EVENT ESSENTIALS: NHRA Super Nationals June 2-5^th, 2011 – Englishtown NJ             

E-TOWN NHRA DATE FEATURES ALL MOPAR PS FINAL

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series action at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park (Englishtown NJ) was highlighted by an all Dodge Avenger Pro Stock final round.

NHRA's Pro Stock final at E-Town was all Mopar!

AJ & RJ celebrate!

Mopar Dodge Avenger driver Allen Johnson earned his first win of the season during the 42nd Annual NHRA SuperNationals event.  In the championship final, Allen defeated his teammate Vincent Nobile in the all Mopar final round, to earn his 9th career win in 22 final-round appearances.

Johnson won at the starting line, as Nobile, who also competes with Mopar HEMI® engines supplied by Roy Johnson, Allen’s father, fouled out on a red-light start by a mere 0.006-seconds. Allen Johnson, owner and driver of the J&J Racing Mopar Dodge Avenger, turned in a pass of 6.689-seconds at 210.64 mph with a reaction time of 0.013 in the final round. The match up marked the first all-Mopar Dodge final in Pro Stock since the fall 2009 Las Vegas event (Larry Morgan vs. Rickie Jones).

“It feels great to win,” said an exuberant Johnson. “We’ve been close this season. This Mopar Dodge Avenger has been fast, and we always have plenty of power with the Mopar HEMI under the hood. We have been taking a different approach this year and have been working into developing a good product with this new chassis. I think we are almost there, but not quite. We are almost where we want to be with six races left until the Countdown. We are still refining things, and continue to work hard each and every day.”

MASSEY & NEFF WIN FUEL TITLES

Spencer Massey raced to his second consecutive win of the season Sunday at the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.  Mike Neff (Funny Car) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won in their categories at the eighth of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. 

Spencer Massey won his 2nd straight NHRA event in TF

Massey drove his FRAM/Prestone dragster to a winning 3.821-second run at 319.07 mph to beat Top Fuel points leader Del Worsham on a holeshot. It was Massey’s second consecutive win of the season (Topeka) and fourth of his career.

 “It’s awesome to beat the Alan Johnson/Al-Anabi/Del Worsham car in the final,” said Massey. “The Al-Anabi car has been on a roll and running killer numbers, so we knew we had to be on our ’A’  game, that the car had to run well and I had to be on my game. I even had a Full Throttle to amp myself up before I got in there.”

 Worsham kept the points lead with his fourth final round appearance of the season, while teammate and defending event winner Larry Dixon moved around seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher to take over the second-place spot in the point standings after his semifinal round appearance.

 In Funny Car, Neff held off No. 1 qualifier Cruz Pedregon to grab his second win of the season. Neff drove his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a 4.071 at 314.09 winning run after Pedregon posted a red light start. It was Neff’s third career win and fourth consecutive final round appearance for the season.

Mike Neff padded his overall FC points lead

“I knew he red-lighted,” said Neff. “I was sitting there waiting for the Tree to come down, and I heard him leave and knew he red-lighted because the Tree hadn’t come down yet. I looked over and saw that his bulb was red, and then I looked up and saw our win light on. By that time, I had already hit the gas and was taking off and saw our win light on. I wanted to see what it would run, and then I was saying ‘don’t drive over the centerline or something.’ Wouldn’t you lose if you did that? Yeah, maybe I should have lifted.”

 The win strengthened Neff’s points lead over the Funny Car class, while Pedregon fell just seven points from moving up to the third spot in the point standings.

SMITH SCORES IN PSM

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Smith on his Al-Anabi Racing Buell held off points leader Karen Stoffer to grab his first win of the season. Smith’s run of 6.900 a 191.73 was enough to beat Stoffer on a holeshot and give the 2007 world champion his first win of the season and 13th win of his career.

“I won my first race here in 2006, so I’ve always liked racing at this track,” said Smith. “When I saw these (pewter 60th anniversary edition) Wally trophies I said to myself I wanted to win at least one this year so I’m glad I did.”

Files by: Darren Jacobs & Anthony Vestal

ROWE OVERCOMES SWIFT PRO MOD PROGRAM

Transplanted Canadian Danny Rowe raced to his first win of the season Sunday during the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Rowe, who now lives in California, powered his supercharged Sterling Bridge ’68 Camaro past runner-up Mike Janis, posting a winning run of 5.878-seconds at 245.99 mph. Janis’s Eaton/Aeroquip-sponsored Mustang ran 5.981 secs at 244.78 mph.

Danny Rowe won a hard fought win in GSA Pro Mod

It was Rowe’s second final round appearance and second career win in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.

Points leader Khalid Balooshi lost in the first round, but kept his points lead after five races for the season. National record holder and No. 1 qualifier Melanie Troxel also lost first round, while New York native and local favorite Mike Castellana moved up to seventh in the point standings with his semifinal round appearance.

The E-Town GSA Pro Mod program was a super swift one featuring all time record fast speeds and ETs.  That included a NHRA national record setting 5.772 secs at 258.71 mph blast by Melanie Troxel, driver of the R2B2 Racing turbocharged Corvette.

**For additional details on the GSA Pro Mod event portion — visit DragRaceCanada’s PRO MOD PORTAL subsection. 

Photos by:  Bruce Biegler

To visit DragRaceCanada’s extensive Englishtown event Photo Gallery click:  HERE