Allen Johnson
Looking back on 2009, the Mopar(R)/J&J Racing team experienced a lot of highlights over the entire season. However, we weren’t very happy with the way we ended the year. We probably gave away three to four spots in the points over the last few races. It doesn’t sit well with me to finish like that.
I guess if you don’t win the championship or win the final race, your season always ends on a sour note. But like I said, we had many high points during 2009. We won at the Mopar Mile-Highs in Denver, bringing home the win for our primary sponsor Mopar, so that’s always huge. Winning two races in a year was a first for me as well, so that was a high point. And, of course, making the Countdown playoffs for the third straight year was another big accomplishment for the team. It proves we are consistently among the elite Pro Stock teams.
Overall, I think the team was strong in many areas. I was somewhat more pleased with my driving this year than I was last year. My dad, Roy Johnson, was making great horsepower with our Mopar HEMI(R) engines. I think we came up with some new designs on our parts toward the end of the year that proved successful. However, I feel like the two-crew chief approach didn’t help us as much as we thought it would. Also, the car was a little older, and I feel like that was a little bit of a negative. The cars do get wore out.
But we were right there with the champion, Mike Edwards, as far out as mid-year. We were killing the racetrack and qualifying right up there close to Mike, but then toward the end of the year we sort of got out of our game and he just stayed where he was. I felt like he was going to be strong this year, but I also thought we were going to give him a little more run for his money than we did.
As far as fan turnout, I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t think we were down as much as what I’ve seen in other types of motorsports or entertainment venues. Toward the end of the year, I think fan attendance even picked up. I think the NHRA, drag racing and Pro Stock in general are thriving.
We unveiled the new 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger I’m going to race next year. The car was displayed in the Mopar exhibit at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas in early November. The SEMA Show is always great, with lots of enthusiasts out there. It was good to interact with folks and hear their comments about the new car, and how unique of a look it has. I also had a chance to meet with the folks from Mopar and spend time with them.
The team is working with Mopar and Dodge engineers to redesign some things going forward, and we have a good plan in place. The team will be in the wind tunnel in Detroit next week. The guys are at the RJ Race Cars shop right now finishing the car, getting the race motors in it and getting ready to go to the wind tunnel. We’ll bring both cars up for the session and put them both in the wind tunnel at the same time so we can get an accurate reading of how good the Avenger performs compared to the Stratus.
The team and I will head to Orlando in December for the PRI Show and probably test soon after in West Palm. I’ll likely take in a Tennessee Titans football game or two and relax for the holidays. I have a lot to be thankful for. We finished another season safely, and we feel really fortunate to still have a sponsorship, when a lot of teams are being dropped. We feel really humble and fortunate to be the only Mopar-sponsored car out there. We hope we can take that support and turn it into a championship for Mopar and Chrysler Group LLC in 2010.