FireAde’s Larry Morgan has Denver rematch in Seattle’s first round

SEATTLE – NHRA Pro Stock fans take note: A rematch of the thrilling Denver final will take place in the first round of the NHRA Northwest Nationals on Sunday at Pacific Raceways.

FireAde driver Larry Morgan qualified No. 11 and Allen Johnson No. 6, meaning the two will meet in the first round Sunday.

“I’m going to turn both bulbs on him when I do the burnout,” Morgan said with a smile. “No, who knows what will happen? We might both sit there all day and run out of gas. Think the fans will like that?”

Morgan and Johnson staged an epic battle in Denver, with both drivers sitting in the pre-stage beams for more than 90 seconds as fans cheered. Johnson finally staged first, but Morgan left first and scored a holeshot victory.

“Hey, the Denver final was a lot of fun, but that was Denver,” Morgan said. “Allen is a fierce competitor and one of the best out here. We’ll have to be ready for him tomorrow with the car and on the starting line.”

Morgan’s best qualifying pass for the weekend was 6.523 seconds at 212.46 mph, a scant .021-second off top qualifier Chris McGaha’s lap. Morgan had two other passes in the 6.52-second range, meaning his Chevrolet Camaro has been a model of consistency.

But Morgan knows there’s more speed in the car, too.

“We’ve had a consistent race car, but we’ve also had trouble getting the thing to go straight,” Morgan said. “It wants to go left when I dump the clutch, and I have to steer it back in the groove to keep it straight. That’s no good for e.t., of course.

“If we can get it to stay in the groove all the way down, we’ll be right there with the best of them. We’ll be all right.”

Morgan is a two-time winner in 2015, and he’s sixth in the Pro Stock standings, only five points behind Johnson in fifth place.