Seattle: Morgan Lucas preview

MORGAN LUCAS RETURNS TO LUCAS OIL A-FUEL DRAGSTER TEAM

Doing Double Driving Duty in Seattle and Sonoma

SEATTLE (July 19) -- There's nothing that Morgan Lucas enjoys more than driving a race car. In fact, he loves it so much that he'll be racing twice as much during the upcoming Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals presented by Lucas Oil Products in Seattle as well as the Fram/Autolite Nationals in Sonoma.

In fact, Lucas will be returning to his drag racing roots, as he will take the wheel of his family-owned Lucas Oil Products-sponsored A-Fuel dragster, which is headed by veteran and former Lucas Oil drag racing series champion driver and tuner, Tom Conway.

Conway, who engineered Steve Torrence to the Alcohol Dragster championship last year, will serve as the crew chief on the Lucas driven dragster.

"How all this got started was Aaron Olivarez was driving the car, which he might be doing again in the future," said Lucas, who won 10 Lucas Oil drag racing events on his climb to pro ranks, including the 2003 U.S. Nationals. "We changed the tune-up around as well as a bunch of other things along the way and now all we want to do is get some laps on it. I think it will be competitive and we hired Conway to come in to get the car back on its feet, so to speak. We need a good, really quick race car."

Lucas, being 22-years of age, treasures his time behind the wheel of anything that goes fast, whether it turns left or not. He has raced in 44 NHRA National events as a professional with five final round runner-ups to his credit. As he gains more experience, the desire to expand his motorsports portfolio increases and he is looking at his potential and capabilities in other forms of racing.

"Personally, I just like to drive race cars," said the youngest driver on the NHRA tour. "I don't care what it is. If they had a street-type class and I could run a Chevy Suburban taking it on a weekend out here with the Top Fuel car, I would do that too. It would be fun because I just love to race. Driving multiple dragsters is not the only thing I want to do. I want to drive a little bit of everything. For example, piloting a sprint car is just one of my goals. I also want to go to stock car school just to see what it's like and give myself an opportunity to investigate what is out there. With the A-Fuel dragster, it's just me having fun and selling more Lucas Oil for my dad. One of these days, you'll see me driving a Funny Car. When that time comes, that will be the big surprise for everyone."

The possibilities are endless for Lucas insofar as where he wants to be and what he wants to accomplish is out there for him to participate and learn from in the coming years.

"You never know what the future holds," stated Lucas. "It might be these two races or it could be the rest of the year. Who knows, we might be able to win the next two Lucas Oil events and start chasing points. Drag racing is a crazy thing. Steve Torrence did it last year and he proved you could win the Lucas Oil Alcohol dragster championship starting in the middle of the year. Heck, in my opinion, it might be better mainly because there is better air in the latter part of the season. As I said, it's going to be a fun time. My dad is excited about it and has numerous things going on--an Oil company, a cattle company, a racetrack, a race team, and a motorcycle shop. I'm sure he has many irons in other fires as well. He's doing his thing and I'm trying to take the load off him and do what I have to do."

Conway is coming over to the Lucas Oil A-Fuel team to get them up and running. His arrival has Lucas extremely excited about the knowledge he brings with him.

"Tom Conway is an expert in his own right," said Lucas. "There are three really good A-Fuel crew chiefs that I think are the cream of the crop and they are Steve Boggs, Jerry Darien and Tom Conway. To have a good running race car, you first have to get good help. I think this is a good starting place and we're taking the team in a new direction. I will drive any kind of race car that is offered and if I'm not good at it, I'll still try. I think that's what any of these racers will tell you. They simply want to race.

Lucas' double duty starts this weekend at the Pacific Raceways in Seattle, where he will share driving duties between his powerful 8,000 horsepower Top Fuel dragster and his new organization. From there he will head southward to the wine country of Sonoma, where he will see how his impending plans turn out.

The start of the Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at Pacific Raceways begins on Friday, July 21 with qualifying starting at 4:00 p.m. (PDT) and 6:30 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, July 23.

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 622 points and trails the championship lead by 356 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.

-www.morganlucas.com