DALLAS (Sept. 21) - Morgan Lucas and good friend J.R. Todd were locked in a tight first-round drag race Sunday morning at Texas Motorplex until the 10,000-horsepower motor on Lucas' Lucas Oil/GEICO dragster suffered a mechanical failure that resulted in a giant explosion. The fireball knocked the energy out of Lucas' run and awarded Todd a fairly easy 3.815 to 4.088 victory.
"That run pretty much summed up our whole weekend," said Lucas, who won as recently as three races ago in Brainerd, Minn. "Originally, we weren't planning on running this race, but we made the decision to come based on the rainout in Charlotte. Well, I'll probably second-guess myself on this decision for a while because absolutely nothing went right here."
Electing to spend more time learning the family business, Lucas Oil, from his father Forrest Lucas, Morgan has run a limited schedule in 2014. However, in just six showings, he's been a strong force, winning Brainerd and scoring a pair of semifinal finishes in Gainesville, Fla., and Englishtown, N.J.
"I guess we used up all of our luck early," Lucas said. "We could do no wrong for a while there. It's just the way this sport can be. It's so humbling and it doesn't take long to go from feeling like a world beater to looking like you're a first-timer.
"We'll be good. Our next race will be Pomona (Calif.) at the end of the year and we'll be ready to fight for the trophy again. Maybe we can get in there and help someone out in the championship chase."
Although Lucas has leaned on the tuning expertise of teammate Richie Crampton's crew chief, Aaron Brooks, throughout the year, he was quick to show his deep appreciation for his part-time crew.
"These guys have been amazing," Lucas said. "It's not as easy as just flying in and jumping on the car. There's a lot of prep that has to take place and each position on the car is pretty advanced. You have to know what you're doing.
"The GEICO team has helped a bunch and all the guys we've been flying in, and even though they're working 'regular jobs' these days, they are all very experienced crewmen. They've been a lot of fun and I thank them a bunch."
