THERE’S A RIVALRY BREWING IN PST AS AJ TAKES NO. 1 IN PS

There’s a Pro Stock rivalry brewing and Allen Johnson is all too happy to partake. His latest No. 1 qualifying effort, acquired on the strength of a 6.618 elapsed time during Friday night qualifying at the Dollar General NHRA Summernationals, has his Mopar starting ahead of the three car KB Racing team for the third time this season. Jason Line has four pole positions thus far in 2012.

As fate would have it, Johnson will meet the lesser publicized KB Racing team member Ronnie Humphrey in Sunday’s first round of eliminations.

“We have great momentum and we are stuck in with those two Summit cars battling it out,” said Johnson. “My boss at Mopar has told that he’s tired of seeing those Pontiacs out front. That’s our deal to keep this momentum going.”

As it turns out Humphrey is the only member of the team Johnson has beaten. He’s lost in four of the first six events to Greg Anderson.

“We are friends, but this is turning into [a rivalry] and it’s getting a little heated,” Johnson admitted. “They make a few comments about us and we make a few about them. It’s going to be a knockdown drag-out for the rest of the season.”

Saturday’s warmer conditions didn’t make for a change in the upper qualifying positions. However, there were some strong runs with the quickest runs falling only .02 off of the Friday evening pace.

“NHRA is doing a great job with the racing surface out here,” said Johnson. “We actually had a better 60-foot time in worst conditions during the second session. That’s credit to the NHRA and to my crew. We just keep getting more consistent. I believe the track will get cooler tomorrow and we might even be able to reset the track record. We’re going to keep doing more of the same and go after those two Pontiacs with a vengeance.”

Tomorrow’s weather forecast of a cooler front rolling into the Topeka area with a threat of thunderstorms could potentially throw out the window every bit of data gleaned in the first two days of the event.

“That’s a game changer and when the crew chiefs earn their money.   By going through the notes and doing all of the engineering work. Getting to the point where you set the car up where you are perfect tomorrow. If you’re not perfect, you’re not going to win.”

All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.

< Prev		Next >