Allen Johnson was officially declared as the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Pro Stock champion after the conclusion of Saturday’s final qualifying session at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. Johnson clinched the title by qualifying his Team Mopar/J&J Dodge Avenger in the No. 2 position with a time of 6.518, which mathematically eliminated the only remaining contender, defending 2011 Pro Stock champion Jason Line.
This was the first national title for Johnson and his father/engine builder Roy, who have raced together in Pro Stock since 1996. Johnson’s first top 10 season took place in 1999, and he has finished in the top 10 in eight of the previous 10 campaigns, with his best showings being a pair of No. 4 efforts in 2007 and 2011. Johnson, who entered the 2012 season with 18 No. 1 qualifying efforts, has always enjoyed ample power from his father’s engines, but the team had lacked the consistency to win on race day until this year.
Said Johnson, “First of all, I want to thank God for helping us make this happen. And it means a lot more to me to bring this championship to my dad, this crew, our family, and our many friends in Greeneville, Tennessee.”
Johnson gave the Mopar fans a hint of things to come near the end of 2011 when he recorded a pair of runner-up finishes at Phoenix and the second Las Vegas event after the hiring of past two-time Pro Stock champion Jim Yates to work with as consultant to longtime crew chief Mark Ingersoll and the rest of the team.
The 2012 season started slowly however with just one round win in the first three races, and their plight was typified by a first-round loss after qualifying No. 1 in Gainesville.
But Johnson rebounded at the spring Las Vegas event with his first win that was capped by a final-round victory over his teammate Vincent Nobile, who also uses engines prepared by his father. The win moved Johnson from seventh to fourth in the standings, and he elevated himself to third place following his semifinal-round finish in Atlanta.
Johnson scored his second win of the year at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver, an event that he has reached the final round five consecutive times with three wins, and moved into first place to stay. He came within two rounds of sweeping the three-race Western Swing before losing the Seattle semifinal to his close friend but intense rival, Erica Enders, who had affectionately tagged Johnson with the “Brutus” nickname.
Enders beat Johnson again in the Brainerd final, and Johnson suffered a second-round loss at the U.S. Nationals. But with the beginning of the Countdown to the Championship format, Johnson came out swinging with a runner-up in Charlotte and victory in Dallas, and another runner-up effort in St. Louis. His only Countdown race without a final-round appearance was in Reading, where he lost the second round, but Johnson came back with a victory at the Las Vegas, which all but clinched the title for his Mopar team.
“When we scored our third win of the year at Denver, I thought that was a pretty big deal because I had never won more than two races in a single season before,” said Johnson. “But now we’re coming into Pomona with six victories, which has tripled our previous record, and we also qualified No. 1 10 times. Our goal is to close out our championship season with an iron fist by winning the NHRA World Finals.” (NHRA)
