Team Mopar® driver Allen Johnson posted a solid start in the first race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, advancing to the semifinals today in his Mopar Dodge Avenger Pro Stock car at the 56th Annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
Johnson took the No. 2 spot and set the track speed record (210.28 mph) during qualifying at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The J&J Racing driver and team owner began eliminations at the first event in the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs by dispatching Steve Spiess with a 6.605-second pass at 209.56 mph.
Johnson was relegated to the subpar right lane in his second-round match against Ron Krisher. The Team Mopar veteran’s 6.631/208.55 pass was slower than Krisher’s, but luck was on Johnson’s side as Krisher fouled out on a red light. A.J.’s luck would run out in the semis against Greg Stanfield. His car shook the tires and slowed shortly after takeoff as Stanfield pulled away for the round win.
“We qualified well, but that right lane was tough,” said Johnson, who made his 11th semifinal round appearance of the season. “We lost lane choice early and it just killed us. It was hard to do anything with that right lane.
“All in all, it was a solid start to the Countdown playoffs. We’ll take it. Hopefully, we’ll get the car back right. Just when we think we’ve got the darn thing perfect, it goes away a bit. We’ll go work over at Charlotte and test on Wednesday, and see if we can hit on a setup for that track. We’ll try to get that edge back.
“The points deal worked in our favor, aside from Mike (Edwards). He’s the one we’re chasing, so we need to match up with him each week.”
V. Gaines defeated Kurt Johnson in the first round and played spoiler in the quarterfinals by knocking off Jeg Coughlin, third in the Countdown playoffs standings entering Indy, with a 6.620/208.91 run. Gaines, who ran low elapsed time in the first two rounds, had defending Pro Stock champion Mike Edwards covered in the semis with a 6.622/209.14 run to Edwards’ 6.656/207.94 mark, but the Denver native left too early and his red light foul gave Edwards the win.
Johnson remains second in the Pro Stock Countdown to the Championship standings. Next up is the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals, scheduled for Sept. 16-19 at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.
Mopar-First Features
Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:
- Camper trailers: first to introduce off-road camper trailers
- Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with consumers
- Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format
- FLO TV: first to offer live, mobile television
- WiFi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
- WiTECH: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network
