Lucas Oil pro Morgan Lucas can win U.S. Nationals as driver, car owner

INDIANAPOLIS – Morgan Lucas will have two chances to win the U.S. Nationals this weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis: He’ll drive his own Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster at the prestigious race and have Morgan Lucas Racing teammate Richie Crampton in another Lucas Oil dragster. Crampton won the race last year as a rookie, setting off a big celebration by the MLR team.

“I feel like I get as excited, if not more, for Richie to win the race,” Lucas said. “Watching him win the U.S. Nationals as a rookie was epic, to say the least. That was a lot of fun. My wife and son were there to watch Richie win that.”

Indianapolis is an important part of the MLR/Lucas Oil family because the race team is based in Brownsburg, Ind., not far from the racetrack.

“Being it’s a home race, we get a lot of friends and family that come out to watch,” Lucas said. “Winning in front of that crowd is so special, but then having the U.S. Nationals trophy, that takes the cake.”

Crampton is third in the Top Fuel points standings with one race remaining before the Countdown to the Championship, and Lucas is racing a part-time schedule in 2015, so the only things on his mind are winning the race and helping Crampton.

“I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot in my 10-plus years of driving a Top Fuel car,” said Lucas, an 11-time winner in the Top Fuel class. “Being a blocker is something I’m more than happy to be as long as it doesn’t affect Richie and his program. We want to win a championship, and anything we have to do to get Richie’s car to that point is priority.”

After winning twice in 2014, Lucas has struggled this season, though a recent test at Indy picked up the team’s confidence.

“We made three laps with a best of 3.78 at 322 mph,” Lucas said. “We ran really close to where Richie was at, so that was very uplifting. It was a shot in the arm, but we all know testing is one thing. But we did find out the car does remember to go down the racetrack.

“We know that we still have a lot of mountain to climb, but we’re optimistic that it’s going to be a better weekend than what we’ve had so far this year.”