K&N's David Rampy Adds Victory Number Eight at Topeka NHRA National
- 27 May 2010
When Rampy rolled into the most recent event, the 22nd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Summer Nationals, he had already been victorious on seven previous occasions and several other final round appearances at the event. Rampy, like many others, competes in two categories on the NHRA circuit, Stock and Competition Eliminator. Much like many other events, he was going rounds in both cars. "I always tell people that the enjoyment I get out of it anyway is just driving both cars," he explained. "So naturally when you can go a bunch of rounds in both cars, it's just an awesome feeling. You're jumping out of one and into the other and you really don't have a lot of time to think about a lot of stuff and you just do it all naturally." After his 331ci engine failed, causing an early exit for Rampy in his Comp Eliminator '32 Bantam during the previous event in Atlanta, the car was now fixed up with his smaller 323ci spare engine and ready for qualifying at Topeka. "The spare engine is a little bit smaller, so we can actually take a little weight out of the car. We put the new motor in and went out for the first qualifying run and it just made an awesome run," said Rampy. "There are just some races where things fall into place," he continued. "I felt like we were one of the fastest cars there, except for Bruno Massel. Of course the air got really bad and being naturally aspirated it really hurts. It hurts everybody except those who have some type of supercharger, turbocharger or whatever it may be." Rampy felt that Massel would be the one guy he would really have to beat and with being on opposite sides of the ladder, that chance wouldn't come until the final. "When Bruno broke during the quarterfinals, that kind of opened the door up a little bit wider," Rampy added. "Last year that is who I ran in the finals and he beat me, so I was looking forward to us meeting up again in the final." Rampy was also doing very well in his The Racers Edge/K&N F/SA 1969 Camaro and made it all the way to the quarterfinals in Stock, when Nick Folk just nipped him by four thousandths of a second at the stripe, in an excellent drag race. But it was Rampy's 1932 Bantam that would carry him to the finals in Comp Eliminator and a first time ever match up with Lou Ficco, Jr, who has been on a winning streak of his own lately. "I had run the left lane all day and in the final I didn't have lane choice and he put me in the right lane," reflected Rampy. "And last year, I red-lighted in the right lane in the final. I was thinking about that. You know you need to have a good light, but that's that fine line that you're concerned with." You don't win seventy-two previous NHRA National events and not understand the visualization of each round that it takes to get there. "I made a couple of tiny adjustments to make sure I would go green in the final and it worked out well," he continued. "It went down about like I thought it would. I felt like we were real close in ET and the cars were close. It was going to come down to who got the better light." Rampy nailed it on the head and his opponent at the starting line and it was pretty must over from there after his .009 to Ficco's .065 reaction time. Sailing on to his seventy-third NHRA National Event win and now eight of those at the NHRA Summer Nationals Topeka event, Rampy was so pleased to be able to grab another Wally for all of his racing partners. "K&N, you know they support us and this is part of the way we support them and give back," he said. "It makes a difference to me when you have people that help you and believe in you like K&N does with us. When you can deliver for them, it just makes you feel a little bit better." Rampy will have one weekend off to enjoy his latest victory before heading out on a tough four week eastern swing, beginning with the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, June 3-6. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
