Words compiled by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis, Steve Gruenwald and Adam Cranmer

TOP FUEL

Thanks to the second-quickest run in NHRA history, Morgan Lucas and his GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster stormed to the title of the rain-delayed Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals on Monday afternoon, March 12.

Lucas is used to rain delays. His win in Memphis in 2009 was a carbon copy of this one as it too was postponed to a Monday finish because of rain. Lucas's three other wins – Pomona last year and Atlanta and Brainerd in '09 – also came after lengthy weather delays, although they were completed in one day.

No matter; Lucas will take a Wally any way he can get one.

"I would love to win one of these in a normal situation," Lucas said. "But the bottom line is – as (former Top Fuel champion) Larry Dixon said on the P.A. system earlier – there's no asterisks next to the wins when you talk about them in the history books. For us, when we put these trophies on the shelf, we don't really care how we get them. We just like to get them and know that we worked hard to get there and have it."

The victory was Lucas's first at the Gatornationals and first since winning the season-opener at Pomona in 2011. He also earned enough points Monday to lock up a berth in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout to be held during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, where the GEICO/Lucas Oil team could win $100,000.

It was just one of those kind of weekends. Lucas earned the No. 1 qualifier for the Gatornationals with a pass of 3.766 seconds at 326.56 mph, before the Aaron Brooks/Rod Centorbi-tuned dragster somehow found a way to go even faster during eliminations.