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Team Mopar®’s
Allen Johnson and Richie Stevens Jr. Are Looking to Pad Their Point
Totals at The Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals
•
Allen Johnson wants to put
distance between himself and eighth place
• Richie Stevens
Jr. wants to gain consistency
• Allen Johnson stats
• Richie Stevens Jr. stats
Center Line, Mich. — With one of the premier events in the NHRA series
coming up this weekend — The Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals
— the Team Mopar® NHRA POWERade Pro Stock duo of Allen Johnson and
Richie Stevens Jr., will be looking to add to their point totals and
continue their march up the standings in the NHRA Pro Stock category.
The event is this weekend, June 7–10, 2007, at the Route 66 Raceway in
Joliet, Ill.
After qualifying third in his HEMI®-powered Mopar/J & J Racing Dodge
Stratus R/T in Topeka, Kan. Last weekend, Johnson won his first
elimination round match against Justine Humphries before going out
against Jason Line in the second round. Stevens qualified his Team
Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T eighth but red lighted in his first
round match.
Stevens Jr. currently stands 10th in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock
standings, while Johnson has come from as far back as 16th to currently
hold sixth in the points race. With the Countdown to 4 present in their
minds, Johnson and Stevens will continue to battle their way up the
points ladder this weekend at Route 66 Raceway. NHRA POWERade’s new
points playoff system cuts the field down to the top eight drivers after
the 17th race, and down to the top four drivers for the Countdown to 1
after the 21st event.
Allen
Johnson wants to put distance between himself and eighth place
Just one point out of fifth place, Allen Johnson wants to continue his
strong showing in the NHRA POWERade series in 2007 at the Route 66
Raceway this weekend in order to ensure his place in the NHRA’s
Countdown to 4.
Johnson believed he had a good opportunity to pile up more points at
Topeka last week, but blamed himself for his second round elimination.
“We had a real fast car,” Johnson said, “But the driver didn’t do his
job.” He continued, “If I had just made an average start, I would have
been OK.”
Johnson wants to do better this weekend – he enjoys competing at the
Route 66 Raceway. “To me, this is one of the premier tracks in the
country,” Johnson said. “Next to Indy, this is the biggest event of the
year and since I’ve run pretty well here in the past, I see no reason
why we can’t have even more success this weekend.”
Another incentive for doing well this weekend is that the NHRA King
Demon Crown event takes center stage. The King Demon Crown showcases the
eight best Pro Stock qualifiers during a 22-race span between the 2006
Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 Nationals and the 2007 O’Reilly NHRA Summer
Nationals. Johnson, who’s third in the King Demon Crown standings, will
compete with seven other drivers for a purse of $76,000.
“It would be extra special to do well in the King Demon Crown race this
year,” Johnson said. “We’ve been in the finals of this event four times,
so we’re hoping that 2007 is the year we finally break through.”
Richie Stevens
Jr. wants to gain consistency
After a disappointing performance at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals
last weekend, it’s clear to Richie Stevens Jr. where the key to success
lies. “We need to be more consistent,” Stevens said.
The weekend started with great promise as Stevens qualified eighth in
the tough and competitive Pro Stock category. “Finishing in the top
eight was important because lane choice was critical,” Stevens
explained. “I was pretty confident going in because I knew we had a fast
car. It was just up to me to get the job done. Unfortunately, I was a
little too aggressive, a little too quick, and I red lighted.”
He continued, “What makes it harder to swallow is that my opponent broke
down right at the start and, of course, if I had known that was going to
happen, I could have eased up a bit. But you can’t take that chance—you
have to go all out, all the time. And I was only three-thousandths of a
second from having a perfect start, so it wasn’t like I was way off.
It’s just a disappointing way to go out.”
For this week in Joliet, Stevens feels he’ll be ready to keep moving up.
“We’ve been doing a lot of testing along with Allen Johnson’s car,”
Stevens said. “AJ has got his running great and we want to get ours to
the same point. That’s what I mean about gaining consistency. Once we
get to that level, we can tune off of each other to better prepare for
each race.”
Stevens concluded, “Consistency is the key to winning. Don’t get me
wrong—having a fast car helps. But if you can’t be consistent every time
you go down the track, you’re going to have a difficult time winning
anything.”
Allen Johnson
stats
• Has a 6-5 round record in 2007
• Has 110 career NHRA Pro Stock round wins
• Currently 6th in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock standings
• Has four wins, six career runner-up finishes and 24 semifinals
appearances in his 11-year career as an NHRA Pro Stock driver
Richie
Stevens Jr. stats
• Currently 10th in the points standings – only 37 points out of the 8th
and final spot in the new NHRA POWERade Countdown to 4 points playoff
system
• Has a career-best speed of 208.71 mph (Richmond 2006) and career best
ET of 6.600 (Richmond 2006)
• Had two wins (Dallas, Las Vegas) in the final five events of 2006
• Has a best overall NHRA Pro Stock points finish of 5th in 1999
The Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals Event Details
The Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals is scheduled for June
7–10 at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. Qualifying coverage will air on
Saturday, June 9 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN2. Eliminations
coverage will be broadcast on Sunday, June 10 from 4 to 7 p.m. (EDT) on
ESPN2 and will be repeated Wednesday, June 13 from 4 to 6 a.m. on ESPN2.
For more info on the NHRA, log on to www.nhra.com.
70 Years of Mopar
When Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, the need for a dedicated parts
manufacturer, supplier and distribution system to support the growing
enterprise led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Corporation
(CMPC) in 1929.
Originally used in the 1920s, Mopar (a simple contraction of the words
MOtor and PARts) was trademarked for a line of antifreeze products in
1937. It was also widely used as a moniker for the CMPC. The Mopar brand
made its mark in the 1960s – the muscle car era. The Chrysler
Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth “package cars” equipped
with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of “Special
Parts” for super stock drag racers and developed its racing parts
division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling
for both road and racing use.
Today, the Chrysler Group’s Global Service & Parts division is
responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of nearly 250,000
authentic Mopar replacement parts, components and accessories for
Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles sold around the world. To assure
quality, reliability and durability, all Mopar parts and accessories are
designed in strict adherence to DaimlerChrysler engineering standards.
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