NHRA (BROWNSBURG) - MORGAN LUCAS RACING REALIGNS TEAMS

The resilient NHRA racing teams of Morgan Lucas Racing have realigned their crew chiefs and team personnel after discussions with Torco Racing Fuels sponsor, Evan Knoll. Together with Top Fuel driver and team manager, Morgan Lucas, the group decided after the Chicago race that crew chief, Richard Hogan would be transferred over to the Lucas Oil Racing dragster while John Stewart would be rehired as acting crew chief for Melanie Troxel and also serve as General Manager of Morgan Lucas Racing located in Brownsburg, Indiana. After an arduous racing season that finds Lucas mired in the No. 16 position in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel points standings, Knoll initiated the deliberations in inserting Lucas into a more positive position to attain a place in the Countdown to the Championship. “There’s multiple reasons for this change,” stated Lucas. “Evan has a pretty heavy influence in this situation. He wanted to see our car run just as well as Melanie’s. He has a lot of faith in John Stewart along with everyone else in our organization. We thought making a change would provide a better fit for all personalities as far as with the crews and drivers. “John Stewart and Lance Larsen are going to run Troxel’s car. What that car is going to be is an exact replica to the car I’m driving. Basically, what’s really happening is that we can actually now learn from both cars. It’s something we’ve wanted to do all year, but the situation never panned out that way. Now, we’re taking the steps to advance our program and keep Melanie climbing up in the points. With Hogan’s help, I feel Troxel’s car can pick up where they left off and move forward. She is a great driver and our method is providing a way of getting both of our cars in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship.” That will be weathered for the next six weeks with impending drag races over that period of time. It begins with 38th annual running of the ProCare Rx Nationals in Englishtown, N.J. this weekend and ends at Infineon Raceway in nearby San Francisco on July 30. By that time, a clearer picture will be painted in the points chase with hopes of getting Lucas much closer to the elite eight. “There are many things that have been weighed on this decision,” said Lucas. “We think in the long run it will be a better fit for her, myself and the teams involved.