This win was a long time coming for veteran Pro Stock driver Deric Kramer. 

How long? Over three years, back on Oct. 14, 2019 at the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals.

He ended that drought Sunday at the same track with a win in the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C.

“The GetBioFuel Chevy Camaro is a fun car to drive, that’s first and foremost,” Kramer said. “That right there is enough to keep someone wanting to be out here. But once you hoist the Wally and you get that feeling ... my very first opponent that I ever raced against in Pro Stock, Jason Line, said my very first race, 'The moment you win one all you want to do is win another.' When the drought is so long you think that it is never going to happen again and when it finally does euphoria just washes over you.”

The win was the fifth of Kramer's NHRA Pro Stock career. He had two each in 2018 (Topeka, Kan., and Brainerd, Minn.) and 2019 (Chicago and Charlotte).

Kramer won the quad in Round 3 with a 6.555-second elapsed time at 208.88 mph. Dallas Glenn was second at 6.581 seconds, Matt Hartford (9.252) was third, and Fernando Cuadro Jr. had a redlight start.
Kramer arrived in Charlotte fresh off a trip to the Round 3 quad in Las Vegas before coming up short against Glenn.

“We’ve been, as a team, struggling with the car the last couple of years -- just little gremlins that would occasionally show up -- and we were able to kind of solve those right towards the end of last year,” said Kramer, who finished 10th in the 2022 points standings. “Then we built some momentum through the offseason, and you go to a finals in a race (in Vegas) and we stayed and tested the next day and just getting more and more laps makes me comfortable; gets the crew more comfortable and we get more data. It all compiles and you get this compounded effect for a victory.

“In that test session, we found a lot of small stuff. We were getting a handle on changes we made in the offseason. We fixed our gremlins in the past year and got new stuff over the offseason, and we wanted to get a handle on the new powerplant, and I think we did that pretty well.”

When the car is running well, it is good news for Kramer.

“It is great,” he said. “If the car is consistent and the car is fast you know you have a car underneath you that takes pressure off you. All you have to do is go out there and do your job as best you can and let the chips fall where they do. When the car is running that good, you have a really good chance to keep going.”

Matt Hartford, the No. 1 qualifier in Charlotte, was in all three quads with Kramer. Hartford won quad 1 and Kramer returned the favor in quad 2. Then Kramer got the win in quad 3.

“It is a great experience,” Kramer said about racing against Hartford three times in one day. “We have had a lot of runs against each other in the past couple of years, and as long as win lights keeping coming on in my lane, I look forward to it.”
Although Kramer defeated Hartford in quad 2, he wasn’t putting much stock in the win.

“To me the Four-Wides are awesome. I love them, and they are probably my favorite races on the circuit,” Kramer said. “There is so much chaos. There is so much different. I just enjoy it. I just enjoy the opportunity to try and be in the next round, that’s all you are really looking for. You are looking for any light. Until today, I couldn’t tell if blinking was good or solid was good. It is definitely one or the other for me and I’m happy to have them both lit.”

Up next on the NHRA national event schedule is the Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance in Chicago, May 19-21. Chicago is returning to the schedule this season, and Kramer was the track’s last Pro Stock champ in 2019.
 
“I came from a final-round appearance in the last four-wide (in Las Vegas), then I won this final round here in Charlotte and we are going to Chicago where I’m the defending champ. I think that is all I can say right there,” Kramer said.