TEAM REPORTS (PHOENIX, AZ.) - SOLEMN START ON SECOND DAY OF NHRA TESTING

The second day of testing at the Firebird Sports Park began on a somber note when the heartbreaking news of the passing and loss of drag racer, Doug Herbert’s two teenage sons in a tragic automobile accident in Cornelius, N.C., reverberated throughout the pits.

“No one could ever imagine or have a clue what he must be feeling right now unless you’ve been through such a tragedy yourself,” said a solemn Lucas. “It hurts. It hurts me to think of him having to go through something like this. He’s a really nice guy and a dedicated drag racer and his children were drag racing fans themselves. It’s a terrible shame and I send out my thoughts and prayers to him.”

Likewise, his teammate, J.R. Todd, who spent time in the Carolinas while working with Funny Car pro, Bob Gilbertson knew both of the young men.

“It’s a terrible shame,” said a glum Todd. “I knew James when I worked over there with Gilbertson and he was real tight with his son, Jake. I feel very bad for Doug and his family. I can’t put into words and can’t imagine what’s he’s going through. We all want him back out here with us and I feel by far this will be the best medicine for any kind of healing among his racing family to get his mind off the heartbreak and get back in that race car. Right now, we’re all thinking about his family and just want to say I’m sorry about his terrible loss.”

While in deep thought of their fellow racer, the Morgan Lucas Racing teams proceeded with testing at Firebird Raceway and reeled off some good times which placed them overall, third and fourth, respectively. Lucas had his Saturday best time of 4.548 seconds at a booming speed of 329.99 mph and Todd nabbed his day’s best of 4.568 seconds, 306.19 mph.

“Yeah, the elapsed time was great, but what was more impressive was the 329 mph, which means we’re one of the fastest cars out here,” said Lucas. “So between both cars we’ve had five good shots each at the track and the run from earlier this morning would probably have been a 4.52, but we shut it off early as planned. I think the momentum we had from last year is carrying over to the beginning of this season.

“We have two really good running race cars and my teammate, J.R. with John Stewart (crew chief) has their car up to par. I think this year we’re going to come out and become a proven contender that no one wants to deal with.”

Lucas is driving two different cars besides his nitro-burning dragster and is again making a hard charge in his Top Alcohol program led by Steve Boggs.

“In our A-Fuel car, we ran a 5.27 (elapsed time) at 268 mph and that could have easily been a 5.18, so we just need to tweak it a little bit,” said Lucas.

Morgan Lucas Racing colleague, J.R. Todd echoed Lucas’ performance clicking the clocks with his run on Saturday of 4.568 seconds at a speed of 306.19 mph and he couldn’t be any happier about his superb performance outing.

“Its right where this car left off last year,” said a delighted Todd. “That 4.56 run lost a cylinder around the 4.2 mark of the run and knocked the belt off. We have high hopes for this year and we’re hoping to get some more full pulls the rest of the weekend before we leave here.”

The Phoenix weatherman is calling for significant rainfall on Sunday and could delay testing until Monday.

In addition, Lucas and Todd will be featured on SPEED TV for their roles in the NHRA vs. NASCAR battle as part of the third annual Bodine Bobsled Challenge in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Sunday at 2 p.m. EST, immediately following the running the Rolex 24-Hours of Daytona.