NHRA News: Johnson lifting Dodge to a new 'Stratus'-phere (12/14/2003)

Johnson lifting Dodge to a new 'Stratus'-phere

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/14/2003

"It got to a point where you'd come to a race and sit around hoping Greg would screw up. That's no way to race."
– Allen Johnson

By most accounts, Allen Johnson couldn't be happier with his first season as Mopar's lead dog in the brutal Pro Stock fight. In a year where most of the victories were gobbled up by the top two drivers, Johnson still managed to tough out a sixth-place finish, the best ending by a Dodge driver since 1995 and the top ranking of his eight-year Pro career.

But Johnson dreams a little bigger than these minor benchmarks. He is intent on bringing the ultimate glory home for the Mopar folks and he's putting his money where his mouth is, expanding his Greeneville, Tenn.-based operation and opening a second shop in the heart of NASCAR country with the sole purpose of finding enough horsepower to track down Greg Anderson.

Johnson looked no further than Anderson for inspiration and his plan of attack is straight out of the new champ's playbook, all the way down to his hiring of a former NASCAR engine builder to help he and his father Roy "think outside the box" of conventional Pro Stock tactics.

Johnson manufactured a career-best, sixth-place finish in the 2003 POWERade points.
www.RacersEdgePhotography.com

"Greg Anderson has single-handedly taken Pro Stock to new level," Johnson said. "The rest of us are now working to get to the point where we can clear the bar because he's set it way up there. If anyone doesn't think that's true, they're kidding themselves.

"We've added on to the main shop here in Greeneville. We built on an additional 3,000 square feet for a new dyno room and some extra work space. We also did what Greg did and opened a shop in NASCAR country, just outside of Charlotte, N.C. In fact, our shop down there is just a few miles away from Greg's place."

The Charlotte location will be headed by Scott DeYoung, a disciple of NASCAR giants Felix Sabates and Richard Childress, who worked with driver Kyle Petty and the SABCO Racing operation. DeYoung became available a few years back when SABCO Racing decided to end one facet of its engine program and was quickly snatched up by Team Jeg's, who used DeYoung primarily to help with their Pro Stock Truck entries. The research and development specialist also has worked on the drag racing programs of Butch Leal, "Tricky Rickie" Smith, and Dale Eicke in the past.

"We hired Scott to help dad with engine development," Johnson said. "They'll be working with our cylinder head specialist, Todd Perron. Todd worked at SABCO Racing for seven years, so he's worked hand-in-hand with Scott before. He also used to work at Alan Johnson's shop once upon a time. They're both sharp guys. Now they'll do nothing but find us more horsepower, plain and simple. That's all we want them to do.

"You've got to think outside the box. It used to be you'd work like hell in the off-season to find some horsepower and then do what you could during the season in between repair jobs. Once the season started you'd be lucky to find more than one or two horsepower when you had those rare chances to look for it. Well, that ain't cutting it any more. You have to have full-time people stay at home and do nothing but work on your motors or you're gonna be left behind."

Johnson's eye-catching Dodge Stratus R/T will
be much quicker in 2004, he promises.
www.RacersEdgePhotography.com

Johnson and teammate Darrell Alderman, the three-time Pro Stock champion, along with Mopar and the entire Johnson & Johnson outfit, basically decided enough was enough somewhere around the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. Before Anderson's runaway championship was confirmed, they were devising the plans that are now coming to fruition.

"It got to a point where you'd come to a race and sit around hoping Greg would screw up," Johnson said. "That's no way to race.

"The rest of us just need to spend more money. That's basically what Greg did in 2003. He hired a bunch of good people to work around the clock finding him horsepower. We know we need to find 20, 30, 40 extra horsepower and we're all working 15-hour days to find it. You have to have those extra sets of eyes and ears helping you out.

"Together with the help of Mopar, Johnson & Johnson Racing has done a lot to bring Mopar to the top, and I'm proud of that. But we're not done working by any stretch. They've helped us tremendously with new cylinder heads, blocks, and constant refinements to the design of the Stratus. I think you'll see me and Darrell step up quite a bit in 2004. We've all been thrashing to reach that goal.

"If you throw Greg out of the equation, I think Darrell and I would probably have won two or three races each. Even with Greg winning every weekend I still finished sixth, which is the best Mopar has done since 1995. And we did that even though we started testing late in the year when we saw Greg running away with it. Overall, it was a good year, a stepping-stone year."

Wily veteran Alderman has been racing professionally since 1986.
www.RacersEdgePhotography.com

One factor that could help level the playing field is the new beadlock tires Pro Stock teams are now mandated to use. Most drivers concur that the tires are safer. They also agree with the fact they react differently than the old rubber, which means there will be a learning curve for everyone in the class.

"The key will be track time," Johnson said, "and we're already underway with our test schedule. We just got back from testing in Commerce [Ga.]. We were up there with Warren [Johnson, no relation.] Things went pretty well, about what we expected.

"I think the new tires will cause some trouble for people initially but the cars will definitely be easier to control and we won't see the wild tire spin we saw a lot of this year. It looks like they might be half a mile-per-hour and maybe a hundredth of a second slower, but they'll be better and safer for all of us, so that's a good thing.

"I think we'll see a lot of tire companies enter into the mix now because they all make tires in the size range we'll use. That kind of competition should be real good for the class. I know we'll see all kinds of set-ups in the first four or five races as people try to adjust."

In Johnson's estimation, it's all part of the new era the class has entered. As the sport of drag racing continues to develop, the popular Pro Stock contingent also must grow.

"It's always been big-time racing," Johnson said. "But somehow it reached a new level in 2003. We're anxious to get there and we won't rest until we do."

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