Should Morgan Lucas have waited?
Written by David Lamm · September 29, 2004
Every drag racer with dreams of running the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series hopes that one day his or her phone will ring and it is a team owner asking for help. Morgan Lucas got that phone call back in July but it wasn’t the circumstances he would have preferred. With the tragic passing of popular Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell, team owner Joe Amato brought in Morgan Lucas and his first race was in Brainerd, Minn. Lucas will only compete in eight races for the remainder of the season and will use this time to prepare for a title run next season. Knowing he would be stepping into a championship caliber car, should Lucas have waited until next year in order to better his chances of being named the 2005 Rookie of the Year?
A strong crop of rookies are challenging for the NHRA’s rookie award, The Auto Club Road to the Future award. NHRA rules state that a driver can not have competed in more than four races in a season to be considered a rookie. The top contenders entering the 2004 NHRA season were Eric Medlen in Funny Car, Jason Line in Pro Stock and Angie McBride in Pro Stock Bike. McBride has since fallen off the radar screen and no longer runs on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour because she and team owner George Bryce have since parted ways. Her leaving NHRA competition turned it into a two horse race between Medlen and Line for the rookie award. Now with Morgan Lucas coming into the mix in August, the rookie of the year award is a bit clouded. Granted, Brandon Bernstein won the award last year after only competing in eight races before suffering a season ending back injury. In that handful of races, Bernstein qualified on the top spot twice, won three races and his lowest qualifying position was sixth. Bernstein’s closest competition was David Baca who competed at all 23 races in 2003 but by comparison Bernstein’s season was more impressive. Baca did not win a race last year and only qualified on top twice in 23 races. Advantage to Bernstein with the majority of the voters wondering if he was that impressive in eight races, what might have he done in an entire season. We’ll have to see what Morgan Lucas can do at the four remaining races but it might be too late for him to catch up to the accomplishments of Line and Medlen.
Taking a look at what the top rookies have already done, Lucas has his work cut out for him if he wants to be named the Rookie of the Year. Medlen has one win, two final rounds and four semi finals already this year. In addition he has qualified No. 1 once, No. 2 twice and No. 3 once. The other top rookie in contention has been impressive as well. Jason Line is currently second in the POWERade point standings and has recorded three wins, five final rounds and five semifinals finishes. Line also has been on the pole once and qualified second five times. Those stats pose some pretty hefty competition to Lucas even if he had the entire season to compete. This is where the issue becomes emotionally charged and gets difficult. Joe Amato called on Lucas to take over driving duties for the late Darrell Russell who was well respected and beloved by everyone in the NHRA. Amato struggled with the decision to either park the dragster for the rest of the year or to continue on with another driver. Amato decided to keep racing because that is what Darrell would have wanted and true to his nature of finding young talent, Amato called upon Lucas to drive his dragster starting in August. At 20-years old, Lucas had dreams of eventually driving professionally in the quickest and fastest category the NHRA has to offer. Driving for a legend like Amato in a dragster that can win on any given Sunday was just a bonus. Obviously Lucas would have preferred to accept this job under different circumstances but leaped at the chance none the less. While Lucas made a good decision by ultimately accepting the job, he probably gave up on his chances of becoming the Auto Club Road to the Future Award winner. Maybe some dreams are worth forfeiting in order to achieve the bigger dream of possibly winning a championship? Only time will tell.
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.