Crampton to Race for CRAFTSMAN
Richie Crampton, who won the prestigious NHRA Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in his rookie, 2014 season (with Morgan Lucas Racing) will have a new partner for his Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster.
Starting at that same race, the final stop of NHRA’s Mello Yello “regular” season, CRAFTSMAN, the Stanley Black & Decker brand, will come onboard to serve as primary sponsor beginning at Indianapolis Labor Day weekend and through the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
The transplanted Australian, now in his first full season with Kalitta Motorsports, said, “I am very excited to represent an iconic band like CRAFTSMAN as we finish out the NHRA season. The CRAFTSMAN identity is built on quality-made, high-performance products and we look forward to bringing that same mentality to the race track, delivering success to the brand.”
Currently ninth in the point standings, thanks to his first victory with team owner Connie Kalitta’s dragster at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals in March, Crampton has relied on consistency with his owner – and Rob Flynn – tuned dragster to retain a spot in the 10-driver playoffs. The CRAFTSMAN liveried black-and-red dragster will be campaigned in all six Countdown races starting at Reading and continuing to St Louis, Dallas, Charlotte, Las Vegas and the Pomona finals.
CRAFTSMAN recently joined the Stanley Black & Decker family; the company is nearing its hundredth anniversary of designing and constructing reliable tools for amateur and professional mechanics, contractors and home builders.
“CRAFTSMAN is a brand built on pride,” said Allison Nicolaidis, chief marketing officer for global tools and storage at Stanley Black & Decker. “We are proud of this new partnership and look forward to seeing Richie behind the wheel of the CRAFTSMAN Top Fuel dragster. We’re excited to partner with Richie and the Kalitta Motorsports team.”