If the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals wasn’t already the busiest weekend in drag racing, bear in mind, try seeing it from Morgan Lucas’ perspective.

This 24-year Brownsburg resident is going to be driving his own personal Indy 500 this week all around the ‘Circle City’ with all the social functions, hospital visits, the introduction of the new Lucas Oil Stadium, and oh yes, a fierce battle in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel points standings during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the main event which holds the week all together in keeping Lucas going straight.

If the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals wasn’t already the busiest weekend in drag racing, bear in mind, try seeing it from Morgan Lucas’ perspective.

This 24-year Brownsburg resident is going to be driving his own personal Indy 500 this week all around the ‘Circle City’ with all the social functions, hospital visits, the introduction of the new Lucas Oil Stadium, and oh yes, a fierce battle in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel points standings during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the main event which holds the week all together in keeping Lucas going straight.

Lucas starts his week by introducing a special paint scheme for the ‘Big Go’ NHRA race commemorating the grand-opening of the new home of the NFL Indianapolis Colts in the state -of-the-art Lucas Oil Stadium.  The Rod Burke-designed dragster incorporates the total bond of the Lucas philosophy of friendships, family and community allocating the complete relationship with the celebrated Colts organization and the city of Indianapolis.

“We’re introducing a special edition paint scheme for the race to help pump up the season-opening Indianapolis Colts game on Sept. 7 against the Chicago Bears,” said Lucas, an avid Colts fan.  “It’s a pretty monumental day for Lucas Oil Products and we wanted to share it with the rest of Indianapolis and to let them know, we’re really proud to be a part of the city.”

Once Lucas gets down to business, he has a dual-fold plan of attack in his assault on the U.S. Nationals.  He trails 10th-place runner, Doug Kalitta by just a mere six points and only trails, ninth place holder, David Grubnic by only 10 points and just going another round further than either one will move him up in title contention with each round being worth 20 valuable points.

“I just want to keep my head on straight all weekend with all the family, friends and activities going on with this being a hometown race, it’s going to be wild,” said Lucas.  “I’m trying right now to block out the points in my head, but I know things are intense.  The more you think about that kind of stuff, the easier it is to forget what this is really about and that’s selling oil.  You just have to get past the points and go out there and do the best we can.  We’re going into this race with the same strategy as we do will all of the races and that is to win.”

Another reason for Lucas’ positive attitude is the addition of his newly acquired crew chief, Jimmy Walsh.  His tuning abilities have shown rapid progress bringing with him steadiness and reliability to the Lucas Oil dragster organization.

“Jimmy is great for a lot of reasons,” said Lucas.  “He has brought consistency to our program and he’s a great family man.  That’s shows with the way he carries himself and it makes you happy to have someone of his talents as part of our team.  John Stewart, our crew chief for J.R Todd and Jimmy get along very well.  Those two working together is showing the dividends we’ve been looking for in qualifying showing that consistency in both race cars.”

Of all the places Lucas would rather win, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals is the one.  Besides considering Indiana his home now and with the omnipresent Lucas Oil name throughout the Hoosier State, this driver has tasted victory in the Lucas Oil series, but a win at Indy is a major accomplishment, no matter what division it is.

“I won the U.S. Nationals in 2003 driving my A-Fuel dragster with Jerry Darien and that was our first win of the season,” said Lucas.  “We thought it wasn’t going to happen anymore and the maybe the year before was a fluke when I won a couple.  Up to this point, that was probably my biggest win of my career, so far.  You know a U.S. Nationals win carries a special value, but at the same time you have to approach it as you would any other race in doing the best you can.  Waiting for all these years would mean we would have come full circle if we could win right here in Indianapolis.”

The start of the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals begins at the O’Reilly Raceway Park on Friday, August 29 with one nitro qualifying session starting at 6:30 p.m. (EDT).  On Saturday, the Top Fuel dragsters will have two additional qualifying sessions at 1:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.  Sunday's time trials start at 12:45 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:40 p.m.  The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Labor Day Monday, September 1.