The luck ran out for FireAde Racing Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan when he shook the tires in his first-round matchup on Sunday with Jimmy Alund at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving the win to the Swedish driver.

Morgan was coming off a victory at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals two weeks ago in Charlotte and was running well in Las Vegas, but the generator in the team's hauler failed Sunday morning, leaving Morgan and his team without power. That meant they had no computer from which to tune his Chevrolet Camaro, and it bit Morgan in the first round.

His Chevy shook the tires almost immediately at the hit, while Alund made a clean 6.695-second, 206.42-mph to move to the second round. Morgan's official numbers were 12.972 seconds at 65.81 mph as he coasted across the finish line.

Without a computer, the best Morgan and his team could do was guess at a tune-up.

"We were worried about the generator this morning, trying to get it fixed," Morgan said. "We just missed it. What can I say? We did the best we could, but we probably had too much gear in it.”

Jimmy Alund, from Norrkoping, Sweden, posted a track record speed of 210.93 mph during the first round of qualifying on Friday. He qualified in the No. 10 position and on raceday reached the quarterfinals in his fifth race of the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

"I had a good time this weekend, and it was awesome to have Bo Butner, Darrell Herron and Randi Lyn Shipp working with me. We four got the racecar down the racetrack six times, and that's something I'm really happy about. But I want to win; that's why I'm flying back and forth. I want to bring a Wally home with me, and we have one more chance in Houston. We'll try again, and my J&J Performance Racing guys will be back with me – Petter [Greborn], Christer [Bergstrom] and Kent [Trenneman].

“I think Bo, Darrell and Randi Lyn might be there with me too, and that would be really cool. We've had a great time and work really well together. They are very focused, and you can see that they are racers, real racers who have been doing this for a long time, too. I think it will be really good next race, and I'm looking forward to it."

Butner will be taking over the driving duties later this season.


(Ron Lewis photo)

Jason Line continued to flex KB Racing muscle at this weekend's 16th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals and powered through qualifying effortlessly in his brilliant blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to score the 39th low qualifier award of his career and swoop up all but three of the top bonus qualifying points – the remaining three belonged to KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson. Launching into raceday in the No. 1 spot, Line was fully prepared to continue his surge and make it to his third final round of the season.

Unfortunately, Line turned on the red light by .009 in his second-round match with Allen Johnson.

"This was not the kind of day we were looking for, but our Summit Racing hot rods are definitely coming around," said Line, who kept hold of the points lead despite the early exit. "We ran well, and Greg's Chevrolet Camaro ran exceptionally well. I'm very excited about going forward, and things are looking good in the very near future for the Summit Racing team, that's for sure."

Starting from the No. 3 position, teammate Greg Anderson had low ET and top speed through each round of competition in an impressive display of KB Racing horsepower. Although stopped just short of reaching the final round at his sponsor's main event, Anderson and Team Summit are confident that their Chevy Camaro has a bright future this season.