Mustang Club of Maryland

Check out www.nhra.com for the story and pictures of the Stang! Perhaps another Honorary MCOM Membership is in order!!??



Morgan’s career begins new chapter with 2010 Ford Mustang
Friday, November 27, 2009
by John Jodauga, National DRAGSTER Associate Editor


After a Pro Stock career in General Motors and Mopar products, veteran Larry Morgan will compete in a Ford Mustang in 2010, with backing from Lucas Oil.

Having raced GM Pro Stockers from 1987 through 1998 and then campaigned Dodge products for the next decade, Larry Morgan will have a shot at becoming one of the few factory hot rod racers to have produced Top 10 seasons in Pro Stock with all of Detroit’s “big three” brands when he debuts his new 2010 Ford Mustang at the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals next year.

“This is a project that I’m really excited about,” said Morgan. “I was involved with David Nickens in helping out with the design work for the Dodge Hemi, and I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Ford’s Brian Wolfe, Jesse Kershaw, Mose Nowland, and others with their new powerplant, and I feel fortunate to have been able to be on the ground floor in the development of both programs.”

Morgan has already taken delivery of his RJ Race Cars Mustang that will sport the colors of his sponsor, Lucas Oil, and also has another Mustang being built by Don Ness. His new Ford 500-cid Hemi was dyno tested for the first time Monday, Nov. 23, and Morgan was pleased with the results.

“The horsepower readings were very good, and actually somewhat better than we thought that they would be,” said Morgan. The next major step will be the car’s first test sessions, which are scheduled for sometime in the second week of December. “We’ll be testing with Greg Anderson, Jason Line, Allen Johnson, and several others either in Georgia or Florida right after the PRI Show,”


Morgan already has taken delivery of this RJ Race Cars-built Mustang and has a second pony car on order from Don Ness.


Because there are several design similarities between the new Ford cylinder head and the Mopar version that he had previously raced with, Morgan said that he expects the transition to be a smooth one. “Every factory Pro Stock head that is available now have valve angles that are within one degree of each other,” said Morgan. “The only thing that is really different between the brands is how much the valve location is rotated.”

With the many design improvements that have been engineered into the new Blue Oval powerplant, Morgan is optimistic that he will be able to have his Mustang in competitive form very soon. “We hope to be qualifying in the top half of the field at the beginning of the year,” said Morgan. “The biggest question mark is how much testing we get in before Pomona. We’ll need some good luck with the weather to get in as many test runs as possible.”

Morgan admits that splitting the time between racing his Dodge in the second half of the 2009 season and working on the new Ford program kept him pretty busy.

“Some people suggested that I should have parked my Dodge at the end of the year, but then I never would have won the Las Vegas event,” said Morgan, who scored his tenth career Pro Stock victory at that race. “It felt good to end my time with Mopar on such a high note, and everything is on schedule with our new Mustang. So even though we had to work long hours the last few months, it was really worth the effort.”

For the 2010 season, Morgan expects that the Pro Stock field will be as tough as ever. “Mike Edwards sure didn’t show any signs of slowing down, and Greg [Anderson] and Jason [Line] are starting to make better runs again,” said Morgan. “I expect that Allen Johnson and Vinnie Deceglie will continue to make progress their Dodges, and our Ford team should grow as the season goes along.”

Morgan’s current Ford teammates, Erica Enders and Jim Cunningham, will also be doing extensive testing over the winter, and John Nobile will be taking delivery of his new Ford Mustang in January.

The 2010 campaign will be Morgan’s 23rd in Pro Stock. After several successful seasons of Sportsman racing, he turned professional by driving Bob Panella Sr.’s Pro Stock Oldsmobile in 1987, and recorded his first national event victory at the 1989 U.S. Nationals, where he also doubled up with a win in the K&N Horsepower Challenge, the special event that he won again in 1990 and 1992. His best season took pace in 1990 when he scored four victories in six final-round appearances, and his most recent Top 10 showing was a seventh place effort in 2007.

“We’re really looking forward to running this Mustang because we really feel that it has Top 10 potential,” concluded Morgan.