Allen Johnson
I’m at the airport as I type this, having a cocktail, waiting to head home after four long days of testing at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. Pam and I actually got into town on Saturday and stayed with some friends, played some golf and just chilled out. Then we began testing on Monday. Vinnie Deceglie and his team owner Nick Mitsos were down here as well, so we tested both cars all week. Vinnie’s going to run with Mopar® HEMI® engines supplied by my dad Roy in 2010.
We tested our new NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger through Thursday, and I think I got in about 19 runs total, so we definitely got in some work. We’ve made quite a bit more progress since the last test sessions at Bradenton and Palm Beach International Raceway. The Mopar Dodge Avenger ran real good the last couple of days. I felt we were pretty close to where we need to be; we went 6.54 seconds at 210.70 mph for our best run of the four days. We tried quite a few different things, and I think we’ve got the car sorted out pretty well.
The J&J Racing crew and I will recharge our batteries now until the Pro Stock Showdown in Vegas. Dad’s got some HEMI engines he needs to work on and freshen up between now and then. He’s still on a high after I gave him that Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar as a Christmas gift. He’s talked with Gary Stanton on getting the engine for it, and he’s hoping to get out to Gary’s shop after our swing out West to open the NHRA season. So he’ll have that to look forward to in a month or so.
I was actually thinking about bypassing the Pro Stock Showdown and instead just going out to test Monday and Tuesday before Pomona, but the crew talked me into it and said it’s like our preseason game. We won the Showdown last year so we’ll head back and try to have a little fun, hopefully win it again and get in the groove before the season starts. I can’t wait to race, especially with all the news coming out.
I just saw the announcement about four-lane racing at Charlotte in March. It’s definitely a unique approach that should generate a ton of publicity. It may be good for the sport—I guess you just have to try it. I think the jury is still out as of now, but I’m sure it will be exciting. It’s just another interesting thing we can look forward to during the upcoming season.