Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton named Rookie of the Year

The accolades continue to pour in for Erica Enders-Stevens, 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock world champion, as she has been named RACER of the Year and Drag Racer of the Year by the readers of renowned RACER magazine. This is the first time that either award has been presented to a female racer.

The magazine also announced today that NHRA Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton was voted Rookie of the Year by its readers.

Enders-Stevens claimed nearly half of the votes (48.9 percent) from fans for the RACER of the Year title, compared with 6.2 percent for NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick and 5.4 percent for F1’s Lewis Hamilton. She earned 66 percent of the fan vote to win the highly competitive Drag Racer of the Year title. Funny Car series runner-up John Force received the second-most votes in the Drag Racer of the Year voting at 14.6 percent.

Enders-Stevens is the second NHRA driver to ever be named RACER of the Year. John Force accounted for the other two, winning the award in 2010 and 2013.

“Erica Enders-Stevens’ championship victory in Pro Stock grabbed headlines for NHRA far beyond drag racing, and her victory in RACER of the Year voting really ticked the boxes for all those of us who love that category for its sexy cars,” said David Malsher, RACER’s editor.

The 2014 season was a breakthrough season for the veteran Enders-Stevens who was in her first season at the controls of her 200 mph Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro. Enders-Stevens clinched her first championship when she defeated rival Jason Line, her nearest competitor in the points, in a winner take all final-round at the season-ending event in Pomona, Calif.

“The RACER of the Year award has been won by a drag racer only twice before – both times John Force – and Mrs. Enders-Stevens just blew aside Mr. 16-Time Champ in the voting this year,” Malsher said. “To do that for the Drag Racer of the Year award was one thing. But in winning the overall award, she also defeated NASCAR champ Kevin Harvick, Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton and IndyCar champ Will Power. Just like in NHRA Pro Stock, where she had to beat a driver as tough as double-champ Jason Line, she’s beaten the best of the best to earn this award. And this time it’s through people power rather than horsepower.”

Enders-Stevens team raced to six victories and one runner-up finish. She also became the first winner of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, an NHRA Pro Stock specialty race in Las Vegas. She also set both ends of the Pro Stock national record with an elapsed time of 6.464 seconds and a speed of 215.55 mph last season at Englishtown, N.J.

“I am truly honored to receive this award, and I have to thank my team and all my fans for voting,” Enders-Stevens said. “I have always said my fans are the best, and they proved it one more time. Thank you all so much. I'm so thankful for my team owner Richard Freeman, my crew chiefs Rick and Rickie Jones and everyone at Elite for making 2014 so special. We were fast all year, thanks to our tremendous horsepower from Jake Hairston and Nick Ferri, and we were fortunate to win six races. What an honor, and I am so humbled and thankful to represent drag racing and all the women racers out there. To young aspiring people out there struggling and being told you can't reach your dreams, please remember me, a regular 8-year-old kid with big dreams who never quit trying and believing. If I did it, so can you! Do your best, and let God to the rest.”

Crampton is the third NHRA driver to earn RACER’s Rookie of the Year, following Funny Car driver Courtney Force in 2012 and Top Fuel driver Brittany Force in 2013.

Crampton raced to two victories in 2014, the Toyota NHRA Summernationals in New Jersey and the prestigious Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.  He also was named NHRA’s Auto Club Road to the Future Award winner.

“Richie Crampton as our Rookie of the Year is a great feel-good story,” Malsher said. “The kid from Adelaide, Australia, has followed the wheel tracks of stars like Medlen, Dunn, Hight and Neff who went from respected crewmen to the cockpit of a 300-mph-plus car and became winners.”

Crampton joins a distinguished list of past winners of the award, including the Force sisters, Hamilton, Joey Logano, James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Dungey.

“I am ecstatic that I won the 2014 RACER Rookie of the Year award,” Crampton said. “It really just puts the cheery on top of an already amazing rookie season. I couldn't be more blessed that I got the opportunity to drive for Morgan Lucas Racing and work with such a great a group of guys. Without them, my sponsors and my family I would have never been in this position to begin with.”

 
RACER of the Year

1995 Jacques Villeneuve
1996 Jacques Villeneuve
1997 Tommy Kendall
1998 Jeff Gordon
1999 Juan Pablo Montoya
2000 Michael Schumacher
2001 Michael Schumacher
2002 Michael Schumacher
2003 Paul Tracy
2004 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2005 Tony Stewart
2006 Michael Schumacher
2007 Lewis Hamilton
2008 Kyle Busch
2009 Jimmie Johnson
2010 John Force
2011 Tony Stewart
2012 Ryan Hunter-Reay
2013 John Force
2014 Erica Enders-Stevens
 

RACER Drag Racer of the Year
1995 Scott Kalitta
1996 Blaine Johnson
1997 Joe Amato
1998 Joe Amato
1999 John Force
2000 John Force
2001 John Force
2002 John Force
2003 Kenny Bernstein
2004 John Force
2005 Tony Schumacher
2006 John Force
2007 John Force
2008 John Force
2009 Tony Schumacher
2010 John Force
2011 Del Worsham
2012 Antron Brown
2013 John Force
2014 Erica-Enders Stevens

RACER Rookie of the Year

2006 Colin Braun
2007 Lewis Hamilton
2008 Joey Logano
2009 Ben Spies
2010 Ryan Dungey
2011 James Hinchcliffe
2012 Courtney Force
2013 Brittany Force
2014 Richie Crampton

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