Morgan Lucas  (Ron Lewis photo)

Top Fuel pro Morgan Lucas powered his way into the No. 6 spot in the Full Throttle championship points with a quarterfinal run. The driver of the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster beat David Baca in the opening round before falling to six-time world champion Tony Schumacher in Round 2 despite running an identical ET and top speed.

In one of the more interesting contests of the season so far, Lucas and Schumacher both pedaled their ways to 4.434-second passes at 230.37 mph. But the win light went to Schumacher based on his quicker reaction time of .078 seconds to Lucas's .106.

"I'm a little mad at myself because even a mediocre light (reaction time) would have easily won that race," Lucas said. "It's cool that we moved up in the points and I'm happy that both cars are running strong because I think as we start racing under hotter conditions there will be a premium on going from A-to-B every run. Still, I feel like my driving is hurting the team. I've been going backwards lately. I need to get back in that groove again," Lucas added. "You can't think too much about it or it only gets worse, so the thing to do is practice like crazy and make it second nature."

Cory McClenathan  (Ron Lewis photo)

Cory McClenathan and the FRAM Tough Guard Top Fuel Dragster team, whose crew members came over from the Funny Car class this year, are adapting well to the changes. Crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler tuned the car to its second straight final round of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and nearly came home with a victory at Houston Raceway Park.

They're not that disappointed, however, as they were defeated by their Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher on a holeshot in the final round, and they're on their way to producing a killer race car.

McClenathan first defeated rookie Shawn Langdon with a 3.873-second pass at 311.27 mph in the opening round of eliminations on a clear day that was slowly heating up as it wore on. He then dismissed points leader Antron Brown in the quarterfinal with a 3.909/303.23 on a holeshot advantage (3.883/310.63 for Brown). Joe Hartley was easy pickings in the semifinal round when he lost traction early, giving McClenathan a 3.985/296.70 victory.