Renaissance man Larry Morgan moves FireAde Chevy to fourth in points

READING, PA – The renaissance season for Larry Morgan continued as the FireAde Pro Stock driver raced to the semifinals of the NHRA Keystone Nationals on Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway.

Morgan’s second semifinal finish in three Countdown to the Championship races helped him climb to fourth in the Pro Stock points standings, his highest position of the season.

“This was a crazy weekend with all the rain, but I’m proud of all my guys for hanging in there and getting the job done,” Morgan said. “The car ran really well and we had a shot to get to the final. I can’t really ask for much more.”

Morgan lost a close semifinal race against Greg Anderson despite a solid pass of 6.502 seconds at 214.21 mph. Anderson’s lightning-quick run of 6.475 seconds at 214.38 mph was enough to send him to the final round, where he lost to Chris McGaha.

Still, the semifinal finish moved Morgan up one spot in the standings, and he’s only 41 points behind third-place McGaha. Morgan’s best career points finish is third, in 1991 and 1998, and the last time he finished fourth was 2004.

“I always knew we could do well, but we just needed some help,” Morgan said. “We got that help this year from Ron Thames and FireAde and Johnny Gray and all the people at Gray Motorsports. They’ve been great to me this year, and I can’t thank them enough.”

Gray Motorsports supplies engines and technical support for Morgan’s Chevrolet Camaro, but Morgan had to race a Gray driver, Shane Gray, in the first round. Morgan ripped off a pass of 6.480 seconds at 213.94 mph to knock out Gray, who slowed to a pass of 7.102 seconds at 142.18 mph.

Morgan then pulled off a reaction time of .010-second to go with a run of 6.500 seconds at 213.64 mph to beat V. Gaines in the second round. Gaines had issues and slowed to a pass of 6.900 at 157.10 mph.

After three races in three weekends, the NHRA tour takes a weekend off before returning to action Oct. 16-18 at Texas Motorplex near Dallas.