Magneti Marelli/Mopar Dodge Dart Driver Allen Johnson Caps Season with NHRA Finals Victory.
Dodge Dart drivers from Smithtown, Stony Brook, Lake Grove and all over the Long Island are fantasizing that they were behind the wheel of Allen Johnson's Dart in the winners circle. Allen Johnson ended his 20th season behind the wheel of a Mopar-powered National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock car in the perfect spot: winner's circle. Johnson put on a driving clinic at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on Sunday, willing his "Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar" Dodge Dart all the way from the 11th spot on the eliminations ladder to the event win at the season-ending NHRA Finals. In Funny Car, Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. scored a runner-up finish, and the 23rd final-round appearance in 24 events overall for the 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T body which debuted this season, while DSR Mopar Dodge driver Jack Beckman set the elapsed time NHRA National record and finished second in the World Championship standings. All four DSR Mopar Dodge Funny Car drivers finished in the top five of the final championship standings and amassed 15 wins aboard the new body.
For Pro Stocker Johnson, the victory was the second for the J&J Racing driver and team owner at the NHRA Finals (the other came in 2012), his second of the season after five final-round appearances, and the 26th overall victory of his career. The triumph makes Johnson the last Pro Stock winner to use a carbureted engine (the class will change to fuel injection in 2016). The win also pushed Johnson, the 2012 Pro Stock World Champion, to third in the final championship standings, his fourth top-five performance in the last five years and his tenth consecutive finish in the top-ten.
"We're very happy to see Allen Johnson drive the Magneti Marelli Dodge Dart to a win at the NHRA Finals in Pomona," said Pietro Gorlier, Head of Parts and Service (Mopar), FCA - Global. "It was especially nice to have Allen and Roy end the season in the winner's circle with a scheme that celebrates their 20 years competing in Pro Stock aboard a HEMI-powered Mopar vehicle."
"We dug down deep and got it done to give my family, the team and Mopar the win in the final race of the year and to cap off twenty years like this is special," said Johnson, who has now advanced to the money round at the NHRA Finals in three of the last four seasons (2012, 2013, 2015). "I had to step up my game for this race day after being up and down through the entire Countdown and I wanted to finish the year on a high. We struggled to get traction in our car through qualifying and even the first three rounds. Right before the final round we found that we had a bent piece on the car and fixed it and ran straight down the track to win it. The Magneti Marelli Mopar team doesn't ever give up. We've been out here for 20 years with Mopar and what a great sponsor they are. The Mopar fans are fanatics and they've always been here with us. It's been an unbelievable ride with my dad (Roy Johnson) for 20 great years. We're not sure what next year holds for us, but we hope to be out here racing again in the Dodge Dart."
Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Tommy Johnson Jr. (no relation to Allen Johnson) raced to his second consecutive final round, knocking off a trio of Mopar-powered Dodge Charger drivers before meeting new Funny Car champ Del Worsham in the final round. Johnson Jr. used a 4.010/310.84 to end Gary Densham's day, and then advanced to another Mopar vs. Mopar battle in the quarterfinals against DSR teammate Matt Hagan. He then motored down the track to take the win with a 3.926/321.58, while Hagan scrambled to corral his Dodge and keep it from heading towards the wall, slowing to a 7.451/86.63.