Something New for Morgan
Ryan Morgan of Mystic, CT will join the Sunoco Modified ranks at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Danny Cates’ 2008 Troyer with a T/A engine. He expects to enter a couple of races at Stafford Motor Speedway pending sponsorship and “how we do at Thompson.” John Morgan’s No. 0 is registered at Stafford with sponsorship from McGill Chevrolet in Pawcatuck, CT.
The Stafford races will be for understanding the car and the track. Morgan’s only experience there came in a 2012 PASS Modified race, where he finished tenth.
“We decided to try something different this year,” Morgan said. … “We plan to rebuild it and make it us, but go through it all and make sure it’s ready for the Icebreaker, and shake it down the first couple of practices, so hopefully I’ll be able to adapt to the open wheels pretty quickly.”
Morgan’s goal is to learn the car and keep it in one piece. He sees fellow ex Quarter Midget drivers Cam McDermott and Troy Talman as examples how to adapt to the open wheeled cars.
“I’m hoping I can do well in the premier division at Thompson Speedway, and prove that I could potentially run with Keith Rocco, and Ryan Preece, and Woody (Pitkat), and all them. And I understand it’s going to take me some time, but I think I’ll be alright after a couple of laps.”
Morgan wants some of the good luck from last season to continue in 2015. Since moving to the Late Models in 2012, it has been a struggle.
“We didn’t have much luck the first two years in Late Model, so we got hurt in that. We got wrecked and after our third year we finally had something click when we got a win and time to go in a different direction now”
Morgan won at Beech Ridge September 13 in dominant fashion by starting on the pole and leading every lap. He also won his heat race from the pole.
“That was an awesome feeling. It took me five years to get that, but we worked hard, me and my team and we had great people behind us with Crazy Horse Racing and everyone involved in that with Magnus Transmissions. I couldn’t thank everyone enough for their support in everything getting me to where I come today.
Morgan traveled part-time last year with the ACT Late Model Tour and PASS Northeast Late Model Tour. Morgan made three PASS Northeast Late Model Tour starts and two ACT Late Model Tour starts at Beech Ridge and Devil’s Bowl.
He believes the experience in extra distance events will be beneficial, especially on Icebreaker weekend. The Sunoco Modified feature is 75 laps, honoring the track’s 75th anniversary. Thompson will hold seven events, while Stafford will host weekly racing from April to September.
“The seven races really fit our schedule. That’s all we really ran last year, so we’re kind of used to that, and with work and everything it really helps with racing on the weekdays and only a couple of times. I’m sure everyone’s tight with money nowadays and times have changed.”
Morgan started racing in Go Karts at Pomfret at five, and moved to Quarter Midgets. He raced Legends Cars for several years, including a second place in Saturday night points at Waterford (CT) Speedbowl. He drove a Thompson Modified for two years and raced the PASS Modified tour part-time in Maine and New Hampshire for five years.
His grandfather Jack is a veteran presence places like Thompson and Waterford, dating back to the days of the late Fred DeSarro.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com