AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY MORGAN

If you ask NHRA Pro Stock racer Larry Morgan a question, he’ll tell you the truth as he sees it. He’s a seasoned drag racer with as much true grit as one can have.

Never one to mince words, the Newark, Ohio-based Morgan isn’t afraid to speak out against the establishment if it appears they’re in the wrong. Seventeen national event victories in 41 career final rounds provide the credibility that makes his voice heard.

This season Morgan accepted one of the toughest challenges of his career by getting in on the ground floor of a revived Ford Pro Stock program. Though it appeared to be one of the toughest tours of his storied 21-year Pro Stock career, Morgan sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Morgan recently to discuss the current state of the Pro Stock division.

BB – THIS SEASON STARTED OFF STRONG AND IT APPEARED FORD WAS GOING TO JUMP RIGHT BACK INTO THE COMPETITIVE PRO STOCK MIX. BUT AS THE SEASON PROGRESSED, YOU GUYS SEEMED TO LOSE CONTROL OF THE EDGE YOU HAD ON THE COMBINATION. WHAT WENT WRONG?

LM - We just kept tearing parts up like the valve train. Our valve train wasn’t exactly strong enough. That being said, we were breaking engines at every race. I think we were decent on power and we just got behind by constantly rebuilding engines rather than working on more power. We just tore up everything to be honest.

BB – YOU SEEMED TO FACE A NUMBER OF PARTS ISSUES DURING THE SEASON, WAS THIS A MATTER OF SIMPLE PARTS FAILURE OR JUST THE LACK OF WORTHWHILE DATA FOR THE FORD ENGINES?

LM - All of the Ford parts stuff was good; it was all good. The parts we chose to use weren’t adequate. We were on the edge for the power we make; the parts just weren’t strong enough. We had a lot of parts failure and that (resulted in) blowing up engines. That just got me behind. Had I qualified at the races I didn’t qualify in, I would’ve been alright in points. But it just happens that way. And when you have to wait forever for parts from some of these vendors we use it just takes forever to get parts made. That’s what happened to us.

BB – ADMITTEDLY WITH THE PHOENIX AND SEATTLE INCIDENTS, WAS THIS ONE OF THE TOUGHEST SEASONS THE PRO STOCK RACERS HAVE FACED IN A LONG TIME?

LM - What you have in our class is you have a few people with a lot of money that can spend the money to do what we have to do. It’s just about the funding. You can pretty much order the qualifying sheet by how much money they spend. It would be cool if you went out and got everybody’s budget and see how they’ve done all year.

The factory support that we get from Ford is not money, its engineering help. You have to pay for engineering and if we get that for free that’s a plus. I think people believe we get like a million dollars from Ford or Lucas and that’s not the case. Factoring in all we went through this last season, I think we did really well.

BB –DO YOU BELIEVE THE PRO STOCK CLASS HAS REACHED A POINT WHERE PARITY HAS JUST BECOME WISHFUL THINKING?

LM - Yes. I think the bottom line is that if you have an unlimited budget, then you should do well. If you’re any type of a driver you’re going to do well. But if you don’t have the money, you’re going to struggle. Let’s face it, if I do well then I was just lucky to hit it where the larger funded teams didn’t. That’s the bottom line, I know that. They’ve got to have people to fill the spots.

If you were to walk up through the pits in Pro Stock and count how many teams do this for a living and rely solely on sponsorship to race, you would be able to count them on one had. Actually, just a few fingers. The rest are independently wealthy individuals who want to race. There are a few guys out there that have a so called “major sponsor” on the side of their car along with a competing company decal paying contingency. I can remember when I raced for Castrol, if you had anything to do with a rival company, they would pull your deal away. It’s not like that anymore, you get guys that are just independently wealthy and I’m not talking bad about them. I realize that these guys are out here playing and it’s a rich man’s game. It didn’t used to be that way, but it is now.
morgan
BB – DO YOU SEE THE LESSER FINANCED TEAMS SUCH AS YOURSELF EVENTUALLY PUSHED TO THE SIDELINES?

LM - I don’t know, I mean every class has got to have traffic because if you don’t have it there just won’t be anything happening. There’s only going to be so many rich racers to go around, it’s just how it is. I think that you’re going to see these guys someday say, ‘you know what? This isn’t worth it.’ When they spend two or three million and they can’t win.

I don’t care who it is; to qualify and do good you need to spend a million dollars a year. I own everything that I’ve got, I couldn’t start over today. It would be impossible to start over.

BB – WARREN JOHNSON ONCE SAID PRO STOCK NEEDS TO START WORKING TOWARDS EFI, IF LARRY MORGAN WAS THE EMPEROR OF PRO STOCK RACING HOW WOULD YOUR PRO STOCK CLASS BE CONFIGURED?

LM - If it was up to me to run Pro Stock this is how I would do it. I’d give every son of a b**** $500,000 and give him a skid which consists of six blocks, a skid of cylinder heads, and say have at it boys. The guy that drives has to be qualified to work on the engine stuff and make sure that’s done. Not the guys that fly in, I don’t think that’s how it ought to be but that’s not my choice and that’s not how it is.

I’d have fuel injection, with no more carburetors. I don’t think 500 cubic inch is a bad deal, only because I’m so used to it now. I don’t think that’s really a bad deal. I see the handwriting on the wall, I know that we have to have the Fords, Chevys and Dodges, I realize that. That’s one reason why I have done the Ford deal because I thought it would be a good thing for the sport and I never was afraid of a challenge. Also, I liked the idea of being able to get in on the ground floor and build an engine with them on a clean sheet of paper. We didn’t take 429 heads and blocks, we built purpose built engines. Which I think is the right way to do it. If you’re going to compete against a purpose built engine, you should start with one.

BB – ARE THE DAYS OF LEASE ENGINES IN PRO STOCK NUMBERED?

LM - I don’t know, you’re going to see it come back someday I hope. That’s the only way I can see a few teams being able to do it, like myself. Reher Morrison would still be doing it if there was a market for it. You definitely have to have some substantial funding and the right people in place, do your own engine deal. Joe Hornick got it started with Greg Anderson down there with his NASCAR technology. Then he went to Cagnazzi’s and helped them get started. Jegs on the other hand has been very successful without an in-house-program. I think to have your own engine program, you have to be there and you have to have control of it.

Starting one from scratch can be done; it just costs a lot of money to do it. I mean I could go today, hire a major player with a competitive team, he could come on board with all the technology that was paid for by another owner and reap the benefits. I mean I could do that. But I don’t think that’s the proper way to do it, it feels like stepping over it. I guess I have seen that scenario play out to many times.

BB – LAST YEAR IS BEHIND YOU. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ENSURE THE FORD PRO STOCK EFFORT GETS OFF ON A BETTER FOOT IN 2011 AND MAINTAINS THAT FOOTING?

LM - We are working real hard on our engine program and trying to move forward there. The car - we are going to the wind tunnel and try and make the Ford a little bit better. They are trying to give us as much engineering help as they can. That’s the bottom line; there are no million dollar deals in Pro Stock from a manufacturer anymore. There never was as far as I know. I’ve had good deals from GM and Dodge, I’ve had those deals. I’ve done well when I’ve had those deals, but those deals aren’t around anymore. Those guys are trying to survive as well.

As far as our program goes, we’re working really hard this winter to make sure our program moves forward. We have a good base; we have something to work with. I feel I have an excellent team both at the track in at the shop. It has been a while since I have been able to say that I am really excited about 2011.

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AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY MORGAN