Lucas Eyeing 100th Round of Competition
BRAINERD, Minn. -- Young drag racing standout Morgan Lucas is simultaneously feeling the highs and lows of competition. On one hand, he is very much aware of his recent string of bad luck in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel ranks. However, his spirits are buoyed by his effort in his A-Fuel dragster on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, where he is burning up the track with back-to-back wins at Infineon Raceway
"I'm lucky to be working with two outstanding organizations," said a fortunate Lucas. "We have a great Top Fuel team with John Stewart and Ronnie Thompson and a tremendous Alcohol team led by Tom Conway. I have to say thanks to my Alcohol team right now, because Conway has us flying and we've won two races in a row. It's interesting to see how it's thrown a monkey wrench in the Lucas Oil points standings, and we're having a lot of fun doing it."
With the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway on the immediate horizon, Lucas has set his sights on yet another goal. If Lucas should reach the quarterfinal round of eliminations on Sunday, he will attain his 100th round of NHRA POWERade Top Fuel competition. Entering the event, he stands at 98 rounds competed (52-46) with a .531 winning average. Naturally, he hopes to exceed the century mark this weekend and increase his percentage.
"It would cool to say that in two years time that I was able to make 100 elimination rounds which is what will happen if we can go to the quarterfinals," said Lucas. "That's a big deal to the Lucas Oil team and me. The season hasn't been going the way we would have liked and we would certainly like to break our Top Fuel losing streak. I want to say we want to win, but I don't want to jinx it, so but we'll focus on going some rounds and getting the car on the right track."
It's hard to believe that at the age of only 22-years old, Lucas is celebrating his second anniversary behind the wheel of the 7,000-horsepower Lucas Oil Top Fuel rail. He started his career with Joe Amato racing before introducing his own team this year.
"This is my parents' race and it's a huge weekend for the entire Lucas Oil organization, so it would be nice to win for them in either category," said Lucas. "This is my third consecutive race at BIR and so far we haven't had much luck driving the Top Fuel car with two first round losses, but we did win in my Top Alcohol dragster in 2004.
The Top Fuel car will need some good air to perform at its maximum. It's the same for our Alcohol car -- good air is a necessity and we hope the weather will come around and give us what we want."
The Lucas Oil Nationals will begin at Brainerd International Raceway on Friday, August 11 with qualifying starting at 3:30 p.m. (CDT) and 6:15 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 12:00 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:00 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, August 13.
LUCAS OIL RACING DRIVER NOTES:
Morgan Lucas has five runner-up finishes, which the Riverside, Calif. driver reached in only his seventh (04 Las Vegas2), eighth (04 Pomona2), 10th (05 Phoenix), 20th (05 St. Louis) and 21st (05 Denver) starts. He finished fifth in the 2005 NHRA Top Fuel Point standings with 1,357 points after completing his first full season on the competitive 23-race NHRA circuit. He is presently eighth in the 2006 standings with 686 points and trails the championship lead by 419 points.
Lucas' quickest elapsed time is 4.474 seconds, set on Feb. 12, 2005 at Pomona Raceway. He sped to his fastest top speed of 328.94 mph on May 29 in the first round of eliminations at the 2005 O'Reilly Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas. He won two Budweiser low qualifier awards. His first on May 14 at the Atlanta Dragway recording a time 4.541 seconds and Oct. 22 on 'The Strip' at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway setting the pace with his run of 4.508 seconds. Morgan Lucas' first Top Fuel event came behind the wheel of the Joe Amato-owned dragster at the 2004 Lucas Oil Nationals at the Brainerd (MN.) International Raceway on August 15, 2004. DOB: November 27, 1983.
LUCAS OIL NATIONALS TELEVISION ADVISORY
(ALL TIMES EASTERN - ALL PROGRAMS ON ESPN2 HD)
QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS
Saturday, August 12 6:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.
NHRA 2DAY
Sunday, August 13 11:30 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.
FINAL ROUND COVERAGE
Sunday, August 13 7:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Encore Performance
Friday, August 18 3:00 A.M. - 5:00 A.M.
