Allen Johnson may have struggled this season but he always seems to know his way to the Winner’s Circle at Bandimere Speedway.
Johnson scored his first Pro Stock win of the season and his third victory in in the last four years Sunday at Bandimere as Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all scored wins Sunday at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.
“We’ve got an awesome setup for this track,” said Johnson.
“The engine guys do an unbelievable job on the motors for this place. I’d like to race every race here. To go up against Greg in the second round and Jeg in the final, I knew I had to be on my game. Fortunately I was able to do it today.” AHN | All Headline News
An ideal ending for John Force Racing on Sunday didn’t immediately make the namesake team owner happy about what had unfolded. It took some time for Force, the 14-time funny car champion, to adjust his attitude and find the positives in Robert Hight’s title at Bandimere Speedway.
Hight, who is Force’s son-in-law and one of three JFR drivers, easily defeated the NHRA’s biggest all-time star in the funny car final at the 31st Mopar Mile-High Nationals.
Doug Kalitta concluded the event by beating Brandon Bernstein with a 3.963-second pass (308.35 mph) in the top fuel final. The event’s other winners were Allen Johnson (pro stock) and Andrew Hines (pro stock motorcycle).
And, yes, since Hight’s $50,000 winner’s purse will be sent to his team owner, Force was considered a winner too.
“He’s my son-in-law, my driver, and God bless him, I trained him, but I just don’t like losing at my age,” Force said in the winner’s circle, about 45 minutes after being visibly upset at the finish line. “I’m 61 years old and signed for five more years, but I may not have a car that runs like this every year.” Denver Post
Hines, a winner earlier this season also in Houston, reached his 35th career final round by defeating a trio of Suzukis, setting down rookie of the year hopeful LE Tonglet, Jim Underdahl, and low qualifier Michael Phillips to reach the final. In a rematch of their final round in Sonoma last weekend, Phillips red-lighted to Hines’ Harley. Prior to that race, Hines had beaten Phillips nine straight times.
Stoffer, who had yet to reach even the semifinals this season, went that much better by reaching the final round aboard her GEICO Suzuki. On the heels of a great qualifying effort, Stoffer defeated red-lighting Angie Smith and fellow Suzuki riders Craig Treble and Steve Johnson to reach the 12th final round of her career and her first since last fall’s Charlotte event.
In Lucas Oil Series action, David Bogner in Super Stock, Brad Burton in Stock, and John Dexter in Super Street each collected their second Mile-High Nationals trophy and were joined in victory by Terry Edwards in Super Comp and Mike Wiblishouser in Super Gas. NHRA.com
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