Lucas sails to semifinals
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/m_lucas.jpg" alt="m_lucas" align="right"borders="0"/>
Richmond, VA (10-8-08) -- Morgan Lucas, driving his Lucas Oil Stabilizer Top Fuel dragster raced to his third semi-finals round finish of the 2008 POWERade season before bowing out to a strong Tony Schumacher at the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Lucas started his day by taking out the No. 2 contender in the POWERade Countdown to the Championship; Cory McClenathan in the first round of eliminations after Lucas ran a consistent time of 3.881 seconds, 309.70 mph to Cory Mac’s backpedaling run of 3.970 seconds at a speed 307.37 mph.
In taking the first round win, that advanced him to the quarterfinals taking along with him his teammate, J.R. Todd for only the second time of the 2008 Top Fuel season since the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Mn. in August. His colleague, Todd took out the No. 4 challenger in the Countdown, Larry Dixon in his first round of Sunday’s eliminations.
Lucas was adjacent to Bob Vandergriff in his quarterfinals race and won again taking him to the semi-finals for the first time since Chicago in June. Lucas’ triumph was achieved early on the run after Vandergriff lost traction offering the smooth sailing Morgan Lucas clear passage to the finish line running a time of 3.861 seconds, 308.85 mph, his best of the weekend.
It was the semifinals round that dealt Lucas his biggest jolt during eliminations when Tony Schumacher ran a heart-stopping time of 3.795 seconds, 314.68 mph to Lucas’ pass of 3.885 seconds, 308.21 mph ending his prosperous day.
“Right now everyone is chasing that black and gold car over there,” said an upbeat Lucas, who reached his 20th semi-final round of his career. “Alan (Johnson) and Tony are a great combination with Tony being a great driver and Alan being a great crew chief. We’re in the process of basically getting ready for next year and trying to get the bugs worked out. As far as I’m concerned, the car went down the track three times today. I struggled in the first part of the day, my Lucas Oil crew carried me, and we got a couple of win lights. We pulled it together for that last run, but didn’t run as quick as we would have liked to and the win light didn’t come on in that round. It’s just as simple as that. We’ve got two more races to win one this year, if not, we’ve got a big year ahead of us next season and we’ll see what happens.”
Lucas qualified in the lucky No. 13 starting position in the ultra-competitive Top Fuel field by completing qualifying with his pass of 3.890 seconds, 307.30 mph.
Lucas stays in the No. 12 position in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel points standings with 901 points after the Virginia Nationals
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/m_lucas.jpg" alt="m_lucas" align="right"borders="0"/>
Richmond, VA (10-8-08) -- Morgan Lucas, driving his Lucas Oil Stabilizer Top Fuel dragster raced to his third semi-finals round finish of the 2008 POWERade season before bowing out to a strong Tony Schumacher at the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Lucas started his day by taking out the No. 2 contender in the POWERade Countdown to the Championship; Cory McClenathan in the first round of eliminations after Lucas ran a consistent time of 3.881 seconds, 309.70 mph to Cory Mac’s backpedaling run of 3.970 seconds at a speed 307.37 mph.
In taking the first round win, that advanced him to the quarterfinals taking along with him his teammate, J.R. Todd for only the second time of the 2008 Top Fuel season since the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Mn. in August. His colleague, Todd took out the No. 4 challenger in the Countdown, Larry Dixon in his first round of Sunday’s eliminations.
Lucas was adjacent to Bob Vandergriff in his quarterfinals race and won again taking him to the semi-finals for the first time since Chicago in June. Lucas’ triumph was achieved early on the run after Vandergriff lost traction offering the smooth sailing Morgan Lucas clear passage to the finish line running a time of 3.861 seconds, 308.85 mph, his best of the weekend.
It was the semifinals round that dealt Lucas his biggest jolt during eliminations when Tony Schumacher ran a heart-stopping time of 3.795 seconds, 314.68 mph to Lucas’ pass of 3.885 seconds, 308.21 mph ending his prosperous day.
“Right now everyone is chasing that black and gold car over there,” said an upbeat Lucas, who reached his 20th semi-final round of his career. “Alan (Johnson) and Tony are a great combination with Tony being a great driver and Alan being a great crew chief. We’re in the process of basically getting ready for next year and trying to get the bugs worked out. As far as I’m concerned, the car went down the track three times today. I struggled in the first part of the day, my Lucas Oil crew carried me, and we got a couple of win lights. We pulled it together for that last run, but didn’t run as quick as we would have liked to and the win light didn’t come on in that round. It’s just as simple as that. We’ve got two more races to win one this year, if not, we’ve got a big year ahead of us next season and we’ll see what happens.”
Lucas qualified in the lucky No. 13 starting position in the ultra-competitive Top Fuel field by completing qualifying with his pass of 3.890 seconds, 307.30 mph.
Lucas stays in the No. 12 position in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel points standings with 901 points after the Virginia Nationals
