Morgan Lucas To Tune Himself

[N/A]

can you imagine if team lucas, berstein, kalitta,
mcmillen and vandergriff could step up?... now that would be some awesome racing; a field of 10+ at every event with no favorites.

Would make NHRA fun to watch again. The last few years have been stale at best.

 

[.]

when just 10 years ago it was an open competition for anyone who qualified.

That's not how I remember it 10 years ago. In 2001 it was either Kenny Bernstein or Larry Dixon winning the majority of the races. Remember the battle of the beer wagons? I think Doug Kalitta, Mike Dunn, Gary Scelzi, and Darrell Russell each won an event (or two) that year but Kenny and Larry won the rest of them. The Top Fuel category being dominated by a few teams is nothing new.

Oh, and..... who cares if Morgan wants to tune his own car? Good for him! It's his team he can do what he wants with it. As for him relying on Stewart for tuning help.... so what? Last I heard Stewart was an employee of Morgan's.

 

[mike]

That's not how I remember it 10 years ago. In 2001 it was either Kenny Bernstein or Larry Dixon winning the majority of the races. Remember the battle of the beer wagons? I think Doug Kalitta, Mike Dunn, Gary Scelzi, and Darrell Russell each won an event (or two) that year but Kenny and Larry won the rest of them. The Top Fuel category being dominated by a few teams is nothing new.

Oh, and..... who cares if Morgan wants to tune his own car? Good for him! It's his team he can do what he wants with it. As for him relying on Stewart for tuning help.... so what? Last I heard Stewart was an employee of Morgan's.

Everything in this post is spot on.

 

[mick]

.....The Top Fuel category being dominated by a few teams is nothing new.......

for sure it's been that way, and not just nhra.
would be nice to break that mold though.

 

[Jim]

Randy's right (as usual).

Kudo's to Morgan for taking the responsibility. What's he got to lose at this point and given the number of crew chiefs he's had it is certainly a high risk job.

Run out the string 'til the end of the season and determine if the idea is viable for next year; the outcome might surprise everybody.

Good luck Morgan!

 

[dave]

Well a 3.89 right out of the box ain't too bad huh.

 

[Huge]

Good job by Morgan and the boys.

 

[Rat]

That's not how I remember it 10 years ago. In 2001 it was either Kenny Bernstein or Larry Dixon winning the majority of the races. Remember the battle of the beer wagons? I think Doug Kalitta, Mike Dunn, Gary Scelzi, and Darrell Russell each won an event (or two) that year but Kenny and Larry won the rest of them. The Top Fuel category being dominated by a few teams is nothing new.

Oh, and..... who cares if Morgan wants to tune his own car? Good for him! It's his team he can do what he wants with it. As for him relying on Stewart for tuning help.... so what? Last I heard Stewart was an employee of Morgan's.

That's not completely correct. Think about 10 years ago. It was not as expensive as now and yet the performance of the ENTIRE CLASS was pretty tight.

 

[.]

That's not completely correct. Think about 10 years ago. It was not as expensive as now and yet the performance of the ENTIRE CLASS was pretty tight.

Patrick, I can't think of one thing that costs the same today as it did 10 years ago. The cost of Top Fuel racing has gone up just like everything else. How can you say the ENTIRE CLASS was pretty tight when 2 drivers won the majority of the races?


2001 stats for Kenny and Larry:

Kenny Bernstein - Won 8 events in 12 final round appearances. Won 61 rounds of competition.

Larry Dixon - Won 6 events in 9 final round appearances.

 

[Rat]

You kinda made a point that was not really explaning anything.

1. I never said it's cheaper now, so I don't know where that's from.

2. As explained, I mention to look at the 2001 ENTIRE TF CLASS, not who ran away with what rounds or trophy, Their were more cars running within eachother than just the 5 DOMINANT teams now!

 

[clwill]

Patrick, you need to go back and look at the TF points. They are available (although not easily found) on NHRA.com.

In 2001, 43 teams earned points. This year, 40 have. In 2001, the "cliff" (the point where there is a several hundred point gap between positions) was in the 10th-11th position, this year it's in the 12th-13th position. If you look at the "big names" (full time runners with a shot to win any race), in 2001, the "names" stopped in about 8th position, this year, it's about the same.

Not sure I see your point...

 

[mike]

2. As explained, I mention to look at the 2001 ENTIRE TF CLASS, not who ran away with what rounds or trophy, Their were more cars running within eachother than just the 5 DOMINANT teams now!

