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NHRA
NHRA: Lucas Takes Rain-Delayed Top Fuel Gatornationals Win
Thanks to the second-quickest run in NHRA history, Morgan Lucas and his Top Fuel dragster stormed to win the rain-delayed Gatornationals on Monday afternoon.
For Morgan Lucas, the rain delay was worth the wait. (Photo: NHRA)
Rainy days and Mondays never get Morgan Lucas down.
Thanks to the second-quickest run in NHRA history, Lucas and his GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster stormed to the title of the rain-delayed Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals on Monday afternoon.
Lucas is used to rain delays. His win in Memphis in 2009 was a carbon copy of this one as it too was postponed to a Monday finish because of rain. Lucas' three other wins – Pomona last year and Atlanta and Brainerd in '09 – also came after lengthy weather delays, although they were completed in one day.
No matter; Lucas will take a Wally any way he can get one.
"I would love to win one of these in a normal situation," Lucas said. "But the bottom line is – as (former Top Fuel champion) Larry Dixon said on the P.A. system earlier – there's no asterisks next to the wins when you talk about them in the history books. For us, when we put these trophies on the shelf, we don't really care how we get them. We just like to get them and know that we worked hard to get there and have it."
The victory was Lucas' first at the Gatornationals and first since winning the season-opener at Pomona in 2011. He also earned enough points Monday to lock up a berth in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout to be held during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, where the GEICO/Lucas Oil team could win $100,000.
After his parachutes popped out early in a fortunate first-round win over Brady Kalivoda, Lucas stormed past Spencer Massey in Sunday's second round with a pass of 3.747 seconds at 322.73 mph that at the time was the third-quickest ET in history.
Monday, he went faster. In the semifinals against Doug Kalitta, Lucas rolled to a 3.746-second run at 321.50 mph. That set up a final-round date with Tony Schumacher. Lucas had lost to Schumacher in three final rounds before knocking him off in Memphis.
But Monday, as Schumacher smoked the tires in his U.S. Army dragster, Lucas poured on the steam with a run of 3.743 seconds at 326.87 mph.
"You have to ride the wave while it's up because it's not always going to be up," Lucas said. "You can't always count on everything going perfect and smooth and always having success. We might go through a stretch of first-round losses or maybe not qualifying for a race. There's variables that can happen in this sport to everybody. You just have to be able to take it in stride.
"Right now, my confidence is sky high. I've never had a better group of guys to work with. It means the world to me to be part of this team."
Lucas now holds three of the five quickest runs in Top Fuel history, as his 3.743 is second, with the 3.746 fourth and the 3.747 fifth.
Robert Hight won a pedal-fest over Johnny Gray in Funny Car, as both Hight's Auto Club Mustang and Gray's Service Central Dodge smoked the tires and were on and off the throttle. Hight's pass was the "best" at 4.866 seconds at 236.05 mph, while Gray limped across the line 6.074 at 116.09 mph.
"I didn't expect that at all," Hight said. "(Crew chief) Jimmy Prock said he was going to back it off because the track was warming up and from what I felt we backed it off too much, and it was weak and shook. It shook and I had to pedal it. Sometimes as a driver you want to be perfect and you want your car to be flawless, but sometimes as a driver it's cool to win a race like that, a good ol' pedal-fest. It doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you get the win light."
It was Hight's second victory of the season, 25th of his career and first at Gainesville.
The Pro Stock trophy was won on driving skill, too, as Mike Edwards ripped off a .003-seconds reaction time to beat Greg Anderson's quicker elapsed time. Edwards made a run of 6.566 seconds at 211.30 mph in his Penhall Pontiac GXP, beating Anderson's 6.538 at 211.69 mph. Anderson's Summit Pontiac, though, was .070 seconds off the line.
Edwards' win came after Anderson won in Pomona and teammate Jason Line won in Phoenix.
"I won on a holeshot, but I really can't explain it," Edwards said. "Those guys have been to the final round in all three races, so I knew I had to do something. You can never be late against those guys. You've got to go on time. I was very concerned about not having lane choice in the final. I didn't get down the track in that lane either time in qualifying but I'm guessing maybe something about the rain helped us with our set-up."
Eddie Krawiec opened his defense of his Pro Stock Motorcycle championship with a wire-to-wire, record-setting weekend. Krawiec won the No. 1 qualifier with a national ET record of 6.750 seconds, and then stormed through the field in eliminations.
He beat Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Andrew Hines in the final, winning with a run of 6.822 seconds at 194.94 mph. Hines came up just short with a pass of 6.861 seconds at 194.55 mph. It was Krawiec's third consecutive Gatornationals victory.
