A thousandth of a second causes Larry Morgan to exit early in Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Larry Morgan, driver of the FireAde Racing Chevrolet Camaro, lost in the first round of eliminations at the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The circumstances were enough to make a veteran drag racer shake his head. Morgan’s car lit the red-light on the starting line by a thousandth of a second, handing the win to first-round opponent Chris McGaha.

“We broke a water line and had water under the right tire,” Morgan said. “I let the clutch out and it just drove to the right, it spun. I would have been good if it wasn’t for that. I was -.001 but that could have had a lot to do with the tire spinning. It is what it is and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“Hey, we’ll just go to Pomona (Calif.) and win. We’ve got plenty of power to win. If we do everything well in the car, we’ll do well. That’s all I can say. We’re coming down to the race and I’d like to finish well.”

Going into the final NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event of the 2015 season, Morgan remains in sixth place in the point standings and is 85 points behind Greg Anderson, who is second. Allen Johnson is just seven points ahead of Morgan, in fifth place. A good showing at the Pomona finale could elevate Morgan’s status in the standings.

“Pomona is good,” Morgan said. “Pomona’s been real good to me. I’ve won there. I feel real good about Pomona. If we can make the right calls on the setup and have good, consistent passes, we have a good chance at moving up in the standings, and now that Erica (Enders) has clinched the title, the race will be wide open. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season finale, the Auto Club NHRA Finals, will take place Nov. 12-15 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Pomona, Calif. Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s eliminations will be televised by ESPN2.