How does the saying go? Education is important, but having fun is importanter?
Grammar shortcomings aside, Larry Morgan has a master’s degree in Pro Stock drag racing, and now he’s working on his doctorate in having fun.
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t having fun,” said Morgan, driving the Phillips Connect/VitaC Shot Pro Stock Camaro. “That I can guarantee you.”
Morgan, who is a past U.S. Nationals Pro Stock champion and 19-time NHRA national event winner, said it was the relationships he’d built over decades that brought him back to drag racing as a crewman for Mike Castellana and the chance to work with drag racing legend Frank Manzo. The challenge of bringing a small team to competitiveness that put him back in the seat.
“Not sure what I’d do if I didn’t do this crap,” Morgan said. “And it’s been awful good to both of me, so I enjoy doing it.”
When Morgan parked his Pro Stock operation, it was then he realized golf or fishing just didn’t fill the considerable void leaving drag racing created.
“I’ve got a three-acre pond full of fish, and I never go fishing,” Morgan admitted. “I never do. All my neighbors do, but I don’t. None of that ever appealed to me.”
When he joined with team owner Mark Beaver and Chip Lofton, Morgan understood the team’s challenges.
“I’m not going to say winning’s overrated,” Morgan said. “When you do win, it’s something you never forget. It’s one thing you never forget. I think it’s more of a challenge of doing better; taking something and making it better is something you never get away from.
“We’re underfunded for what we need. And listen, I’ll tell you right off the bat, when Beaver asked me to drive this car, I told him no, because I knew it was not going to be funded like I was used to. And for the most part, most of the time, I was underfunded. But I said, ‘What do you want to do?”
“He said, ‘I want to go out and have fun.”
The more Morgan thought about it, the more he realized throughout his career, he’d never really been able to race for fun.
“I said [to Beaver], ‘Well, explain fun.”
“He said, ‘That’s being out here and being somewhat competitive.”
“I said, ‘Well, do you really think that you can kick Greg Anderson and Erica Enders’ ass? Because if you think that, you need to stop right now.” He said, ‘Well, no. I’d like to, but I know those expectations aren’t possible with my budget.”
” I said, “If that’s what you want to do, you got the wrong guy. Now, if you want to have fun and enjoy doing it and not break the bank, I’ll do it with you. It takes too much money, too many people, and you’re going to expect more all the time.” And that’s why we’re doing what we do.”
Beaver laid out his plan for 8-10 races, which sold Morgan.
“I’m not into doing 22 races or whatever we used to do. That burned me out. And the other thing is you can’t make enough money to fund 22 races. Nobody can. I lived that, and I was able to do it. Can’t do it anymore. And I’m being very honest. So, I mean, to come out here and run ten races, and spending $200,000 or $300,000, that’s okay. But coming out here and running 22 races and spending a million dollars, that ain’t me, and that’s not them.”
Morgan said racing Pro Stock back when he did it had a risk versus reward that was severely out of whack. He believes it’s a little better than it used to be because of the efforts of Richard Freeman, whom he credits for keeping the class alive.
The Beaver Motorsports team, Morgan confirmed, is receiving technical assistance from Elite Motorsports.
“I got to give Richard Freeman a lot of credit,” Morgan said. “Richard kept this class going without a doubt, and I’m proud of him for doing it.”
“I’m proud that Richard’s doing what he’s doing. He wants to keep this class going. The other people [NHRA] don’t want it to be. They didn’t want Pro Stock to be here. They want all fuel, and he’s proven to them that he can make it happen, so they need to have it here. That’s the bottom line.”
Friday night in Charlotte, Morgan game the fans a show worthy of fuel car recognition by accident. When both wheelie bars broke, the car pulled a wheelstand that provided the wow factor of the day.
