Allen Johnson
The holidays are over, and I have to say mine were very relaxing and peaceful. My daughter Kimmie and her son came into town from Hawaii and we celebrated Christmas at my house on Dec. 22 along with my daughter Heather and her two sons. Kimmie had to return to Hawaii so we had to celebrate it early. I gave my three grandsons their presents from my wife Pam and I early on Tuesday morning—three dirt bikes! I’ve got a farm of 40 acres around my house and I have my own dirt bike, so I spent all day until dark teaching them how to ride dirt bikes and picking them up off the ground! We had fun all day and the boys loved their gifts.
We all went to dinner that night and then returned to my house and celebrated our Christmas together. Of course, we always visit with Pam’s family on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas morning my entire family goes to my parents’ house. It’s a tradition. My mom fixes a huge breakfast with homemade sausage, country ham and biscuits and gravy. Actually, Pam’s mom, dad and brother came to my mom’s as well. They used to go to Pam’s grandparents’ house on Christmas, but both her grandma and grandpa passed away last year, so they came to our celebration. It was nice to welcome them in and help fill that void by doing something different. All went well and we all had a great Christmas.
I threw a big party on New Year’s Eve, at the same place Pam held my surprise birthday party this year, the General Morgan Inn & Conference Center in Greeneville. We had a band in from Charlotte and stayed right at the hotel. Then the next day was consumed with planning how to surprise my dad with the new Dodge Challenger Drag by Mopar vehicle I was giving to him.
I got the car in October and B&B Racecars finished it in two months time so I could surprise dad with it. I had the guys delivering it wait out on the interstate near our house until I knew mom had dad out of the house. Once he left, we unloaded the car into our race shop. We had about 20 people, friends of my dad and folks who he used to race with, who were going to be there when I gave him the Drag Pak. Pam shuttled them all from our house a few miles away to the shop, so dad wouldn’t notice the cars.
I was on the phone once or twice with mom. She would sneak off and call and ask, “Are you ready for me to bring him back yet?” When they came back all my dad saw was my car in the shop driveway. They pulled up and I called for him to come into the shop and check out what I had rigged up on the practice tree I use to improve my time off the starting line. He walked in the door and it took him about 30 seconds to even notice there was a crowd in the shop. It was a total surprise. He had no clue. He was absolutely thrilled by his new Mopar Drag Pak. He called Gary Stanton that night and was like, “Where the hell is my motor?”
After all the holiday excitement, now we’re just doing the small things needed to get ready for the upcoming season. The crew is sprucing up the trailer, stocking it up and preparing for the long season. We have a test session planned for Bradenton in a few weeks and then after a quick return trip home we’ll go to Vegas for the Pro Stock Showdown. Then it’ll be time to visit Pomona, Calif., and get our season started at the NHRA Winternationals.