Veteran Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson returned to his throne – at the Mile-High Nationals.

Johnson won the Mile-High Nationals for the seventh time in his career – all since 2007 – defeating Vincent Nobile in the finals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., just outside of Denver.

Johnson clocked a 6.982-second elapsed time at 197.89 mph to defeat Vincent Nobile’s 7.037-second lap at 196.82 mph.

“We stunk the place up all weekend, we really did in qualifying, we had a lot of bad luck,” said Johnson, who is campaigning the Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Dodge Dart this season. “I wouldn’t have given ourselves one percent chance to win this thing (Sunday). This team dug down deep and we got a little better every run and just hung right in there. Maybe we had a break or two, I don’t know, but the magic up here is just on our side for some reason. We’ve done that for Mopar all those years and now we get to do it for Marathon and Mopar is still with us also, so it feels twice as good.”

This was Johnson’s 27th career national event win and his first this season. Johnson, who has been in 10 consecutive final rounds at the Mile-High Nationals, has now won titles at Thunder Mountain in (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012-2014, 2016). Those titles at Bandimere tie him with the legendary Bob Glidden for all-time Pro Stock Mile-High Nationals victories. Glidden’s wins came in 1980, 1983, 1985-87, 1989 and 1993 at Bandimere.

Another significant note to Johnson’s win is that he is the first driver in 2016 other than Ken Black Racing teammates Jason Line (seven wins) and Greg Anderson (six wins) to reach the winner’s circle.

“It feels damn good,” said Johnson when asked about how he felt to snap the KB winning streak. “I can just put that very simple, and I’m sure I’m speaking for everybody else in the pits and a lot of fans. To break that juggernaut is big. Jason (Line) shot himself in the foot there in the semis or he may have been something to deal with there in the finals.”

Johnson, the 2012 Pro Stock world champ, also becomes the first Pro Stock driver to win at Bandimere Speedway since NHRA made wholesale changes in the Pro Stock class in the offseason, which the sanctioning body announced at the 2015 Mile-High Nationals.

On Sunday, Johnson’s victory march consisted of wins over Drew Skillman, Erica Enders-Stevens, Greg Anderson – on a holeshot - and Nobile.

With his victory Sunday, Johnson also became the first Pro Stock driver to win from the No. 10 qualifying spot since V. Gaines accomplished the feat in 2008 at Phoenix.

“We might of got a break or two along the way, and that’s mountain magic,” Johnson said.

As of Jan. 1, 2016, NHRA required all Pro Stock teams to equip their cars with electronically-controlled throttle body fuel injection systems, making engines more relevant from a technology standpoint. In order to reduce and control costs for the race teams, an NHRA-controlled 10,500 rev limiter was added to the fuel injection systems.

Johnson won the last race by a carbureted NHRA Pro Stock car at the NHRA Finals Nov. 15, 2015 in Pomona, Calif. Ironically, Johnson also edged Nobile in that final round.

A year ago, Johnson was upset in the Mile-High Nationals final round by Larry Morgan.

The two drivers had a 1 minute 45-second staging duel, and then on a holeshot Morgan captured the surprising win over Johnson. Morgan clocked a 6.944-second time at 199.02 mph and edged Johnson’s 6.930-second effort at 199.23 mph.

The difference was at the starting line. Morgan had a .014 reaction time compared to Johnson’s .035 reaction time.

“That final last year with Larry was really fun and it brought a lot of Pro Stock fans to the table and they like to see stuff like that,” Johnson said. “Just like our streak (at the Mile-High Nationals) and breaking the KB streak, it’s good for the class and good for the fans and good for TV and good for NHRA.”

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