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They met in the NHRA Top Fuel final round at both Las Vegas and Topeka earlier this year, and both times second-year driver Richie Crampton got the better of three-time series champion Larry Dixon.
Crampton did it again Sunday at Tennessee's Bristol Dragway, winning the Thunder Valley Nationals and erasing the Dixon/Fathers Day mystique.
With his winning 3.884-second elapsed time at 321.04 mph in the Lucas Oil Dragster, Crampton kept pace with Antron Brown, his opening-round victim Sunday. Both have a Top Fuel-leading three victories this season.
Dixon led late in the final-round run but encountered some kind of mechanical problem, allowing Crampton to power past him for his fifth overall victory. Dixon's clocking in the C&J Energy Services/Casedhole Dragster out of the Bob Vandergriff Racing shop was 4.004, 250.41.
"I could see Larry's nose poking out there in the right lane ahead of me," Crampton said of the showdown," and it seemed like he was going to get the win. Evidently he had some trouble downtrack, and we were able to get around him. It looked like a pretty close drag race from where I was sitting."
Crampton said, "I know how good Larry has been on Fathers Day, but we had our secret weapons."
They were daughter Emma, born just 12 days before his first victory, at Englishtown, N.J., and Emma's mother, Stephanie Lasko.
"That was special, for me to get a Fathers Day trophy with our kid in the winners circle," Crampton said. "Once again, everything was looking like Larry was going to get it, but Aaron Brooks, man . . ."
He was alluding to crew chief Aaron Brooks, who traditionally has been comfortable and extremely competent on cool racetracks but is beginning to master the hot, tricky ones, as well.
"We all know Aaron Brooks can swing for the fence when the weather is cool. But he has been working on this hot-weather-track race car package, and obviously it's working out really good," Crampton said.
"I didn’t even think about pedaling the car all day. I just know that Aaron had it dialed in and it just would run down there, If it would run on all eight [cylinders], it was probably going to win a round," he said. "That's the type of confidence I have as a new racer. I can't say enough about Aaron Brooks."
Crampton said he considers himself "spoiled to drive for such a great crew chief and for a great team like this."
It did, against some of the class' top opponents. Crampton defeated Brown, Shawn Langdon, Doug Kalitta, then Dixon to improve his elimination-round record to 19-8 and move into the No. 3 slot in the standings.
"We had a tough day," Crampton said, paying respect to all four of his Sunday foes. "We ended up starting No. 11, which is a little daunting to begin with, especially if you have to race Antron Brown in the first round. But obviously it all worked out. I used to watch all of those guys on TV when I was a kid – well, except Shawn, because he's a similar age. It speaks volumes about how special our Lucas Oil team is.
"To have that winning record against Larry Dixon is pretty special. The law of averages says that he's going to get me back real soon," he said. "I just can't believe we keep racing each other during final rounds. But they're a great group of guys, and with everything they've been through this season, sentimentally, they've got to get a win sooner or later."
This race concludes a stretch of three East Coast races in as many weekends. The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will reconvene July 2-5 at Norwalk, Ohio, for the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals.
Normally, Crampton wouldn’t mind leaving the hills of Tennessee (although he said, "It's always been one of my favorite racetracks to come to").
"In all honesty, it has never been that good to MLR [Morgan Lucas Racing]. We struggled here in the past with Morgan [when Crampton was the clutch specialist], and even last year I didn’t have a lot of success. So to get a win and turn all that stuff around here is huge. It's hue to win at this historic racetrack," he said.
Bristol Dragway showed Crampton its Southern Hospitality Sunday. Dixon's consolation prize was setting the track speed record at 331.04 in qualifying No. 5.
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