J&J Juggernaut Cashes In!

When Mopar Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson exited Las Vegas last Sunday night — he literally left nothing on the table…..

Not only did the defending NHRA Pro Stock World Champion successfully defend his two previous NHRA National titles at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but by earning his 18^th career Pro Stock victory in the new look Mopar Express Lane Dodge, he claimed the jackpot of a $25,000 “Sweep Bonus” to go with his $50,000 win in Saturday’s annual K&N Horsepower Challenge.

It is the fourth consecutive national event in which a Mopar has advanced to the final round of eliminations in either Pro Stock or Funny Car categories. The SummitRacing.com Nationals win also brings Mopar’s title victories total to five in just the first four races of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Series season.

Johnson’s weekend success comes on the heels of his victory at the Gatornationals, and propels him to the top of the leaderboard in the Pro Stock Championship points standings.

In a repeat of Saturday’s final match up in the annual K&N Horsepower Challenge, Johnson faced Erica Enders-Stevens as his final round elimination opponent with the same result and an elapsed time of 6.713 seconds (206.76 mph).  In previous rounds, Johnson had to defeat his own Mopar teammates, Vincent Nobile and Jeg Coughlin Jr., in order to earn his second win of the year and his third consecutive at the Las Vegas dragstrip.

Driving a brand new race car — Allen Johnson dominated Pro Stock at Las Vegas beating Erica Enders-Stevens in two Pro Stock final round showdowns

“It seems like our car really likes altitude tracks, and hats off to my Mopar Express Lane guys for pulling off the sweep today,” said Johnson whose two wins this weekend made it the second year in a row that a HEMI-powered Dodge won both the K&N Horsepower Challenge and the National title after Nobiles’ sweep at Norwalk in 2012. “It’s awesome to win both races. I was asked if this just became my favorite track and I still have to answer that another high altitude track, Denver, is still tops in my books. Not just because it’s Mopar’s title race but probably because I’ve won there four times. But Las Vegas is quickly becoming a favorite after winning it three times now, along with our sweeping the K&N Challenge.”

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car) also were winners at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event.

Schumacher claimed his second win of the season and 71st of his career in Top Fuel as he drove to his seventh win at this track with a performance of 3.851 at 323.27 in his U.S. Army dragster, finishing just in front of runner-up Antron Brown’s Matco Tools dragster, which posted a 3.956 at 299.60.

“I don’t know that we had the best car this weekend,” Schumacher said. “We were good, but there were faster cars than us. Sometimes you have to go consistent and sometimes you have to get down the racetrack. That’s what we did this weekend.”

Schumacher, who moved into the series points lead with the victory, says he was thrilled to get a win on his crew chief Mike Green’s birthday so he could put the spotlight on his crew for their great efforts during the weekend.

The TF Final featured battling DSR cars with Tony Schumacher edging out Antron Brown

“I didn’t drive amazing today,” Schumacher said. “I didn’t have stellar lights like Antron and Spencer, but you try so hard to not be the weak link. It wasn’t like I did anything supernatural or different to win this race. Every now and then the driver does something great to win the race, but the majority of the time it is the hard work and dedication of the crew. Those guys work so hard and I don’t think most fans understand just how hard they do work. I am happy for all my guys.”

In Funny Car, Pedregon powered past Courtney Force for his first victory of the season and the 31st of his career. Pedregon’s Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry finished in 4.173 at 298.40, while Force’s Traxxas Ford Mustang lost traction near mid-track and trailed with a 5.244 at 175.59.

There was a tense moment in the final round just after Pedregon’s burnout when his car wouldn’t go into reverse. His crew members pushed the car back to the starting line for the run.

“I’ve won a lot of races a lot of different ways, but today the consistency of this car impressed me and the quick turnaround time by my team made a big difference,” Pedregon said. “It was pretty challenging for me. Great credit goes to my team for pushing my car back and getting me into position for the run. I wouldn’t have wanted to hold Courtney up. She was a great opponent and she had me nervous. She kept us honest. We were pressing and trying to run a 4.10 or 4.12 in that round.”

Pedregon said he wasn’t sure what the problem was with the car after the final round burnout.

“I would expect the clutch clearances were a little too tight,” Pedregon said. “We have to work on those things as a team because of the quick turnaround time there are little things we need to clean up in our pit area and we will, but I don’t want to take anything away from the team. I am proud of what we did. This is an impressive win for us. It means a lot.”

Cruz Pedregon ended a winless drought in Funny Car with a solid victory in the Snap-On Tools Toyota

Pedregon outran Gary Densham, Johnny Gray and Alexis DeJoria to advance to the final round. Like Schumacher, Pedregon says his team went to a conservative tune-up in the warm desert southwest weather conditions.

“We had to pull back a little bit,” Pedregon said. “We just raced the track and we were smart. You live and learn. Even though I am in love with the big numbers and setting records and low E.T., sometimes you have to take what you can get and race within yourself and that’s what we did today.”

With the runner-up finish Force moved back into the points lead and she is 14 ahead of Gray. Pedregon moves to third overall, 17 back of the leader.

Rookie racer Brittany Force won her first career round in Top Fuel at Las Vegas

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues with the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals fueled by Full Throttle, April 19-21 at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C.

Event Essentials:  2013 Summit Racing.com Nationals (April 5-7th, 2013)

Sportsman Cars Shine! 

In the final results from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals it was Joey Severance in Top Alcohol Dragster and Tony Bartone in Top Alcohol Funny Car leading the way for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series winners.

Severance took the starting line advantage in his final round match up with Chris Demke and held on for the win at 5.454 seconds at 261.52 mph to Demke’s quicker 5.444 at 259.86.  Severance, Woodburn, Ore., qualified No. 3 in the field with a 5.383 second lap.  The win was Severance’s third in NHRA national event competition.

Oregon’s Joey Severence won for the 3rd time in NHRA national event TAD competition.

Bartone grabbed his 37^th national event win in TA/FC driving his Ford Mustang past Shane Westerfield.  Bartone covered the quarter mile in 5.667 seconds at 256.65 mph to Westerfield’s 252.47 mph pass in 5.698 seconds.  Bartone qualified No. 1 and beat Hannes Wernhart, Jason Rupert, and Jirka Kaplan on his way to the final.

The Comp Eliminator trophy went to Adam Bowdish with a perfect 0.000 second reaction time in his Chevy Cobalt while Dan Fletcher took the win in Super Stock for his 81^st win at the national event level.  Bowdish, driver of the Specialty Auto car owned by Edmonton’s  Ken Reich, won over Brandon Huhtala and Fletcher beat Rich Brown.

Adam Bowdish rolled the Canadian based new car owned by Ken Reich to victory in Competition eliminator.

Kayla Mozeris was a first time winner in Stock Eliminator running 11.875 seconds to defeat Tibor Kadar, Justin Morgan used a 0.024 second package to take the Super Comp win against Trevor Larson and Gerald Turczyn won on a double breakout in Super Gas with Jimmy Lintz.

Posted with files from Pat Caporali, NHRA Communications and Bruce Biegler

Photos by:  Bruce Biegler

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