Morgan Lucas Racing teammates Shawn Langdon and Morgan Lucas suffered an unlikely pair of
first-round losses Sunday at the third annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit
Motorsports Park but now look forward to an upcoming test session prior to the vaunted Western
Swing.
After a weekend of hot temperatures in Northeastern Ohio, a heavy downpour Sunday morning just
minutes before the start of the first round delayed things for over an hour. With a clean
racetrack, rain clouds moved out and the sun soon heated things up.
Lucas raced first, lining up on the left side in his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster, with
six-time and reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher in the other lane. After similar starts,
trouble soon found Lucas, with his dragster making it to half-track before becoming engulfed in
flames and smoke.
In the Lucas Oil dragster, Langdon, who maintained the No. 3 slot throughout the weekend, paired
off against Troy Buff. A two-time Super Comp world champion, Langdon burst off of the line in .046
seconds compared to Bluff's .082 but mechanical woes plagued his dragster halfway through the run,
dropping a cylinder.
"It's one of those deals where you just have to get through it and move on to the next race and see
what we can do there," Lucas said. "It's unfortunate for Shawn. He's been driving exceptionally
well. I'm still not on my game."
Explained Langdon, "The car dropped a cylinder. When it did that, it put a load on the blower belt.
It's unfortunate. I was still ahead at half track."
This was the first time all season that both drivers lost on the first round.
The team will pack up and slide in a test session before heading west to Denver on July 10-13 for
he 30th annual Mopar Mile High NHRA Nationals. The race kicks off the Western Swing of consecutive
races in Denver, Seattle, and Sonoma, Calif.
