Johnson Powers Stratus to First Pro Stock Final

Mopar Motorsports
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals
Gateway International Raceway  Madison, Illinois
Elimination Notes & Quotes

MADISON, Ill. (June 29, 2003) -- History will have to wait. But, maybe not
for long as Allen Johnson wielded his Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus to the car¹s
first final during tonight¹s Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals at Gateway
International Raceway.

Johnson, who was in his second final (Pomona, Calif.) of the season, was
barely edged at the stripe by Ron Krisher. The Greeneville, Tenn., resident
clocked a 6.840-second elapsed time at 201.73 mph. Krisher ran a slower
6.843-second pass at 201.64 mph, but took a slight starting-line advantage
to win, just 25 points behind Krisher for fifth.

Johnson moved to the finals by defeating Mopar mate Larry Morgan in round
one, Kurt Johnson in round two and Greg Stanfield¹s Dodge in round three.
Johnson recorded a 6.873-second lap at 201.28 mph in his second round match.
Tonight¹s efforts vaulted Johnson into sixth in the POWERade Pro Stock point
race.

³We can¹t fuss because it was a good weekend,² said a dejected Johnson.
³I¹ve just struggled all year with those new bulbs. It was all I had on my
mind on that last run -- I didn¹t want to red light. You just can¹t race
like that, and I have to figure out a way to get that out of my mind.

³Runner up is a lot better than 38 other people here,² Johnson added. ³You
always want to win every race, but if you can go to at least the semis every
week, you¹re going to be right there in the points hunt. The season is just
half over. I think we¹re on to something wit these new Stratus cars.

³Dad (Roy Johnson) is really doing a good job with the motors heading into
Denver,² Johnson added. ³This is a good heads up thing and we just have to
keep our focus.²

Johnson also drove his Stratus to the semifinals at the last event in
Hebron, Ohio.

³The Stratus is an awesome race car,² Johnson said. ³Darrell (Alderman) is
not as familiar with his new Stratus. These cars drive totally different
than the Neon. We¹re going out to Denver next week to test  and Darrell
will get a few more laps on his car as well. Maybe we¹ll go out there and
kick some butt. And this time we won¹t give it up.²

It was a solid night for the DBP Enterprises Dodge Neon of Greg Stanfield.
The Bossier City, La., resident had a strong day of driving before falling
to fellow Mopar runner Allen Johnson. Stanfield ran a 6.876-second lap at
201.07 mph.

Stanfield advanced with a rousing round one upset of No. 1 qualifier Warren
Johnson. The second-year Pro Stock driver had a (.018-.097) reaction time
advantage and was able to hold off Johnson¹s session low elapsed time of
6.845 seconds. Stanfield clocked a 6.917-second pass at 200.32 mph.
Stanfield then defeated Jim Yates with an impressive .008 of a second light
and a 6.889-second lap at 199.94 mph.

³We¹re fighting this war here, and it¹s a big one,² Stanfield commented.
³We¹re just trying to make rounds so we know what to do one race day. Those
LED lights at night sure are different. Knowing that our performance was a
little bit down, we knew that we had to step it up somewhere -- and that¹s
my job.²

Darrell Alderman and the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus dropped his first round
match with Greg Anderson. The Morehead, Ky., resident ran a 6.909-second lap
at 200.80 mph as Anderson ran a 6.869/202.09 combination.

³The car reacted to the right lane a lot better than I though it would,²
Alderman said. ³We ran a 6.90 over there, which is respectable. It¹s hard to
do anything with a 6.86-second run. We¹ll go get them in Denver.²

Larry Morgan fell to Mopar teammate Allen Johnson in the first round of
eliminations. Morgan ran a quicker 6.895-second elapsed time at 200.38 mph,
but he didn¹t have enough to run down Johnson at the top end.

³I¹m so proud of these guys this weekend,² Morgan said. ³I think we¹ve
turned the corner. The car was very consistent and quick this weekend  and
I couldn¹t be happier with what the team has done. We¹ll go testing in
Denver and see if we can¹t get one there.²

Mopar Funny Car Elimination NotesŠ

Whit Bazemore and his Matco Tools Dodge Stratus failed to advance past the
first round of eliminations for the first time this season. The Indianapolis
resident, who ran a 5.220-second lap at 271.30 mph, lost to Ron Capps and
his 5.078-second elapsed time at 297.35 mph.

³Things just didn¹t go our way today,² Bazemore said. ³We were the quickest
to the 330 (foot) mark and we had the quickest eighth-mile run. But, it was
already smoking the tires pretty heavily at that point. For some reason, we
overpowered the track  and we knew where we were with the tune up. We were
very conservative on that run. The Matco Tools Dodge is an animal sometimes
and it just reared up and bit us.²

Gary Scelzi, driver of the Oakley sponsored Dodge Stratus Funny Car, was
nipped at  the finish by John Force. Scelzi clocked a 5.192-second pass at
286.50 mph, but it wasn¹t enough to run down Force¹s 5.128-second pass at
300.20 mph.

³We learned a lot of stuff this weekend,² Scelzi said. ³We ran part of the
new stuff that we¹re going to be trying. We¹ll have everything in place by
Denver. I honestly believe that nobody will want to park next to the Oakley
Dodge come Sonoma.

³We showed a lot of promise,² Scelzi continued. ³When we get the rest of
this stuff, we¹ll continue to see improvement. I wish I could tell everyone
what it¹s all about, but I don¹t want folks to know.²