Krawiec Earns Third Indy Title
V
ance & 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 na-
tional events without also having
a bit of talent.
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 pre-
pared 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 Champion-
ship 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
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Eddie Krawiec (far lane) defeated Angelle Sampey in the NHRA
Pro Stock Motorcycle final at Indianapolis.
PHOTOS: MATT POLITO
