St. Louis: Larry Morgan preview

Morgan ready for breakout race in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (April 30) -- Many of Larry Morgan's trips to the racetrack this year have been slapdash efforts that have ended with frustration and burnt up engine components.

Heading into this weekend's 14th annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway, Morgan believes he's finally shaken loose the bugs in the new Ford powerplant of his Lucas Oil Mustang Pro Stock car, and he's excited to see what the car will do.

"It's not been anybody's fault, there were just some small things overlooked," Morgan said. "Nobody's been working harder than my guys. I've been overworking them trying to get this thing figured out. My shop has been like mission control from 'Apollo 13' the last month."

Morgan said just about every component has been examined and re-examined, before discovering and fixing a problem that would cause a chain reaction of other parts issues throughout the engine. The veteran engine builder says such frequent parts damage is very rare in a Pro Stock car.

"We've just been tearing of parts that shouldn't tear up," Morgan said. "The foundation of the engine has been fine, there's just been problems with some of the components.

"This week we've found a lot of things. It's been a good week. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm excited to get out there and race."

Morgan hopes to get things turned around quickly. He's 69 points behind Johnny Gray for the crucial 10th spot in the points standings. The top 10 cars in the points go to the Countdown to the Championship, which will be determined upon the completion of the Brainerd race in August.

-source: lor