Morgan Lucas described it as the longest 75 feet of his life.

Lucas drove to his first career Top Fuel national event title at the rain-plagued NHRA Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, defeating rookie Spencer Massey in a pedalfest. His Geico Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster shed the blower belt sixty feet shy of the finish line and coasted to the victory.

Morgan Lucas described it as the longest 75 feet of his life.

Lucas drove to his first career Top Fuel national event title at the rain-plagued NHRA Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, defeating rookie Spencer Massey in a pedalfest. His Geico Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster shed the blower belt sixty feet shy of the finish line and coasted to the victory.

Lucas has had nearly five years to envision his first Top Fuel victory and the traction-challenged Commerce final didn’t match his vision.

“Actually that's funny because ESPN asked me how I pictured my first win,” Lucas said. “I've had five years to envision this. It's been a while, so I've had plenty of mental pictures about how this day would look. I can say I pictured it to be a larger crowd and a prettier run but I think we'll have plenty more.”

Lucas and teammate Shawn Langdon have made overtures of improved performance with Langdon qualifying No. 1 in Las Vegas and Lucas racing to the No. 3 spot this weekend after leading provisional qualifying.

Lucas raced against Massey, a driver he has long considered a friend. A driver Lucas, 25, considers one of the youthful drivers entering the nitro ranks.

“It's fun to race against these guys. The [Top Fuel] class is getting younger every year and more competitive. It's one of those things that now I can't wait until the next race. I used to dread going to the next race because of the car we've had. But we've made a ton of progress. Jimmy Walsh has done a great job. What's most important is we have two cars and one goal that we're focused on.”

Lucas said he’s very excited to have won but even more excited for his long suffering team who have endured through many different hardships of the past few seasons.

“Honestly this is one of the most exciting moments of my life if not the most exciting moment,” Lucas admitted. “I've had the same crew for a lot of years and they've paid a lot of dues to get here so I want to thank them. I don't even know how to talk right now.

“I'm so excited. This is one of those things I've been thinking about for years. It's one of those things that I'm strapped in the car thinking about. The fact I got to race a really good friend like Spencer it was great because if it was Shawn [Langdon] I probably would have liked it a little more because I have selfish reasons with my teammate.”

In the finals, Lucas left on Massey and that should come as no surprise when most of his rain delay time was spent working his practice tree in the transporter’s lounge.

That final round experience, Lucas will admit, was something he couldn’t have practiced for.

“It's one of those things where it's a three to four second run so I won't talk about it for fifteen minutes,” Lucas said. “The car when I hit the gas -- it lifted the tires up and then it started shaking. I'm assuming Spencer's did the same thing. He told me it shook him around so bad that he didn't even know where he was.

“These cars are pretty violent at least to me. So I just kept hitting the gas and then it finally came back.

Lucas beat Joe Hartley, Bob Vandergriff, and Cory McClenathan to reach his sixth final round. This race marked his 107th career start in Top Fuel.

The only regret for Lucas was that his parents, Lucas Oil owners Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, weren't here this weekend.

"I knew that would happen," Lucas said. "This is just a message to them that they better not miss any more races. We need them here with us."

With the win, Lucas moved into the top five on the Full Throttle points and is within five rounds of leader Tony Schumacher.

Does he have a special place on his mantle for the newly acquired trophy? Not immediately, Lucas points out.

“I'm taking my new Wally golfing with me this weekend,” Lucas said.

 

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