Johnson Exits in First Round at Vegas; Morgan Claims Win in All-Mopar Final

Nov. 1, 2009

Contact: Darren Jacobs, (248) 553-4566, Cell: (313) 530-9910
E-mail: djacobs@jrthompson.com  

 

TEAM MOPAR(r) PRO STOCK RACE REPORT
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 23 of 24
Oct. 30-Nov. 1
NHRA Las Vegas Nationals

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Johnson Exits in First Round at Vegas; Morgan Claims Win in All-Mopar
Final


Las Vegas, Nev. (Nov. 1, 2009) - Mopar(r)/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T
NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson saw a brief end to his
outing today at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, losing to Jeg Coughlin in
the first round. The final saw an all-Mopar HEMI(r)-powered matchup
between Larry Morgan and Rickie Jones, with Morgan claiming the win.

 

Johnson posted his Mopar-fueled Dodge No. 6 after two days of
qualifying, drawing No. 11 seed Coughlin as his first-round foe. The
Greeneville, Tenn., native recorded the quicker and faster run of the
round with a 6.706-second/205.76 mph pass to Coughlin's 6.715/205.54
mark. Unfortunately, Coughlin's blazing reaction time off the starting
line, .007 to Johnson's .053 time (.000 is perfect) resulted in a
holeshot defeat for A.J.

 

"We did make a decent run that round," remarked Johnson. "I don't think
we had enough to overcome the magical light he [Coughlin] had. We made a
little headway there with the car. The motor ran well. 

 

"We're just going to throw everything at it at Pomona, and I'm going to
go home and work on that practice tree a little more to get quicker on
my starts."

 

Mopar power ultimately emerged victorious at Vegas, as Morgan drove to
his tenth career win and first since the 2002 Sonoma event. Morgan
posted a winning pass of 6.720/205.69 to Jones' 6.794/203.16 run. The
appearance in the final was a career first for the 22-year-old Jones. 

 

Along with Allen Johnson's victories earlier this year at the Mopar
Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver and the O'Reilly NHRA Summer
Nationals in Topeka, Morgan's triumph marks the third for a
Mopar-powered Pro Stocker this season.

 

Johnson is now seventh in the NHRA Countdown to 1 standings. Next up for
the Mopar-powered Pro Stock contingent is the final race of the season,
the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 12-15, at
Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif.