Cycle News Staff | September 7, 2021
Vance & Hines Buell’s Eddie Krawiec humbly admits that he had a bit of luck on his way to a win at the Dodge NHRA U.S. Nationals, but nobody wins four World Championships or 49 national events without also having a bit of talent.
By Kevin McKenna | Photos by Matt Polito
Krawiec’s talents were on display at NHRA’s biggest event when he went on to the final round and defeated his teammate, Angelle Sampey for the overall win. Kraweic probably wasn’t the favorite going into the final, but he dug deep and found a way to get the job done with a 6.84-second run that held off Sampey’s 6.88. The win was Krawiec’s third at Indy, which is NHRA’s oldest and most prestigious event.
“I had a little bit of luck and I made some good runs but you still need everything to fall your way,” Krawiec said. “I made a good run in round one and then got lucky in round two when my bike bogged. I was late [leaving the starting line] in the final but my bike made a good run and that was enough.”
Coming into Indy, Kraweic and his Vance & Hines crew were a team in transition. After ending their long association with Harley-Davidson, Krawiec and teammate Andrew Hines missed the first two races of the season while they prepared their two new Buell V-twins. The change has been a positive development, but also meant they’ve had to play catch-up for most of the season. With the six-race Countdown to the Championship looming, both riders were in real danger of missing the playoffs.
“I wasn’t too worried about it to be honest, but looking back, this week could have been a real disaster,” Krawiec said. “Andrew and I have worked hard on these bikes; our whole team has. We had planned to go to St. Louis earlier this week so we could test, but it didn’t happen. The weather wasn’t great, so we just decided to spent more time in our shop. We’re just a few miles from here so we had one of our bikes on the dyno Friday morning and had it at the track on Friday night for the start of qualifying.”
Once qualifying began, Krawiec went to the top spot with a 6.82 run while Hines’ bike bogged off the starting line and he wound up on the bump spot which meant the teammates had to race in the first round.
Krawiec won that battle and then went on to earn wins against Michael Phillips and Joey Gladston before taking on Sampey in the final.
“I feel like I finally got my head out of my butt this weekend,” said Krawiec who was also an Indy winner in 2014 and 2017. “Man, I feel like I’m about to cry like a little baby. This means a lot to me. To have the chance to tune my own bike is special. For the crew behind me and everyone at Vance & Hines, this is for you.”
Following the win, Krawiec has moved to fourth in the Countdown to the Championship, meaning he’s in a prime position to claim his fifth World Championship.
As for Sampey, she was fortunate just to be able to race in Indy after Hurricane Ida devastated her home state of Louisiana. The three-time World Champion had to drive to Mississippi just to catch a flight to Indy, was able to maintain her focus and went to the final following wins against Cory Reed, Charlotte winner Steve Johnson, and defending Indy champ Cory Reed.
The Camping World NHRA Drag Racing series moves to Reading, Pennsylvania, next week where the six-race playoffs will begin. Despite an early loss at Indy, Denso Buell’s Matt Smith is the number-one seed followed by Steve Johnson, Scotty Pollacheck, Krawiec and Sampey.
The series will also include stops in St. Louis, Bristol, Tennessee, Dallas, Las Vegas and Pomona, California.