Lucas Oil Modified Series

BY DAVE GRAYSON

When the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, brought their high energy brand of open wheeling racing to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring, August 28th, there was a lot of excitement in the air as well as some pretty strong wind gusts. It would turn out that there was even more excitement throughout the course of the Lucas Oil Products 75 due to multiple story lines that captured every one's attention.

Absolutely topping the story lines was the presence of Tim "Poncho" Morse standing in victory lane at the end of the evening. It marked the Burbank-California driver's first series win after two years of coming oh so close to seeing a checkered flag. Morse was formidable on this night in Las Vegas and led every lap of the Lucas Oil Products 75.

But it wasn't an easy win. Every time Morse opened up a sizable lead on his competition it seemed that a yellow caution flag came out. Morse had to endure the field closing up on his rear bumper eight times during the race. An example of this came at approximately the half way point of the race when a single car spin brought out the caution flag and wiped out Morse's 4.2 second lead.

The last of the caution flags came with only 11 laps to go. Morse had to fight off a hard charging effort from young Dylan Kwasniewski who rode his bumper to a second place finish. Jim Mardis, Jimmy Dickerson and Tom Lovelady completed the top five. Dickerson, earlier in the evening, won the Dart Machinery trophy dash and the $200 bonus that comes with it.

After parking his bright red #10 modified in the Sunoco Race Fuels victory lane, a delighted Tim Morse said that he could literally hear every nut and bolt groan on the race car and then, laughing, said "man, when it's right it's right." He also made quick work in thanking the extra efforts of his sponsors that included Ron's Rear Ends, Mike Slover and CMJ Racing.

The fact that the Morse team even made the Las Vegas at all is in itself an extraordinary tale. He participated in a non series race earlier in the month at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale where crash damage completely destroyed the front end of the car.

Morse received some major help from his good friend Andrew Phipps who showed up at his shop to help put his car back together. Phipps is the 2009 Lucas Oil Modified Series champion who is running a part time schedule this year. He also won the modified race at Irwindale earlier this month.

Describing the sequence of events, Morse said "unfortunately we had bad luck at Irwindale where we wiped out our front shocks and had to completely rebuild the front end of the car as well as body work. Andrew came out and helped me get the car back together and loaned me a lot of his equipment including his shocks. He's the reason why we're here tonight and how sweet it is to get our first ever win right here in Vegas."

Morse did admit that the eight yellow flags, that kept eradicating his race lead, was a bit frustrating for him. "I was really worried at times," he said adding "it seemed that I would get a really comfortable lead, get into a good zone, hit my marks and then another caution would come out."

The Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, treats its fans to 75 full green flag laps of racing. That means the laps ran under yellow caution flags do not count. When the series made it first visit of the year, last May, to the Las Vegas Bullring, the caution laps in that race played a major role in the outcome of the race. Four teams, including the potential race winner, ran out of fuel in the final laps of the race.

The Lucas Oil Products 75 actually ran a reported total of 121 laps and Morse admitted that fuel mileage was very much on his mind towards the end of the race. "I was really worried about gas because I was running the car on methanol and I only had a 22 gallon tank. I know that there's only about of gallon left in this tank right now so I was really getting worried. During one of the last race restarts the engine fluttered a little bit so I knew I didn't have very many restarts left in the tank before I would have been pushing this thing," he said.

The race winner was also keenly aware of the presence of Dylan Kwasniewski and Jim Mardis during the final laps of the race. "I talked to Dylan after the race. He really raced me clean. He was waiting for me to make a mistake that I didn't make. He did everything that he was supposed to do, raced me clean and I made it a point to thank him as well as Mardis who is going for the points and the championship. They were putting a lot of pressure on me and I knew that I couldn't make a mistake and tonight was just my night."

Dylan Kwasniewski is very much one of the most impressive young drivers that has turned up in quite a few years. The Las Vegas based high school student impresses everyone each time he comes out onto the track. He brought his Rockstar Energy Drink sponsored modified to a second place finish after having to restart the race from the rear of the field. Kwasniewski was caught up in an opening lap melee, not of his making, that moved him from fifth to the back. It was believed by many observers that had this race been just a little bit longer he would have won it.

Describing his night at the Las Vegas Bullring, Kwasniewski said "it was really an awesome night although we kind of got screwed at the beginning when we got sent to the back. But it was fun to come through the pack and pass everyone. We almost won it at the end, but we wasted our tires and used them up. But, it was an awesome night. We've got wins that will be coming our way. We've got a good car and we'll be ready for the next race."

Shortly after the conclusion of the Lucas Oil Products 75, Jim Mardis crunched some numbers and came to the conclusion that his third place effort on a double points night was going to return him to the top of the series' championship standings. "I hate for anybody else to have bad luck," Mardis said adding "but I've had some and now they've had some and we'll just keep going from here."

Mardis was one of the drivers who found himself going to the rear of the field following an incident on the first lap of the race and had to launch a major charge back to the front. "I went to the back. I didn't mean to dump (Jimmy) Dickerson, (who recovered to finish fourth). At that point I thought my night was over. All of the guys ahead of us in the points were way up there and we were restarting in 20th."

The California driver of the #51 modified made it a point to thank all of his sponsors and said "Arce Engines built a great motor for us tonight and, of course, there's Rockstar Energy drink, we wouldn't be here without them. Also thank you to Score Board 2 Sports Bar and Jam Sportswear."

