Pro Stock racer Larry Morgan should have known when he won on the slot machine Saturday night that Lady Luck had something in store for him at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.

Morgan was waiting on his wife to return from their room, before they headed out to a Vegas show, and before she stepped out of the elevator, Morgan’s $1 investment turned into a $1,200 payday.

“I felt relaxed at that point and believed that maybe this was going to be my weekend,” Morgan said. “I’m not allowed to do that and she took half of that money right then. I got to keep the rest.”

Pro Stock racer Larry Morgan should have known when he won on the slot machine Saturday night that Lady Luck had something in store for him at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.

Morgan was waiting on his wife to return from their room, before they headed out to a Vegas show, and before she stepped out of the elevator, Morgan’s $1 investment turned into a $1,200 payday.

“I felt relaxed at that point and believed that maybe this was going to be my weekend,” Morgan said. “I’m not allowed to do that and she took half of that money right then. I got to keep the rest.”

Sunday evening in Las Vegas, Morgan drove his Lucas Oil-sponsored Dodge Avenger to the winner’s circle by stopping a two-time world champion, the current point leader, a multi-time sportsman world champion and then an up and coming driver in the final round.

Morgan defeated 2008 NHRA Rookie of the Year finalist Rickie Jones in the final round to score his tenth career national event title in 32 career finals.

The slot machine investment wasn’t the only investment Morgan made earlier in the weekend. Morgan also loaned an engine to his final round opponent prior to the event. And when that engine broke in qualifying, he loaned another to the team.

There was one condition for the engine loan, according to Morgan. If they were to meet in competition, the engine was to come back. Morgan said he loaned the engine to prevent the team from withdrawing from competition.

“He didn’t have a good engine to qualify with so I gave him one,” Morgan said. “I told him that the deal was that if we had to run each other that he had to run his own engine.”

Morgan said the only monetary arrangement for the engine loan was that he was given the qualifying money and anything after that was Jones to keep.

Jones announced recently that they will embark on a new in-house GM engine program for 2010.

“I love Rickie Jones and I will do everything I can for him and throughout the year we gave him engines,” Morgan added. “Believe me respect goes both ways on these teams. I just said that I’m not going to give a guy an engine to beat me with.”

Morgan left on Jones in the final, .012 to .041 reactions, and was able to outrun him to the finish line 6.720 to 6.794.

Las Vegas is the next-to-last event on Morgan's  Mopar program as he prepares for a new Ford program in 2010. Morgan will campaign a Ford Mustang, ironically built by Jones’ RJ Race Cars shop in Galesburg, Ill.

“I’ll pick my car up this week from Rick Jones and we should have one of the engines running possibly before the World Finals,” said Morgan. “We’ve got all of the parts and they are nice. Everyone talked about us copying the Hemi but if we put the Hemi valve cover on we can’t get spark plugs in it. It’s just not the same.”

Aside from giving his wife the slot machine earnings, the engine loan controversy and the rumors of copying the Hemi, Morgan smiles at the fact he ended a seven year winner’s circle dry spell.

Ending that dry spell was a win he considers one of his most magical wins since capturing the 1989 NHRA Pro Stock Shootout title.

“My family was here with me and it’s not often we get to do that,” Morgan said. “My guys have worked awful hard to get to where we are at. This is the best win I’ve had in a long time.”

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