Patrick,

I grew up watching the NHRA in the late 80s. I was rather young, so the early to mid 90s is what I remember best (They were my favorite years) There was really only ever 2, 3 at most in the hunt. I will give you the 2001 card, but only from the number 3 spot to the 8th spot it was tight. Bernstien and Dixon were the only two dominant cars that season and in contention for the number 1 spot. Right now if you were to ask me who is going to win this years title, I couldn't tell you. Because outside the 5 cars you mention, I think you can throw a couple more in there who are close to finding their rhythm and could string some wins together.

Regards,

Mike

 

[Rat]

Patrick,

I grew up watching the NHRA in the late 80s. I was rather young, so the early to mid 90s is what I remember best (They were my favorite years) There was really only ever 2, 3 at most in the hunt. I will give you the 2001 card, but only from the number 3 spot to the 8th spot it was tight. Bernstien and Dixon were the only two dominant cars that season and in contention for the number 1 spot. Right now if you were to ask me who is going to win this years title, I couldn't tell you. Because outside the 5 cars you mention, I think you can throw a couple more in there who are close to finding their rhythm and could string some wins together.

Regards,

Mike

I guess what I like to see the NHRA do, make TF even more even. 1 vs. 8.
9 vs. 16, make it more of a question again and actually give #16 a chance in hell to win without wishing #1 broke or smoked.

 

[cantdrive55]

The ladders used to be 1 vs. 8, 9 vs. 16, ect. If I remember correctly, they were changed to reward the #1 qualifier with a supposedly easier opponent. Doubt they'll change, ESPN, sponsors and NHRA brass won't like seeing all the big names taking each other out in Round 1 all the time.



Back on topic, there was a rather established tuner in the booth that could be a great addition to Morgan Lucas Racing.

 

[Rat]

Keith I catch your drift and I do not think he wants to be back out. Last I remember he was quoted saying, "I'm ok walking off into the sunset."

 

[Jake]

I thought it was pretty interesting when Paul Page mentioned Alan Johnson had looked over Morgan's tuneup and told them nothing looked out of the ordinary or something like that. Obviously he isn't going to help them out with what his teams do but I thought that was pretty neat to hear the greatest top fuel crew chief of all time comes over to take a look at what a competitor might be doing wrong.

 

[DrRocket]

I remember an interview from Ercie Hill (Man, I really miss those two! ) some years ago. She was talking about when Eddie and her were getting back into Top Fuel after quitting the fuel boats. She said they were burning up parts like crazy, and were down to their last spares. Eddie was upset and dejected, and didn't know what to do. She grabbed some of the burned pistons, and went to another crew cheif (I can't quite remember who, Conrad???) and asked "What are we doing wrong." Said chief came to their pits, looked things over, made some changes, and gave them a baseline tuneup to work with. The rest, as they say, was history. Iffen I remember correctly, Eddie was using his tuneup from the boats, which apparently will not work with a car.

Ahh yes. The "Nuclear Banana."

 

[none]

Seeing as how Morgan is a customer of AJ's I can understand completely him looking over their stuff. I know Alan isn't going to give up all his secrets, but if he saw something out of line he would certainly point Morgan in the right direction. As a matter of fact almost everybody in the pits would do the same thing. Nobody out there wants to watch a team blow up all their stuff, or struggle week after week.

Remember when KB came back out with the Monster Funny Car and was having trouble getting it to run? Austin Coil went over and helped him out. This has been going on for as long as Drag Racing has been going on.

Alan

 

[AAFA-Freak]

Randy,

I think your right on I cannot even think about not trying tuning TF if I had the chance like Morgan does, it is the family money so why not.
Our FA has been tuned by my partner and I for years we did listen to Mark Niver very closely and learned from there on what car wanted.
MAN I miss him!

Alan,
Many people around here might be amazed how many times AJ, Brad, KB, EP, back in the day did just that walked over looked at things and gave some in site to customer on what they see.
I bet The PRO MOD engine builders are roaming the pits looking at customer stuff.

 

[none]

I remember an interview from Ercie Hill (Man, I really miss those two! ) some years ago. She was talking about when Eddie and her were getting back into Top Fuel after quitting the fuel boats. She said they were burning up parts like crazy, and were down to their last spares. Eddie was upset and dejected, and didn't know what to do. She grabbed some of the burned pistons, and went to another crew cheif (I can't quite remember who, Conrad???) and asked "What are we doing wrong." Said chief came to their pits, looked things over, made some changes, and gave them a baseline tuneup to work with. The rest, as they say, was history. Iffen I remember correctly, Eddie was using his tuneup from the boats, which apparently will not work with a car.

Ahh yes. The "Nuclear Banana."

Gene Snow was the donor of the 4 sec. tuneup to Eddie Hill.