Team Mopar NHRA Pro Stock Driver Johnson Geared up for 2012 Season Opener

(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Team Mopar® NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson has been counting the days until the season opening event at Pomona, ever since the 2011 campaign came to a close at that same track. Following off-season surgery to repair his right bicep, Johnson is back at full strength, as the 52nd Annual NHRA Winternationals take to the track Feb. 9–Feb. 12 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Pomona, Calif. to open the 23-race 2012 season.

“I’m just dying to get going,” said Johnson. “It’s going to be an exciting season. We have such a strong team in place and a great car in our Mopar Dodge Avenger. It’s time to go and I am certainly ready. We look to start the season on a very strong note at Pomona.”

Johnson wrapped up 2011 as one of the most consistent drivers in the Pro Stock class. The native of Greeneville, Tenn. reached the final round in two of the final three races of the season, en route to finishing a career-best fourth in the standings. Johnson’s team recently recorded the fastest unofficial pass in Pro Stock history during pre-season testing in Florida, with a run of 6.466-seconds. Richie Stevens was piloting the Mopar Dodge Avenger during the test, as Johnson was still recuperating from his surgery at that time.

“We just have to continue what we were doing at the end of last year and making the right decisions and choices,” explained the second-generation driver. “We have the right personnel in place and we just have to let them do their job, and I have to do my job behind the wheel.”

Johnson’s J&J Racing team returns intact from last season, with Mark Ingersoll as crew chief and Jim Yates as team engineer. Yates joined the squad late in the 2011 season, providing vast knowledge and experience that instantly paid dividends with a final round appearance at Phoenix and in the following race at Las Vegas. Johnson’s father Roy will continue to build the HEMI® engines that the team uses, as he has done for many years.

“Mark (Ingersoll) and Jim (Yates) have been working very closely together,” shared Johnson. “We did a lot of testing in the off-season and they learned each other’s thinking and are working very well together. It’s great to have people like that on the team and we all have the same goal of winning and continuing to get faster each time we hit the track.”

Johnson, who will sport the logo of Mopar’s aftermarket partner, Magneti Marelli on his car this season, has advanced to the semifinals in three of his last four starts at Pomona, as he looks for his first win at the venue. He qualified in the No. 3 spot in last year’s season opener and has been among the top half of the field in nine of his last 10 appearances at the track, as he chases his first win at Pomona.

“Lane choice is always important at Pomona and you always work to put yourself in a position to have lane choice,” he said. “You have to keep up with the track in qualifying and throughout the day during eliminations. We’ve had success there in the past and learned a lot there last year that should help us this year. We’re looking to start strong right off the bat.”

The 2012 season marks the 17th consecutive season that Johnson has been behind the wheel of a Mopar-power Dodge in the NHRA Pro Stock ranks. With top-10 finishes in the standings in each of the last six years, including a career-best fourth last season, Johnson and his J&J Racing team have one goal this year and that is to stand on the top of the podium at season’s end.

“It means the world to have Mopar with us,” said Johnson. “My Dad and I have raced Mopars all our lives, and the brand has such a deep loyalty and commitment to us. It’s a great feeling to know we have an amazing partner like Mopar. We have one goal this year and that is to win a title for everyone at Mopar and we are going to give it everything we have.”