Larry Morgan has been around long enough in the business to understand there are times when opportunity falls into your lap. 

Morgan, the seasoned Pro Stock racer from Newark, Ohio, with a never-ending propensity to tell you about the world as he sees it, will never forget when the opportunity to become a race series president fell into his lap. 

"It was what had to be 130-degrees, and I was laying on my back fixing a broken air conditioner unit," Morgan proclaimed without hesitation.

Jeff Biegun, Morgan's sponsor through his racerdirect.net company, called on his driver for a favor.

With sweat stinging his eyes, shirt dripping wet with perspiration, a wrench in one hand and his cell phone in the other, Morgan listened as Biegun proposed he should be the leader of his newest property. 

It would have been easier for Morgan if Biegun had asked him to take over the operations of a rocket science firm. 

Biegun simply stated, "I want you to be the president of ADRL."

Morgan understood without hesitation the magnitude of the situation. He was to take leadership of the American Drag Racing League race series which had a bad reputation of mismanagement, and reportedly unpaid racers. 

Without hesitation Morgan responded, "I don’t know whether I’m president material."

Morgan had no real option other than to accept the proposal considering the appointment had been leaked on social media before he was asked. 

Being loyal to his friend, Morgan accepted the challenge. 

"I told him that I’d help him out, whatever it took to help him do the right thing for the racers and the fans," admitted Morgan. "I told him I’d do it as long as I can help."

Morgan figured his four decades of drag racing experience qualified him to understand the mentality of drag racers. He also understood the drag racers who had watched the ADRL shipwreck over the last five years were not in the mood to be patronized.  

Morgan figured if Donald Trump could get elected president of the United States, and do the job, he could at least try. 

"Well, I don’t want to use the Trump-type approach necessarily, but I will tell you that I hate bulls***, so I’m going to make sure that we clean up all the bulls*** all the time," Morgan said. "I don’t want to walk around with a frigging fire hose all the time, putting out internet fires on websites. I don’t want to do that. 

"I want to make this series where it makes sense to the racers, and it makes sense to the fans and the people that own these race cars. I want to help them do the right thing. That’s what I want to do. And that’s what my full intentions are; to do that." 

Morgan understands he's got a tough row to hoe, complete with convincing a drag racing world dead-set against the latest reincarnation of the original eighth-mile doorslammer drag racing series founded by Kenny Nowling. He understands there are racers who are slow to forgive a grudge, and he understands the mentality, to a point. 

"I just want to go out there and fix the problems with racing in general," Morgan said. "That’s what I want to do. That being said, with all the baggage that’s with it that I don’t care for, I guess that comes along with it."

Morgan understands not paying racers is an unpardonable sin in motorsports, but would like to clear the air on the misinformation floating around. 

"If everybody knew the facts, not the alternative facts, then everybody would think differently about it," Morgan said. "Jeff Biegun bought the name from Larry Jeffers, and I saw the contract yesterday. They said he did not assume any of the debts. That’s how I read the contract. That’s how a lawyer would read this contract. And the people that get on the internet, they see it differently. And I understand that people feel differently about it, as what I would."

Morgan believes no good deed goes unpunished, and if Biegun is guilty of anything it's in wanting to provide another place for drag racers to race. 

"The guy wants to do something nice, and everybody wants to drag him down and beat him up on the way down," Morgan said. "I can tell you right now; I don’t care who it is, it shouldn’t have to be like that." 

The name alone, Morgan says, causes many to paint Biegun with the same brush as those who owned the series before him. 

Morgan says Biegun is willing to step up to the plate and make right for the sins of others, but to do so the road must run both ways. 

"He told me, "If we go out there, and they support us, and we make money, I will make sure every one of them that’s owed money gets their money back," Morgan conveyed. "And he doesn’t have to do that. But that’s what he said he would do. In other words, if we go out there and make $100,000, he said he would spend every cent of that to pay those guys back, providing they support him."

Morgan said if Biegun is willing to come out and pay a debt he doesn't legally owe, racers should be willing to give the series a chance. 

Morgan hopes for a chance, but isn't holding his breath. 

"The people who did get paid, not a frigging one of them has come to support the ADRL," Morgan said. "So what the hell’s the sense of doing it? That’s the way I look at it."

Morgan is content with starting anew and building his own brand of stars. 

"What I can do is guarantee if you come, you will get your money. I will guarantee that," Morgan said. "I was in Martin, I was in Rockingham, that guy paid every person there and then lost $28,000 or $30,000 each race. So I can tell you this much, he is into making something out of this. And he’s been very successful with every business he’s got. I spent days down there at his shop, or at his businesses in Michigan. He’s got a very well-groomed operation, and I believe he can do that to the ADRL."

Morgan said there's a need for a show-based entertainment program such as the new ADRL, and it has shown with good attendance at the first two events, held in Rockingham and most recently in Martin, Michigan. He's also planning on continuing his core divisions like Pro Modified and possibly a Pro Stock division. 

"Anything to put on a show, we are going to consider it," Morgan explained. "We’ve got the Nostalgia Pro Stock cars for the rest of the year, and I’ve got to tell you, they put on a hell of a show. We are going to bring in competition, but they fans want guys that want to put on a show."

Morgan said, case in point, his Nostalgia Pro Stock racers distributed more than 1,200 handout cards during the two-day race, confirming the fans are enjoying the variety. With this said, he's even considering nostalgia Funny Cars and Dragsters.  

"I think that there’s something there," Morgan said. "Are we competing with NHRA? Not a frigging chance. We don’t want to. I’m a racer of NHRA. It ain’t about a big d*** contest here; we don’t care about that. All we want to do is make it where people come in and enjoy with their family, racing. And that’s what we’re here for. It’s not any of that craziness." 

Morgan understands there's a consensus the ADRL will eventually try to go head to head with its spinoff, the Professional Drag Racers Association.

"No. No. No," Morgan reiterated. "We’re not going head-to-head with them. We don’t even have a program like they’ve got. We put on shows with jet cars, and some Pro Mod cars have come in. There are cars from all over the country coming. Got a little bit of everything, and I’m telling you, the fans loved it."

The next scheduled event on the ADRL tour is September 8-9, 2017, at Dragway 42 in West Salem, Ohio. Morgan said the presale ticket counts are already strong. 

All Morgan is asking is to put the past in the past, and help the new ADRL provide another place for the racers to race. 

"Jeff Biegun's a good man and a good family man, and that’s what we need right now to run the drag racing series," Morgan said. "It’s such a political game these days. I just want it to be good for everybody."