Forgive Allen Johnson if he doesn't look too disappointed if he makes a sub-par run at this weekend's 38th ACDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

It's not that he doesn't care anymore, it's just that wins and losses don't mean quite as much for the 12-year Pro Stock veteran, whose racing life was put into the proper perspective in late February when his father and co-crew chief Roy Johnson nearly lost his life after suffering two heart attacks on the final day of qualifying at the CSK Nationals in Chandler, Arizona.

"It was very scary," Allen Johnson said. "There were about eight miracles there, but in hindsight, I believe it was one of those things that happen for a reason, I think.

Johnson family happy to be back racing

Forgive Allen Johnson if he doesn't look too disappointed if he makes a sub-par run at this weekend's 38th ACDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

It's not that he doesn't care anymore, it's just that wins and losses don't mean quite as much for the 12-year Pro Stock veteran, whose racing life was put into the proper perspective in late February when his father and co-crew chief Roy Johnson nearly lost his life after suffering two heart attacks on the final day of qualifying at the CSK Nationals in Chandler, Arizona.

"It was very scary," Allen Johnson said. "There were about eight miracles there, but in hindsight, I believe it was one of those things that happen for a reason, I think.

"I think it got him thinking a little bit different. It got us all thinking a bit different, like maybe we're a little bit more mortal than we thought."

That February 24^th at Firebird International Raceway seemed like a normal day at a NHRA POWERade Series event for the Johnson and Johnson Racing team that includes the Mopar Dodge cars driven by Allen Johnson and Richie Stevens. But all that changed late in the day, when Roy Johnson passed out just after qualifying had been completed. He was transported to Chandler Regional Hospital and had bypass surgery. The procedure took about 30 minutes as cardiac specialists relieved several artery blockages by placing stents in his leg.

"I know Richie qualified real well and I was proud of that," Roy Johnson recalled. "I was disappointed in a car issue with Allen and he didn't qualify. Then I guess I was the star of the show. I got sick, wound up with 100-percent blockage (in a main artery to the heart) and I passed out. I'm just glad to be here.

"It didn't bother me (when informed he had flat-lined twice). I'm the kind of guy that if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Personally, today I'm not worried about what happened then."

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Roy Johnson's ability to move on was demonstrated a little more than a week after the incident when he returned to his duties at the Johnson and Johnson race shop in Greenville, Tennessee, although on a limited basis.

"I don't really have clearance to be at the shop," Johnson said. "I told (the doctor) that I was going to the shop, and he said, 'Well, please don't lift anything.' I tried to use common sense about the whole thing.

"There is some stuff (at the shop) that only I can do, and it's all light-duty, more or less, as far as the manual stuff goes. I let the other boys do the heavy stuff."

Allen Johnson wasn't exactly smiling when he learned his dad was back working at the shop, but he also understood it, and was relieved more after discussing it with his father.

"I was surprised," Allen Johnson said. "If you would have told me that [on February 24], I would have said, 'You're crazy.' But after seeing how he progressed [that] Sunday and Monday at the hospital, it's not surprising at all.

"He actually felt better after the deal than he did before. He told me [last week], 'I feel like I can jump over the moon.'"

Roy Johnson also understands that the incident was a wake-up call to make a life-style change.

"The biggest thing for me is exercise and diet," he said. "And really, exercise. Working here in the shop, I could never get any exercise.

"As far as I know now, I will go to the races. I don't want to go if I would worry my wife. But I can't really tell anything's happened to me, other than my leg being sore where they went into my main artery, which I call my 'Roto Root.' That's really sore. But other than that I feel better than before the [operation].

"Allen was concerned that I would overdo myself, because the doctor said that lifting was the biggest danger. That was really, really risky. They said lifting and putting strain could burst the plug out of it and it would bleed internally and I would bleed to death before I knew what happened."

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But although he knows he has to be extremely careful, Roy also knows he has to get back to work to keep up in the highly competitive Pro Stock class.

"I don't think this will change our approach any," he said. "We're going to have to work harder to make up the three days I lost [being in the hospital]. That's the challenge. How can we make up that time? I know the other teams didn't take off."

It's that type of dedication that has made Johnson and Johnson Racing a team to be watched in the Pro Stock class.

Allen Johnson, who has raced a factory hot rod since 1996, is coming off a career year in 2006. He scored one win in one final round and finished a respectable sixth in points after posting a 22-22 race day elimination record.

And he did it with his father at his side.

"I wouldn't even be doing it if it wasn't for dad," Allen Johnson said. "He's the reason I'm out here. He always wanted to go Pro Stock racing. We were able to put together the opportunity and I wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for him."

The feeling is mutual for Roy Johnson.

"I wouldn't even think about doing it with anyone else," he said. "We just kind of work through any problem we have together. It's pretty much fun. I wouldn't even think about working for another team. I'm too old for that."

And neither thinks the team's approach will change for the rest of the season, and that includes this weekend's event at Gainesville Raceway. They will continue to try to give both Allen Johnson and Stevens the best opportunity to win on Sundays.

"Our team is a veteran team, with the [guys at the] engine shop and the crew [at the track]," Allen Johnson said. "We just stubbed our toe in Phoenix. Heck, I think [us not qualifying] was one of the things that happened for a reason [that weekend]. The man upstairs, I think, reasoned that dad was going to need me on Sunday, so maybe that's the reason it happened...I don't know.

"We're a very good team. Dad, and the engine shop are making good power. We're just going to have the same focus and try to be consistent."