TOP FUEL

Morgan Lucas and Brittany Force both had traction trouble in their semifinal match. (Ron Lewis photo)

A year ago, Morgan Lucas jumped for joy on the starting line as his rookie driver, Richie Crampton, won the U.S. Nationals. This year, Lucas was the winner. The part-time competitor won his first event of 2015.

"Winning this race is absolutely massive, the biggest race win I've probably ever had in my life," said Lucas, who won NHRA's biggest race for the first time as a professional driver. "Obviously I want to live in this moment for a long time to come because you don't know -- you never know -- when the next one is going to be. I'm so excited about my team, and to have my wife and my son here is just amazing, it really is."

With parents Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, wife Katie, and son Hunter on hand, Lucas dispatched a tire-smoking Dave Connolly in the final round to secure his 12th career pro victory and his first of 2015.

Lucas endured a wild day, winning one round with the quickest elapsed time of the day, another on a holeshot, and another on a pedal-fest.

He opened the day by beating Leah Pritchett with a pass of 3.787 seconds at 323.89 mph that ended up being low ET for race day. Pritchett made a good run too, 3.816 at 320.05 mph, but was no match for Lucas.

That put him against Richie Crampton, who had already secured third place in the Top Fuel points standings. The Morgan Lucas Racing teammates battled heads-up, with Lucas winning with a reaction time of .063-second and a pass of 3.902 seconds at 297.42 mph. Crampton's quicker 3.899-second pass at 302.62 mph wasn't enough.

Then in the semifinals against Brittany Force, both drivers lost traction almost immediately, but Lucas was somehow able to recover and guide a sideways race car down the track to win with a run of 6.181 at 169.08 mph, beating Force's 7.770-second pass at 110.74 mph.

"I honestly don't know what was going on but that definitely was channeling my inner drifting," Lucas said of the race against Force. "I'm going to have to try to get Toyota to get that on video."

Against Connolly, Lucas made a terrific pass of 3.864 seconds at 319.60 mph while Connolly slowed to 6.235 seconds at 83.47 mph.

It was a really big team effort this weekend,” Lucas said. “I hate that we had to race Richie second round but last year he won it, so I guess it was my turn. He's been a great teammate. He's so supportive. I am so blessed to be up here and I'm just excited."