"I'd say this is a great way to start a championship defense," Krawiec said. "I had a great bike from the time we rolled it off the truck. We had low ET of every round except one. It was also a great way to roll out our new re-designed bikes which are based on the 2012 Harley Night Rods. We tested a little this off-season and we worked hard and the results showed. Unfortunately, there was no 200-mph run. If I had done that, I could have retired. I guess I was not meant to retire."
Thanks to the second-quickest run in NHRA history, Lucas and his GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster stormed to the title of the rain-delayed Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals on Monday afternoon.
Lucas is used to rain delays. His win in Memphis in 2009 was a carbon copy of this one as it too was postponed to a Monday finish because of rain. Lucas' three other wins – Pomona last year and Atlanta and Brainerd in '09 – also came after lengthy weather delays, although they were completed in one day.
No matter; Lucas will take a Wally any way he can get one.
"I would love to win one of these in a normal situation," Lucas said. "But the bottom line is – as (former Top Fuel champion) Larry Dixon said on the P.A. system earlier – there's no asterisks next to the wins when you talk about them in the history books. For us, when we put these trophies on the shelf, we don't really care how we get them. We just like to get them and know that we worked hard to get there and have it."
The victory was Lucas' first at the Gatornationals and first since winning the season-opener at Pomona in 2011. He also earned enough points Monday to lock up a berth in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout to be held during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, where the GEICO/Lucas Oil team could win $100,000.
After his parachutes popped out early in a fortunate first-round win over Brady Kalivoda, Lucas stormed past Spencer Massey in Sunday's second round with a pass of 3.747 seconds at 322.73 mph that at the time was the third-quickest ET in history.
Monday, he went faster. In the semifinals against Doug Kalitta, Lucas rolled to a 3.746-second run at 321.50 mph. That set up a final-round date with Tony Schumacher. Lucas had lost to Schumacher in three final rounds before knocking him off in Memphis.
But Monday, as Schumacher smoked the tires in his U.S. Army dragster, Lucas poured on the steam with a run of 3.743 seconds at 326.87 mph.
"You have to ride the wave while it's up because it's not always going to be up," Lucas said. "You can't always count on everything going perfect and smooth and always having success. We might go through a stretch of first-round losses or maybe not qualifying for a race. There's variables that can happen in this sport to everybody. You just have to be able to take it in stride.
"Right now, my confidence is sky high. I've never had a better group of guys to work with. It means the world to me to be part of this team."
Lucas now holds three of the five quickest runs in Top Fuel history, as his 3.743 is second, with the 3.746 fourth and the 3.747 fifth.
Robert Hight won a pedal-fest over Johnny Gray in Funny Car, as both Hight's Auto Club Mustang and Gray's Service Central Dodge smoked the tires and were on and off the throttle. Hight's pass was the "best" at 4.866 seconds at 236.05 mph, while Gray limped across the line 6.074 at 116.09 mph.
"I didn't expect that at all," Hight said. "(Crew chief) Jimmy Prock said he was going to back it off because the track was warming up and from what I felt we backed it off too much, and it was weak and shook. It shook and I had to pedal it. Sometimes as a driver you want to be perfect and you want your car to be flawless, but sometimes as a driver it's cool to win a race like that, a good ol' pedal-fest. It doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you get the win light."
It was Hight's second victory of the season, 25th of his career and first at Gainesville.
The Pro Stock trophy was won on driving skill, too, as Mike Edwards ripped off a .003-seconds reaction time to beat Greg Anderson's quicker elapsed time. Edwards made a run of 6.566 seconds at 211.30 mph in his Penhall Pontiac GXP, beating Anderson's 6.538 at 211.69 mph. Anderson's Summit Pontiac, though, was .070 seconds off the line.
Edwards' win came after Anderson won in Pomona and teammate Jason Line won in Phoenix.
"I won on a holeshot, but I really can't explain it," Edwards said. "Those guys have been to the final round in all three races, so I knew I had to do something. You can never be late against those guys. You've got to go on time. I was very concerned about not having lane choice in the final. I didn't get down the track in that lane either time in qualifying but I'm guessing maybe something about the rain helped us with our set-up."
Eddie Krawiec opened his defense of his Pro Stock Motorcycle championship with a wire-to-wire, record-setting weekend. Krawiec won the No. 1 qualifier with a national ET record of 6.750 seconds, and then stormed through the field in eliminations.
He beat Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Andrew Hines in the final, winning with a run of 6.822 seconds at 194.94 mph. Hines came up just short with a pass of 6.861 seconds at 194.55 mph. It was Krawiec's third consecutive Gatornationals victory.
"I'd say this is a great way to start a championship defense," Krawiec said. "I had a great bike from the time we rolled it off the truck. We had low ET of every round except one. It was also a great way to roll out our new re-designed bikes which are based on the 2012 Harley Night Rods. We tested a little this off-season and we worked hard and the results showed. Unfortunately, there was no 200-mph run. If I had done that, I could have retired. I guess I was not meant to retire."
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