.

When he won in June at Englishtown, N.J., Crampton – a naturalized U.S. citizen – said he hardly could believe he was the NHRA’s prestigious 100th different Top Fuel winner, his name cemented in American drag-racing lore.

When he won Monday – after denying Tony Schumacher an NHRA-record 10th Indianapolis triumph and eliminating 2013 winner Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence’s father, Billy – Crampton said, “I feel a little more worthy. But I’m a long way from where I grew up, sitting on the couch, trying to read National Dragster and keep up on what’s going on in America.

“I’m so excited that I get to compete with the best guys in the world. To get to drive such a great race car for such a great family and such great sponsors and roll up to the water box . . . It just blows my mind. And I don’t think that feeling will ever go away for me,” he said.

Moreover, he said that “not in my wildest dreams” did he think he would become the 26th different Top Fuel winner at Indianapolis.

This 34-year-old who just upset Schumacher, the racer he called “The King of Indianapolis,” the racer whose team he said “owns this place, it seems,” said he believes he can move up that Countdown ladder from eighth place.

“If we keep this race car running like Aaron has it running right now,” Crampton said, “we should be able to continue to go rounds.”

Now Crampton has been sucked into the "want-to-win-again – have-to-win-again" mentality that besets every successful race-car driver. He's on that performance-pressure treadmill, as much as he might try to mask it, resist it, with his genuinely joyful appreciation.

Still, he said, “It seems weird for me to talk about the championship as a rookie driver. Obviously we’re desperate to finish out the year strongly. And I’ve got my eye set on that AAA Road to the Future Award (presented to the NHRA’s Top professional rookie).”

It does sound a bit surprising that Crampton, who managed the clutch situation at Morgan Lucas Racing for the past seven years, and crew chief Aaron Brooks have turned the season around. After he won his first round-win ever, in February at the Winternationals, he carved out a rut of six consecutive first-round losses. But Crampton and Brooks had faith.

“We needed to find our rhythm,” Crampton said. “I knew we’d get back to where we left off last season [with a strong driving performance from Morgan Lucas]. We just weren’t where we needed to be.”

The situation is different today.

“Aaron Brooks has got both Morgan’s car and mine right where he wants them. He’s doing a fantastic job. All the parts are working right. Everything we’ve been testing earlier this season is just now starting to show some potential. I know when I roll up here [to the starting line] that Aarons got it covered,” Crampton said.

The victory, by .0501 seconds (or about 24 feet), salved some of the sting of missing out on $100,000 as the runner-up rather than the winner in Saturday’s Traxxas Nitro Shootout.

Monday’s result also was a bit of payback for Torrence, who beat Crampton on a holeshot at the previous race, the Lucas Oil-sponsored event, at Brainerd, Minn.  

“Steve-o is one of my great friends,” Crampton said, adding that they decided to “go have fun” in the final and claiming that “If I had been runner-up, I’d have been almost as happy.”

Torrence, owner-driver of the Capco Contractors Inc. Dragster, was denied a U.S. Nationals victory for the second straight year. This runner-up finish will go with his two runner-up finishes here in the Traxxas Shootout.

The happy news for Torrence was that he ended a season-long drought for final-round appearances, and he still has his 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster victory here to savor.

Torrence advanced past JR Todd, Larry Dixon, and Khalid al Balooshi to make his eighth career final-round appearance in his quest for a fifth Top Fuel victory.  

With a new race car, new camouflage paint job, and a new helmet, Torrence said he was trying to change his luck.
 
“We had to do something to change our luck,” Torrence said. “I figure maybe we could sneak up on these guys. I’ve got to credit all my guys. They have worked their butts off, and finally we saw some results here.”
 
Said Torrence, though, “We’re disappointed. You don’t get that many chances to win Indy. But we know we’ve got a bad-ass hot rod going to Charlotte. I think we can play in this game.”

Doug Kalitta will led the Top Fuel field into the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ six-race Countdown to the Championship. It will begin two weeks from now at zMAX Dragway at Charlotte with the Carolina Nationals.

Antron Brown, who like Kalitta lost in the opening round of eliminations Monday, is the No. 2 seed. The remainder of the  championship-eligible racers are, in order, Shawn Langdon, Tony Schumacher, Torrence, Spencer Massey, Spencer Massey, Khalid alBalooshi, Crampton, Brittany Force and JR Todd.

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