FireAde pro Larry Morgan goes for second straight win from No. 12 spot

SONOMA, CA – Fresh off a stirring victory last weekend in Denver, FireAde Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan will be gunning for two in a row at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

Morgan beat Allen Johnson in the final round of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals last Sunday at Bandimere Speedway after a long staging duel that ignited NHRA fans. Morgan’s confidence is high enough that he believes he can win back-to-back races.

“I feel good about Sunday,” Morgan said. “If I drive well, there’s a good chance we’re going to win again.”

Morgan qualified No. 12 in Sonoma with a top pass of 6.539 seconds at 212.73 mph. He’ll start Sunday’s eliminations against Vincent Nobile, who qualified No. 5 with a pass of 6.525 seconds at 211.23 mph.

“If I can keep my head out of my rear end,” Morgan said with a smile, “I can win this race.”

Morgan’s weekend has been trying, including a pass in the fourth qualifying session that could have been one of his best.

“The car is good,” Morgan said. “We ran that last run with a tune-up like we’ll run tomorrow, and it’ll be good. It would’ve been a good pass, but we had some issues. I think we could’ve run a .52 or .53; I know I could’ve.”

That would have been good enough for a top-three elapsed time in the final session, but he settled for the 11th-quickest e.t., even with some issues, but that’s been a common theme in Sonoma as Morgan and his team continue to fight through problems.

“We’ve had all kinds of issues this weekend,” Morgan said. “The motor is closing up plugs every run, it’s missing, and we’re tearing up all kinds of stuff. The position we qualified at surely isn’t how we should be running, but I think we’ll run good tomorrow.”