Team Mopar eliminations report from NHRA Gatornationals

TEAM MOPAR PRO STOCK
2007 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 3 of 23
ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals
Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway
March 16-18, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: 
Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net
Darren Jacobs, J.R.Thompson, (248) 553-4566; djacobs@jrthompson.com

TEAM MOPAR ELIMINATIONS REPORT FROM THE ACDelco NHRA GATORNATIONALS

ALLEN JOHNSON, MOPAR/J&J RACING DODGE STRATUS R/T:
Without lane choice, No. 9 qualifier Allen Johnson lost a close opening
round of eliminations today at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals against Jeg
Coughlin. 

Driving the Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T, Johnson nailed a
near-perfect reaction time of .014 (.000 is perfect) to Coughlin's .042, but
a slight diversion out of the groove resulted in a losing 6.618-second
elapsed time at 208.65 mph to Coughlin's winning 6.582/210.01. Margin of
victory: .0081 of a second!

Johnson's run marked his second-quickest ET of the weekend, and his fastest
speed of his career. His 6.602-second qualifying lap was also his
career-best elapsed time.

"The lanes, of course, were worth a lot," he said. "We lost lane choice that
last run in qualifying. That hurt us. You know, as bad as everything was
this weekend (with teammate Richie Stevens not qualifying and struggling
with car problems), maybe we learned a lot and it sent us in a little
different direction and we'll come out of Houston with a lot of gusto.

"Last year we went the first six races before we got on track. So, maybe we
will cut that in half this year and do well."

Next up for Team Mopar is the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston,
Texas, March 30-April 1.

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