Mardis was one of the drivers who was adversely affected by fuel mileage during the May race at the Bullring. When asked if he was worried about the extra caution laps in the Lucas Oil Products 75 he smiled and said "no, we took care of that problem before we showed up here. The last race we ran a 22 gallon fuel cell. This time we put a 32 gallon cell on the car and we were probably good to go for another 50 laps.You live and you learn."

Making the Lucas Oil Products 75 even more interesting was the fact that double points were on the line for a championship that pays $3,500 in bonus cash and sponsor merchandise. Going into this race there were only 24 points separating the top five in the championship standings. By the time the Las Vegas race was over a variety of unforeseen circumstances greatly changed those standings. Pending a complete verification by the series' head scorer, it's anticipated that Jim Mardis will move from third to first in the standings with a four points advantage over race winner Tim Morse who will move up three positions from fifth.

The Las Vegas race also produced some unforeseen bad luck that impacted some of the series' major players and potential race winners. That was certainly true of Chris Gerchman who arrived at the Bullring with a streak of four consecutive wins. There was no doubt in any one's mind that Gerchman was a favorite to pull off a five peat at Las Vegas. He proved that by setting the Budweiser fast time in qualifying. He spent much of the race patiently riding in second and third waiting to make his move to the front.

However, that all unraveled, with 32 laps left in the race when blue smoke began to emerge off of his left rear tire. At first it was believed that some slight sheet metal damage was rubbing against the tire. But a bigger problem developed eight laps later when his engine blew up in a very big way and left Gerchman's car parked up against the turn one wall. The final result was a 21st place finish and a huge hit in the championship standings on a double points night.

Series points leader Doug Hamm also watched a rock solid effort turn sour during the final stages of the race. The Las Vegas based fan favorite spend much of the night running second and third and, with the demise of Gerchman, was expected to seriously pad his points lead. But with 21 laps to go, following a caution flag, the "Hound Dog" was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop and had to settle for a 14th place finish.

But the biggest hit of the night involved San Antonio Texas driver James Cole whose night was over before the race even got started. Cole found himself the victim of contact going into turn four just prior to the completion of the first lap. The reported damage included a broken brake line and the lack of the availability of a brake line fitting. The team finished 25th and will unfortunately have to deal with a free fall in the points from their original fourth in the standings.

However, Cole Racing more than deserves a tip of the "Team Lucas" hat for their sportsmanship shown the night before the race. Series veteran Doug Carpenter suffered a serious engine failure during the Friday night test and tune and it appeared that the team was faced with an early load up and a long ride home. Cole Racing lent Carpenter's team their back up motor and allowed him to make the race.

That's a major testament to the camaraderie that's displayed among the teams who participate in the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink. The drivers may fight like cats and dogs on the track to gain a position on each other. but off the track they are the best of friends and will do anything to help each other.

Bill Rozhon, the Lucas Oil-Rockstar Energy Drink Modified Series Race Director, was all smiles after the conclusion of the night and thought the fans got treated to a good race. "This was a pretty wild night," he said adding " it looks like we've got quite a turnover in the points battle with Chris, (Gerchman) going out and Doug, (Hamm) leaving the track. and what about that Tim Morse?"

"We try to keep these cars as equal as we can but it's just amazing that Chris Gerchman won those four races in a row. But it had to end sometime. Tim Morse has been one of our guys since day one and this first win has been a long time coming. Then what about Dylan (Kwasniewski) ? He came from the back after an early spin to finish second. What a remarkable young man he is. Jimmy Mardis also had to come from the back after some early issues and he did a really good job. I was also glad to see, (2008 series champion), Jimmy Dickerson come back. He also had issues and had to charge to that fourth place finish."

Series Promoter Greg Scheidecker was also very happy with the finish of the Lucas Oil 75 and said "you know, Tim Morse is one of those drivers who is often the center of attention. He' a good racer, he's clean racer, the man has paid his dues and he flat earned this main event tonight. Tim Morse is a true racer: a racer's racer. Tonight it was his turn."

Scheidecker also noted the double points aspect of the Lucas Oil 75 " It was one of those nights where it seemed like no one wanted to finish second. It was a type of night where the racing from second through tenth was just fabulous. However, it also seemed like all of the series' heroes had the opportunity during the night to start over and come from the back of the pack to get their finishes. Dylan, Jimmy Mardis, Dickerson and Austin Barnes are just some of the people who had to start over 25 laps into the race and come through the pack. It was just amazing, I have no idea how the points are going to lay out but definitely they're going to be shuffled." he said.

The series moves on to round number seven of their 2010 season on September 11th when they return to the always challenging Orange Show Speedway for a very unique race. The K&N Filters sponsored race is 100 laps and has a $10,000 purse that pays $1,500 to the winner. The race is also "topless" meaning the teams will be removing the roofs of the cars for this race.

The Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, is supported by a highly potent marketing concept known as "Team Lucas" Team members include Lucas Oil Products, Magnaflow Exhaust Products, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Performance filters, GEICO Powersports, CANIDAE All Natural Pet Food, MAV-TV, Dart Machinery and Rockstart Energy Drink.

The series is also strongly supported by a group of associate sponsors that includes Eibach Springs, Hoosier Tire West, Budweiser, Blue Water Resort & Casino, Sunoco Race Fuels, Frank's Radio and Racing Plus.