Johnson Jr. Muscles Mopar to Provisional Funny Car No. 1 Spot at NHRA Finals
· Tommy Johnson Jr. drives his Mopar-powered Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the provisional No. 1 spot in Friday qualifying at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona
· Fellow Don Schumacher Racing pilot Ron Capps is No. 2, giving Mopar two cars in the top two provisional positions
· Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T driver Matt Hagan is No. 8 and battling for the Funny Car World Championship in the season finale
· 2011 NHRA Funny Car title winner Hagan has a 19-point lead after Friday qualifying
· Coughlin drives his JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Dart Pro Stock car to the preliminary fourth spot
· Magneti Marelli Quality Auto Parts Offered by Mopar Dodge Dart pilot Allen Johnson is seventh after two rounds of NHRA Finals qualifying
Pomona, California (November 14, 2014) – With attention focused on the title hopes of his Team Mopar teammate Matt Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr. stole the spotlight on Friday, steering his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the preliminary No. 1 spot following the first two rounds of qualifying on Friday at the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, the season finale and the sixth and final event in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Johnson’s Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) stable mate Ron Capps also drove his Dodge Charger to the No. 2 spot, giving Mopar the top two positions with a total of seven Mopar HEMI-powered Dodge Charger R/T machines battling to make the Funny Car show at Pomona.
Johnson Jr. opened qualifying in fourth on the strength of a 4.031-second elapsed time at 316.08 mph. The Avon, Indiana, native took full advantage of cooler temperatures in the evening qualifying session, seizing the pole with a 4.003/317.34 pass.
“You come into the last race wanting to do well, you want to finish off 2014 on a high note and get things started right for 2015,” said Johnson who currently sits fourth in the Funny Car points. “We had a mathematical shot at the championship coming in here, maybe not realistically but mathematically, but the focus was on doing well, winning this race, moving into the number three spot to finish out the season. We did some testing in Vegas last Monday and the car performed really well, then coming in here it’s picked up from right there. The guys found some stuff and to go a .03, and come back with a 4.00 … it’s a very good start to the weekend to obtain our goals.”
After helping sponsor Mopar unveil its new-for-next-year 2015 Dodge Charger R/T NHRA Funny Car body on November 4 at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, points leader and Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger pilot Matt Hagan went back to work to try to secure his second overall Funny Car crown. The DSR team member will look to move up tomorrow from the No. 8 spot he held after a best effort of 4.063/314.83 on Friday.
“We got the car qualified,” said Hagan, the 2011 Funny Car champ, who will begin Saturday with 19-point lead over closest pursuer John Force, who gained two bonus points on Friday. “That was number one on our list. Obviously we can’t win a race if we aren’t in it. That was big, right off the bat, to check that off the list. We were just kind of going after it tonight and the track got really, really good and it just shook the tires a little bit and went into smoke. Tomorrow we are going to have a little bit of sun on the track and Dickie (Venables, Hagan’s crew chief) has a pretty good game plan. We’re just going to get some rest and come out here tomorrow and see what happens.”
Capps failed to make a “full pull” in the opening session, slowing to a 7.473/79.42, but he rectified that in the second round with a 4.005/317.79 to set up the 1-2 Mopar Friday finish. In addition to Capps, four other Mopar-fueled Funny Car racers hailing from the Golden State are vying to make the field on Sunday. Jeff Arend was listed tenth with a best effort of 4.126/287.05, while a trio of drivers will need to race their way into the field on Saturday — Shane Westerfield (13th, 4.229/233.20), Jack Beckman (16th, 4.409/206.61) and Gary Densham (21st, 8.348/92.68).
Picking up where he left off after his runner-up finish at the recent NHRA Vegas event, Jeg Coughlin Jr. banked one bonus point in his first qualifying attempt at the NHRA Finals. The 2013 NHRA Pro Stock champ put up a 6.538/211.13 in his JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Dart in session one, and then the three-time NHRA Finals event winner posted a 6.541/201.21 to remain in the top-five in the provisional fourth spot following the second session.
“Both runs today were pretty nice, even in the right lane that others seemed to be struggling with,” said Coughlin. “On the first pass we accelerated through the gears nicely and put a .53 up on the board which was good enough for the third spot in the first session. We thought we could clean that up a little bit to get more efficient, but it fell off just a tick and we ended up fourth. I think we have a good game plan going into Saturday and hope to pick up a little bit a couple of hundreds of a second and tickle the high .40s which would be exciting for the fans here in Pomona.”
Prior to qualifying, Coughlin’s teammate, Johnson & Johnson Racing’s Allen Johnson, announced the team had parted ways with the Team Mopar driver’s long-time crew chief, Mark Ingersoll.
“Mark (Ingersoll) was with us for 13 years, and he’s been a great asset and a great friend, but he was ready to do something different,” said Johnson, who earned the 2012 Pro Stock championship with Ingersoll turning the wrenches. “At the beginning of this season he wanted to give it a shot himself without any help, and it just didn’t quite work out, and he knew that, so he decided it was time to do something different. We support that and wish him the best and have nothing but good things to say about him. He will be missed.”
Well-respected two-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Jim Yates, who assisted the Mopar-sponsored Johnson & Johnson Racing team in claiming consecutive titles in 2012 and 2013 with Johnson and Coughlin, will step in this weekend to take on crew chief responsibilities.
“Jim (Yates) was gracious enough on short notice to step right back in and help us through this last race,” Johnson added. “The playoffs haven’t quite gone as we had hoped, but we’d like to end the season on a high note. We’re going for a win and we’d like to finish in the top three in the championship. That’s the goal.”
Johnson placed his Magneti Marelli Quality Auto Parts Offered by Mopar Dodge Dart in the top half of the field in the preliminary seventh slot on Friday, tripping the timing lights with a 6.550/211.03 in the first session. In his second attempt, Johnson pushed in the clutch late and slowed to a 7.991/122.01. V. Gaines recorded a 6.591/211.20 to begin qualifying at Pomona in his Mopar-powered Dodge Avenger, and improved to a 6.589/210.80 in the evening session, taking the No. 12 position heading into the final two qualifying rounds of the season.