MORGAN LUCAS WILL DRIVE LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY DRAGSTER AT GATEWAY

MADISON, Ill. (April 30) – Morgan Lucas will accentuate his O’Reilly Midwest NHRA Nationals challenge this weekend carrying the colors of his father’s superscenic Lucas Oil Speedway. The fashionable 3/8-mile oval in Wheatland, Mo. known as ’The Diamond of Dirt Tracks’ boasts one of the most aggressive race schedules in the Nation, including 18 televised events for broadcast on ESPN2, Speed Channel, the Versus Network and MAV TV. The first is May 9th and 10th for the SuperClean Diamond Nationals. It has quickly become one of the country’s premier dirt late model events featuring the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models in a $40,000 to win Speed Channel event.

In a show of drag racing fan appreciation, track owner, Forrest Lucas is offering to all fans in attendance at this weekend’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals automatic admittance to the World Series of Off Road Racing event at Lucas Oil Speedway on Sunday, June 1 at 2 p.m.. All NHRA fans have to do is show their gate receipt ticket stub from this weekend’s race at Gateway International Raceway for free admission.

Founded in 2005, the state-of-the art dirt racing facility features 21 luxury suites highlighted by the Diamond Bar lounge, a professional Musco lighting system, an acoustic BOSE stadium sound system, and a giant HD television viewing screen, ranking them among the top five dirt tracks in the United States.

“This is a great promotion and we’re so glad to be a part of it,” said a delighted Lucas. “It’s a beautiful racetrack and has some of the best dirt-track racing anywhere in the world. It just shows that my dad loves race fans and it just shows another part of his generosity to motorsports, in general.”

Lucas will try to improve his St. Louis luck this weekend in his Lucas Oil dragster. His best performance was in his initial season in 2005 resulting in a final round appearance and runner-up finisher against fellow ‘Brat Pack’ member, Brandon Bernstein.

The start of the 12th annual O’Reilly Midwest Nationals begins at the Gateway International Raceway on Friday, May 2 with two nitro qualifying sessions starting at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) and 6:30 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 12:30 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:00 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 4.