MORRISON — Drag racers aren’t patient. They like to go, go, go. But Larry Morgan and Allen Johnson played a waiting game Sunday in the pro stock final at Bandimere Speedway.
After getting their prestage lights on the starting line’s Christmas tree, Morgan and Johnson played chicken with the final staging light. Neither wanted to put the nose of his car on the starting line first.
After 1 minute, 45 seconds, Johnson gave in and put himself in race position. Morgan immediately followed, and they were off.
Morgan upset Johnson — the three-time defending winner at Bandimere who had won six of the last eight races — with a superior start (0.014 reaction time to Johnson’s 0.035). Morgan covered the quarter-mile in 6.944 seconds and Johnson, the polesitter, went 6.930.
“I needed to do something different that he wasn’t going be ready for. I knew it was the only way of beating him,” Morgan said of forcing Johnson to stage first. “And it was. He’s tough.”
Johnson’s 15-round winning streak at Bandimere ended.
Footnotes. Top fuel runner-up Tony Schumacher won his first-round race against Steve Chrisman while crossing the finish line on fire. Schumacher’s engine exploded halfway down the 1,000-foot nitro track, but he coasted to the end with a top speed of 227.69 mph. … Shane Gray and Jonathan Gray faced off in a pro stock quarterfinal, but Jonathan didn’t get off the starting line. He had mechanical failure and conceded the victory to his older brother. Shane Gray went on to lose to Allen Johnson by a hood ornament in the semifinals. … Pro stock bike winner Eddie Krawiec, the points leader and No. 1 qualifier, stood on the podium for the first time since last year. But it was the third win at Bandimere for the 2008, 2011 and 2012 world champion.
