Team Mopar NHRA POWERade teammates Allen Johnson and Richie Stevens Jr. got off to a rough start in the season-opening event yesterday, the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., as neither driver was able to advance past the first round.
Johnson was a force in qualifying, taking the No. 2 position after briefly holding the top spot in his Mopar/J & J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T with a pass of 6.640 at 207.85 mph. In eliminations Johnson faced the Hemi-powered vehicle of V. Gaines in the opening round. Both cars suffered tire shake, with Gaines taking the win (Gaines exited in the quarterfinals with a loss to Greg Stanfield).
Prior to his final run, Stevens Jr. had failed to qualify his Team Mopar\Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T, owned by Don Schumacher Racing and expertly tuned by J & J Racing. With his back against the wall, he came out swinging, making the field in the 16th spot and, unfortunately, bumping out the Dodge Stratus R/T of Erica Enders, who made a valiant effort to qualify. In eliminations, Stevens Jr. was sent to the trailer in the first round by Greg Anderson. The event also saw an impressive debut from Pro Stock rookie Rodger Brogdon, who took his first career Pro Stock round win, besting Kenny Koretsky before losing to Dave Connolly. Max Naylor also qualified his Jagermeister Dodge Stratus R/T; he exited in the opening stanza against Connolly.
“We had to change my car around a bit,” said Stevens Jr., who is competing in the car Johnson drove last year. “There’s a little bit of weight difference between myself and Allen. The rear end of the car was about thirty pounds too light. We added the weight and came out Saturday morning and had a pretty decent run. We put maybe just a little bit too much weight in the back end, so we balanced it out and made a nice run to qualify. At least we found the problem with the car. We can leave here and go to Phoenix, where I qualified No. 1 two years ago, and feel like we’ve got the car worked out.”
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