Another Drought Broken

No, not the one in Denver (after our 2 feet of snow we got last weekend)! I'm talking about Morgan Lucas' win at Atlanta.

When a driver of this caliber and funding wins for the first time, I go back and double check the stats to see for sure if this is their first win or not. It's hard to believe and I'm sure harder for the team and driver.

It happened last year when Tony Bartone won in Seattle and Greg Statnfield won in Dallas for the first time in the pro ranks. Both had won previously in the sportsman ranks...although Greg had won in the defunct PST category.

Now, Morgan Lucas has broken his win-less streak!

Previously, Morgan's stats were:
54-42 first round
26-28 second round
5-21 third round
0-5 final round
85-96 overall...96 events qualifying until a win!

Who we pullin' for now to break that win-less streak?
Bob Vandergriff 189 qualified events without a win.
Here are some other top fuel drivers that are still waiting for their first NHRA win and how many qualified events since...
Rhonda Hartman-Smith 116, John Smith 92, Scott Weis 90, Clay Millican 82.

Meet the Smiths

When I saw that Mike Smith qualified at Gainesville, I couldn't remember if he had qualified in a funny car before...the answer, no. I now have two Smiths in my funny car database, Paul and Mike. Believe it or not, the last time Paul qualified for a national event was at St. Louis in 1997 #15...in funny car. Lest you forget, Paul drove a top fuel car (owned by Chuck Etchells for a while from 1988 - 1990) qualifying at 13 events during those 3 years.

Back to Mike again, he's compiled a 13.5 qualifying average and gone 5-30 in topfuel from 1990 to 2003.

Now, back to keeping the Smith's all straight...easy in funny car, Paul and Mike...easy in pro stock, Rickie and Pete...bikes, Matt, CJ, and John...but top fuel (see if you can name them before reading futher)...Craig, John, Mike, Paul, Ron, and Steve!