FireAde Racing driver Larry Morgan runs out of luck in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – The luck ran out for FireAde Racing Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan when he shook the tires in his first-round matchup on Sunday with Jimmy Alund at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving the win to the Swedish driver.

Morgan was coming off a victory at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals two weeks ago in Charlotte and was running well in Las Vegas, but the generator in the team’s hauler failed Sunday morning, leaving Morgan and his team without power. That meant they had no computer from which to tune his Chevrolet Camaro, and it bit Morgan in the first round.

His Chevy shook the tires almost immediately at the hit, while Alund made a clean 6.695-second, 206.42-mph to move to the second round. Morgan’s official numbers were 12.972 seconds at 65.81 mph as he coasted across the finish line.

“Well, I guess we went from hero to zero, right?” Morgan said with a chuckle. “I bet I won’t get as many texts this week as I did in Charlotte. That’s part of racing, I guess. I wish we could’ve done better for FireAde and Ron Thames and everyone there. We’ll get ’em next time.”

Morgan ended a long winless streak in Charlotte and, much to his surprise, received hundreds of congratulatory texts and phone calls. His good fortune continued in Las Vegas, where he made four quick passes and qualified No. 7.

But without a computer, the best Morgan and his team could do was guess at a tune-up.

“We were worried about the generator this morning, trying to get it fixed,” Morgan said. “We just missed it. What can I say? We did the best we could, but we probably had too much gear in it.

“That doesn’t change anything with my confidence in what we’re doing. We’ve got a great sponsor, great horsepower, great people supporting us. We’ll be OK, I promise you.”