Johnson Moves New Mopar Dodge Avenger to No. 4 in Final NHRA Winternationals Qualifying

Feb. 13, 2010

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

 

TEAM MOPAR(r) PRO STOCK QUALIFYING REPORT
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 1 of 23
Feb. 11-14
50th Annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals

Auto Club Dragway at Pomona
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Johnson Moves New Mopar(r) Dodge Avenger to No. 4 in Final NHRA
Winternationals Qualifying


Pomona, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - The 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Mopar(r) Dodge
Avenger just keeps getting better for Allen Johnson in its competition
debut at the 50th Annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals. The J&J
Racing team owner and driver jumped to No. 4 in the final qualifying
session today at Auto Club Dragway at Pomona, Calif., posting the second
quickest pass of the session and earning two bonus points in the NHRA
Full Throttle Pro Stock standings.

 

Johnson smoked the tires in his first qualifying run today. He rebounded
nicely in the fourth and final qualifying session of the event, which
was pushed back a bit due to on-track delays. The Greeneville, Tenn.,
native recorded a 6.595/207.34 pass in his Mopar HEMI(r)-powered Dodge,
his quickest run of the event. Johnson collected three bonus points
overall during NHRA Winternationals qualifying and will face off with
Steve Spiess in the opening round of eliminations tomorrow. 

 

"This morning we were really disappointed in what we did," said Johnson.
"That last run there, we just went back and got after it and made a
really good run. We left a little bit on the table, though. I think we
have what it takes to match up with Mike (Edwards, No. 1 Qualifier
today). We just have to make the same runs down low that he's making,
which we haven't yet. But we're close. 

 

"You don't want to see anybody crash," said Johnson of the delayed
qualifying session. "Thank goodness no one got hurt, but the delays
pushed qualifying back enough so the track cooled down and we could get
after it. The Mopar Dodge Avenger is running great. We'll go out there
tomorrow and see if I can do my job and bring a trophy home."

 

Two Dodge Avengers powered by J&J Racing-prepped Mopar HEMI engines will
start in the top half of the field tomorrow. Vinnie Deceglie will grid
No. 7 in his Mountain View Dodge Avenger and will line up against Ronnie
Humphrey in tomorrow's opening stanza. V. Gaines just missed posting his
Dodge Avenger in the always close Pro Stock field, finishing No. 17 in
qualifying, just one spot out of the show.

 

"The Dodge Avenger works really well," said Deceglie. "It's a lot
different than the Stratus. It's a learning curve to drive the Avenger
because everything is so much further back in the car. We're really
happy with it. With the assistance from (J&J crew chief) Mark Ingersoll
we had a feeling it was going to run really good out of the gate."