On the eve of the biggest NHRA drag race of the season, Morgan Lucas’ anticipation going into the 53rd annual Mac Tools U. S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park has him thinking victory on his home track.
“It’s going to be a real challenge to see who can get their car down the track four times on Monday and we’ll have to be right on the edge of competitiveness, ” said a concerned Lucas. “It’s going to be near 90 degrees tomorrow and you can throw out those great times we ran at night because it’s going to take finesse to figure out the track conditions. The margin is very small and if you’re out of the groove by just the slightest bit could cause you problems. That’s why it’s going to be so important to have the upper hand of having lane choice. ”
Lucas qualified in the No. 8 position with his run from Saturday evening when he drove his Lucas Oil dragster to a time of 4.537 seconds, 325.45 mph where he will race his good friend, Cory McClenathan. In head-to-head match ups, they are equal with each having three wins in their six meetings and the last time Lucas raced Cory Mac was over a year ago in the first round in the 2006 edition of the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd.
“He’s going to be tough customer to deal with in our first round tomorrow, ” Lucas said. “Fortunately, we have an experienced Lucas Oil crew and with Richard Hogan (crew chief) making the calls, he’ll figure it out and we should be all right and ready for Monday. ”
Lucas will be the first pair of cars out on Monday and that added burden would normally be a small distraction, but with him racing in his fourth Mac Tools U. S. Nationals, he’s taking it all is stride. His youthful experience tells him that the track conditions will at optimum conditions.
“We would like to see how the other cars will perform before we run, but when you’re the first pair, you have to remember, it will be the coolest part of the day, so we’re hoping to take advantage of that. ”
| 
|