Lucas lights up Pomona en route to second win of the season
POMONA, CA – Adding to his win in Brainerd, Minn., earlier this year, Morgan Lucas powered his Lucas Oil/GEICO Top Fuel dragster to a 
season-finale upset victory at the 50th annual NHRA Finals.
Starting Sunday eliminations against Billy Torrence, Lucas got off the line first with a .047 reaction time and tripped the win light with a 3.745-second pass. However, a pedalfest victory against Shawn Langdon in round two really put Lucas’ day into overdrive.
Not knowing what to expect after a blown engine the round before, Lucas faced off against Antron Brown in the semifinals. Posting what was the second-fastest pass in NHRA history at 3.707 seconds, Lucas was clearly on a mission to bring home the second Wally of his part-time season.
“Blessed doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Lucas said. “(Crew chief) Aaron Brooks deserves all the credit for what he’s done by leading this team and working so hard to make it all happen. I’m just so proud of everybody.
“I wish we were racing Richie (Crampton) in the final obviously, but that guy has a lot of wins ahead of him in his future and hopefully so do I. You never know when it’s going to be your last one. So for me, if it was the last one, I guess I wouldn’t mind too much.”
Heading into the final against newly crowned eight-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher, Lucas knew he would need to mirror his stellar run in the semifinals if he wanted the best chance to grab the Wally. When the lights on the Christmas Tree dropped, Lucas not only mirrored his previous time but bested it, resetting the second-fastest time in NHRA history to 3.704 seconds and grabbing the win.
“Usually when you win the championship you win the race to go with it,” Lucas said. “It’s kind of like a deal-sealer. I’m surprised that that’s not how it happened again but this team is just so awesome. My nephew Joe is with us. The guy is very new to racing and so excited about it all, and then you have the guys that I’ve been racing with for years. It’s just crazy. It’s just a crazy, crazy night.
“My parents were here, my little baby Hunter, and my wife Katie obviously. I was looking after the win, waiting to see Katie and I got a big kiss from her, but I can’t wait to see Hunter. He won’t know what’s going on but someday he’ll know it’s special.”
