Morgan Lucas Racing
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Tue, Feb. 12th 2008
Ya know what’s really strange about the first race of the
year? The off-season seemed so long to people like me who get to goof off for a
few months but the off-season goes by in a nano-second for the guys who race.
Everything just dragged on since November for me without any NHRA drag racing
going on. But when I spoke to a bunch of racers in Pomona this weekend, they all basically said
they couldn’t believe the season was beginning again so soon.
Whatever.
By the way, this is the second season for me writing my Over-Center commentaries for Morgan’s website. I’ll just quickly repeat what I said last year and that is I can write whatever I like in this space and nobody can protest. I like that because in all of the other writing assignments I am responsible for, there are certain guidelines and ground rules. Morgan says, “Screw that. Just write whatever you want.”
Cool.
What I wanted to hit in my first column this year is whether the new “90% nitro” rule is a good idea. A lot of racers broke a lot of stuff this weekend in Top Fuel and Funny Car and the conclusion is that it’s going to take a little time to figure out the subtle differences that the extra 5% of fuel will cause on the tune-ups. I’m not a tuner and I don’t know squat about the complexities of nitromethane but we had to sit through some oildowns and track cleanups in Pomona and one of the reasons the nitro limit was first lowered in 2000 was because race days were becoming waaaaayyyyyy too long. Sunday’s first round of Top Fuel and Funny Car took an hour-and-a-half.
If that kind of time frame repeats itself a few more times this year, we’re going back to 85%, kids—trust me on that one.
Morgan had a so-so weekend in both Top Fuel and Top Alcohol Dragster. He qualified No. 1 in his A/Fuel car by a few hundredths of a second but got stopped in the second round by Duane Shields who went on to win the race. In Top Fuel, he looked strong in qualifying, starting eliminations in the 4th spot (Remember his DNQ at this race last year?). But after picking up his first round win of ’08 against Bob Vandergriff in Round 1 and stopping Hillary Will in the second round, Morgan got edged by Cory Mac in the semi’s. I know, I mean I KNOW he would have loved to get to the finals in the first race of the year, but I honestly have to say that based on his really strong showing in pre-season testing and some quick, consistent laps in qualifying, Morg’s got a pretty bitchin’ program in hand for this year.
J.R.’s weekend was wretched. I really feel for him. He tagged the wall with his brand new car in qualifying; got into the field with a great effort in the backup car, then loses in the first round to Hillary Will. Morgan and J.R. are good buds, though, and they are a great fit. So many racers have lost the ability to have fun and are carrying around so much pressure on their backs. I won’t name names but not every Top Fuel pit area at a national event is bright and breezy. Morgan and J.R. are two young dudes who want to win but aren’t going to become manic depressives when the road gets a bit rocky.
Last year, I’m not so sure I would have said that as I watched Morgan suffer nasty break after nasty break, work through personnel shakeups, and endure an unsuccessful campaign that missed the cut in the Countdown. I think having J.R. around this year is going to make Morgan a better racer and help to keep him positive if the Crap Fairy makes another visit.
Hey, we’re racing again. Let’s head for Phoenix.