FireAde racer Larry Morgan brings momentum to Denver

DENVER – FireAde Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan carries a lot of confidence into the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals this weekend at Bandimere Speedway. Not only was he a finalist at the most recent NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event, but he’s coming off a solid test by Gray Motorsports at the mile-high track last week.

“We have a good idea what to do from the test,” Morgan said. “We were pretty fast out there, so we’ll be fine. We look forward to going out there.”

Morgan joked that since Allen Johnson won in Chicago, the Dodge driver needs to return the favor in Denver, where Johnson has won three in a row and six of the last eight.

“I guess going to that Mopar track, it’s my turn. I made sure he got the win in Chicago,” Morgan said. “No, it isn’t like that. We’re all racers out here, and when we put the helmet on, we don’t give a damn about anybody. We all want to win, or we wouldn’t be doing this.”

Morgan has returned to Pro Stock prominence in 2015 after partnering with FireAde and Gray Motorsports. He won in Charlotte to snap a long losing streak, and with a 13-12 round-win record in eliminations, he is seventh in the Pro Stock points standings.

Now, he sets his sights in Denver and its mile-high altitude. The normally aspirated Pro Stock engines nearly starve in the thin air, and teams try many things to compensate for the lost horsepower, but the veteran Morgan says many are futile efforts.

“There are some changes you do to the car a little bit, but not really that many things,” Morgan said. “You do a lot with gear ratios and stuff like that, but for the most part not a lot changes.

“I went out there one time for a whole week and tried a bunch of stuff. We went on a different dyno and did so many different things. By the time we were done, we ran it just like we normally run it, so it was waste.”

Pro Stock qualifying sessions will be held at 5 and 7:30 p.m. MDT, Friday, and 4 and 6:30 p.m., Saturday. Eliminations begin at noon Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast all the qualifying action from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, Saturday, and the elimination rounds from 9 p.m. to midnight, Sunday.