Pomona holds special memories from Morgan’s Sportsman racing days

POMONA, CA – As Lucas Oil driver Larry Morgan looks back on his long career at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, site of this weekend’s Auto Club NHRA Finals, his memory flashes back to 1986 and his last full-time Sportsman ride before moving to Pro Stock.

Because Morgan planned to move to Pro Stock in 1987, his Competition Eliminator car owner decided to let him go despite being in the running for the Comp national championship. But longtime NHRA mechanic David Nickens intervened, helping put Morgan in a car owned by Ronnie Seeliger.

“Nickens put that deal together,” Morgan said. “Nickens called (Seeliger) and said, ‘Larry doesn’t have anything to drive and you’ve got a fast car. Will you let him drive?’ ”

Seeliger agreed and called Morgan to arrange the ride.

“Larry, this is Ronnie Seeliger,” the conversation started. “I know you don’t know me, but I know you. I want to give you my car to race.”

“Are you sure you’re that stupid to do something like that?” Morgan said with a laugh.

“Yes, I am,” Seeliger replied.

So Morgan took Seeliger’s Pontiac Firebird to Dallas, where he qualified No. 1. Morgan needed to claim one national event and one divisional race, but in the first round at the new Texas Motorplex the Christmas Tree malfunctioned and Morgan was out.

“The win light came on in his lane before I let the clutch out,” Morgan said.

Both Morgan and his competitor went to NHRA to ask for a rerun, but NHRA said no. Morgan thought it cost him the championship because he had to claim that race in the points battle.

The next race was a divisional in Las Vegas, and after getting knocked off the No. 1 qualifying spot, which would’ve assured him a first-round bye, parts failure doomed Morgan’s divisional title in the first round.

Morgan, though, then qualified No. 2 and won the race in Phoenix, setting up the season finale in Pomona.

“First round, I put it in fifth gear and tore the sliders off,” Morgan said. “I’m holding it in fifth gear with both hands and I win the round. I came back all dejected, thinking, ‘I’ve done everything but crash this guy’s car.’ I didn’t look forward to the next round.”

After returning from dinner, Morgan saw that Nickens put four transmissions by the trailer for Morgan to use.

“You’ll be all right tomorrow,” Nickens told him.

He was right.

“I ended up winning that race,” Morgan said. “I won back-to-back races in Comp, and if I could’ve claimed one of those races, I’d have won the championship.”

Instead, Vinny Barone won the title despite not winning a race all season. Morgan had four national event wins and two divisional victories.

As it turned out, that was Morgan’s last win in Comp before moving to Pro Stock in 1987.

Qualifying sessions at the Auto Club NHRA Finals are scheduled for 11:45 and 2:45 p.m. PT, Friday and Saturday. Eliminations will start at approximately noon, Sunday, with both qualifying and elimination action broadcast on ESPN2 on tape-delay basis.