NHRA (POMONA, CA.) - GREAT PRESEASON TESTING RESULTS OFFER LUCAS A LAUNCH PAD FOR 2008
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Coming off fresh from a superb preseason testing sequence, Morgan Lucas is ready to reinstate his name among the 2008 title-contenders for the prerogative to be included in the elite class of the Countdown to the Championship.
That starts with the season-opening kick-off this weekend at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona’s running of the 48th annual CarQuest Auto Parts Winternationals
His Morgan Lucas Racing team-led team reeled off consistent 4.50-passes in Phoenix with his best of the test resulting in a run of 4.548 seconds at a speed of 329.99 mph.
“This is exactly how we want to start the season,” said a confident Lucas, who turned 24-years old over the off-season. “Never before have I ever felt so good heading into a season with all these great runs from testing. The best part is the amount of data we’ve collected so far to fall back on and my crew chief, Richard Hogan has assembled a great crew that performed flawlessly throughout our week of testing. We’re excited to get back on the track.”
Besides great testing, Lucas has multiple reasons for a great outing at the Southern California track. Lucas Oil Products, located in nearby Corona will be bringing a big group of customers and guests, but most important, his family will be there and he wants to take care of them as well.
“This is my hometown track and every year we have all their support going into the race,” said Lucas. “Now with the way we ran in preseason testing will give us more optimism to perform and hopefully will give my family and friends my first win at Pomona.”
Lucas will be on KCAL-FM 96.7 ‘Morning Stiffy’ program on Friday, February 8, at 8:00 a.m.
The start of the 48th annual CarQuest Auto Parts Winternationals begins at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on Thursday, Feb. 7 with a lone nitro qualifying session starting at 2:30 p.m. (PST). That will follow the same schedule on Friday, Nov. 2 with another pro session also at 2:30 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 12:00 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:30 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10.
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LUCAS OIL RACING DRIVER NOTES:
Morgan Lucas has five runner-up finishes, which the Brownsburg, Ind. driver reached in only his seventh (04 Las Vegas2), eighth (04 Pomona2), 10th (05 Phoenix), 20th (05 St. Louis) and 21st (05 Denver) starts. He finished fifth in the 2005 NHRA Top Fuel Point standings with 1,357 points after completing his first full season on the competitive 23-race NHRA circuit. He finished 11th in 2006 and 15th in 2007.
Lucas' quickest elapsed time is 4.474 seconds, set on Feb. 12, 2005 at Pomona Raceway. He sped to his fastest top speed of 330.47 mph on Nov. 3 in the final qualifying round of qualifying at the 2007 Auto Club Finals in Pomona, Calif. He has won two low qualifier awards. His first on May 14 at the Atlanta Dragway recording a time 4.541 seconds and Oct. 22 on ‘The Strip’ at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway setting the pace with his run of 4.508 seconds. Morgan Lucas’ first Top Fuel event came behind the wheel of the Joe Amato-owned dragster at the 2004 Lucas Oil Nationals at the Brainerd (MN.) International Raceway on August 15, 2004. DOB: November 27, 1983.