FireAde’s Larry Morgan is king of the mountain after Denver triumph

DENVER – Only a Herculean effort would have stopped Allen Johnson’s winning streak at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, and that’s what FireAde Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan delivered Sunday, knocking Johnson off on a holeshot after a thrilling staging duel in the final round.

Morgan and Johnson sat in the pre-stage beam for more than 90 seconds before Johnson finally staged. Morgan was first off the line and held on for his second win of the season, snapping Johnson’s three-race winning streak here.

“I got on the radio about one minute into the stage and I told my guys, ‘I guess Allen just doesn’t want to stage,’ ” Morgan said. “Allen has owned this hill, and he deserves it because he has done one hell of a job up here. You know, we put on a good race in the final, and that guy has no reason to hang his head. He owned this place and I just borrowed it for a week.”

The victory was Morgan’s second of the season, 11th of his career, and second at Bandimere. He pulled off a .014-second reaction time in the final before running a lap of 6.944 seconds at 199.02 mph. Johnson’s light was .035, and he made the quicker pass, 6.930 seconds at 199.23 mph, but the victory belonged to Morgan.

“It was good for the fans,” Morgan said of the staging battle. “And it was a lot of fun for us.”

Morgan tested with a Gray Motorsports Chevrolet here last week, completing several successful passes on the mountain. That speed continued this weekend, when he qualified No. 2 with one of the quickest cars of the weekend.

“We ran good every run,” Morgan said. “It seemed like everything we did fell into place. We couldn’t make a bad run. I was so excited to get back up here I couldn’t stand it because I thought we were really going to do well up here and we did.

“I am just so excited to be out here to win the race, and I’m excited for FireAde, Lucas Oil, Streamlight, my whole team, the Grays. All the guys that work on the team, we all work well together and I get to relax. It’s just something like I have never had before.”

Morgan started the day with a victory over Joey Grose, who red-lit while Morgan made a pass of 6.925 seconds at 199.43 mph.

Morgan then flashed his driving skills in the second round against Jason Line, getting a holeshot victory. Morgan’s pass was 6.918 seconds at 199.37 mph, which was slower than Line’s 6.910-second run at 200.00 mph, but Morgan got the win light thanks to his .017-second lead on the Christmas Tree.

In the semi’s, Morgan faced Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, whom Morgan had beaten in the Chicago semifinal at the most recent race. Enders had a slight edge at the start, .015 to .020, but Morgan ran her down with a pass of 6.914 seconds at 199.32 mph. Her run was 6.914 seconds at 199.26 mph.

Then came the exciting final round, Morgan’s third of the year since switching to Chevrolet and partnering with FireAde and Gray Motorsports.

“I am really pleased to have a good Chevrolet Camaro with great power,” Morgan said. “I raced a Ford for five years and we didn’t have the support we needed. We got the support this year we needed from Johnny (Gray), FireAde, Lucas Oil, and Streamlight. Lucas Oil has helped me for a long time, and I owe a lot to Forrest and Charlotte Lucas and all the people there.

“But I have gotten a lot of support from a lot of different people, and without them I wouldn’t be up here. I am very proud to be up here.”