I tested Monday through Wednesday last weekend at Bradenton prior to the Gatornationals. We tested a lot of stuff; some was good and some bad. Vinnie Deceglie came down with his car from last year on Wednesday and we sorted that car out and got it set for Gainesville. On Thursday Pam and I took an R&R day and sort of slept in then drove up to Gainesville later that afternoon. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast.

The kicker at the Gatornationals was buddying up with Dodge NASCAR star Kurt Busch, who was racing his Mopar HEMI-powered Dodge Challenger in the Super Gas class. He’s real interested in drag racing. He spent quite a bit of time over at the trailer, sitting in the car, checking out our data graphs on the computer, and we talked a lot during the Team Mopar autograph session. After each of our runs, he would come back to the rig and check out our graphs. We even talked about getting him to a test session and doing some driving in a Pro Stock car, or maybe even on one of his NASCAR off weekends doing a rental deal for him and getting him in one of these Pro Stock cars.

I told him we might have to trade out, though. I might have to do a Camping World Truck or a Nationwide ride! I’d love it. Every time I get in a circle track car, I seem to perform fairly well. With a little more track time and a little more training, I think I could go over there and compete in one of those races. It’s something I love. We’ll see what happens.

Come race time at the Gators, it was an interesting event, with the delayed Arizona race run during Gatornationals qualifying. Just having the two races in one weekend kept the adrenaline pumping and kept us all on our toes. Running into Mike Edwards twice was definitely bad luck for us. But you know what, that just makes me and the whole J&J Racing team rise to the challenge even more and get things sorted out so we have a shot at beating him. It brings out the competitive fire in us. Getting beat by the same guy twice in two days, I don’t like that.

But it was a good weekend overall at Gainesville, going to two semis and moving to second in points. The new Mopar Dodge Avenger is definitely a better car than what we had last year.  I think we still have more in it. When we get it to its optimum point, I think you’re really going to see the Mopar Dodge shine.

The Phoenix race was a challenge. It was one of the most trying weekends that I’ve spent as a racer for a lot of reasons, but mainly because of the tragic accident.

We were right on track all weekend in the new Mopar Dodge Avenger. Unfortunately, on the last qualifying pass we had the left lane. We would have stayed No. 2 or No. 3 if we had the right lane, but we ended up No. 4. That left lane was just really, really treacherous for all us Pro Stockers. Vinnie Deceglie’s wreck was horrendous. Everybody was skating around in that lane. It was a weird deal.

I won first round and then eliminations were postponed. NHRA did everything it could do to make that lane better. Actually, they gave us the option, after it turned out they couldn’t make it better, to go to Gainesville and finish the Phoenix race during Gainesville qualifying. It says a lot about the NHRA as far as looking over us for safety.

Vinnie has his car from last year, the Stratus. He’ll have that out at Bradenton before the Gainesville race, with my dad Roy supplying his Hemi engines. We’re going to test a couple three days. His Stratus should be just like it was last year. It’s a good car, maybe not as good as the Avenger, but it’ll do for three or four races.

Gainesville should basically be like the K&N Horsepower Challenge deal. It should be exactly the same format, a sort of race-within-a-race. We won the K&N a couple of years ago, so maybe it will play right into our hands. It would be huge if we could win both the Phoenix event and the Gatornationals in one weekend! With our experienced team, our new Mopar Dodge Avenger and all the help and assistance we are getting from Mopar—hey, it could be ours.

The Mopar Dodge Avenger has just been awesome in its first two races. After seeing all the efforts of the Mopar and Dodge engineers in the wind tunnel, and seeing how much better the Avenger was, we thought for sure that it would be quite a bit better on the track than the Stratus. Now, have we got the full optimum output out of it? No, we have not—it’s still got a little bit left. It’s not performing at the 60-foot mark as well as our old car did. We were always No. 1 or No. 2 in 60-feet, and now we’re down to No. 5 or No. 6 in the new car. If we can get it up there to the top at the 60-ft and 330-foot mark, I think you’ll see it show off even more.

As far as a social life, I pretty much don’t have any plans between now and the Gatornationals. I might go into Bradenton early before testing and play some golf with the guys down there. After two straight weeks of flying back and forth on the West Coast, and testing the week before that in Vegas, I need a weekend or so of R&R just to get my feet back on the ground.
 

Prior to the NHRA Winternationals, we went out to Vegas for the Pro Stock Showdown. The weather was unusually cool and the track was cold. It wasn’t a very good test for us. We had one day we could run, then on Monday it was too cold and then on Tuesday we made one run and it started raining. It was pretty much a disaster, but it did give me and my J&J Racing team some warm-up time.

Now, the craps table was anything but a disaster. I played every dang night ’til the wee hours of the morning and left with a bunch of the casino’s dollars. I was there by myself in Vegas, so my wife Pam didn’t get any shopping money out of all my winnings!

I headed to Pomona, and my dad and mom, the engine guys, Brian and Matt, and Pam flew in on Wednesday. Pam then took some of my winnings and went shopping, so I didn’t get out of it totally. It was Valentine’s Day weekend, so I had to give her a shopping spree. She bought several tops, including one that said, “I Love Johnson,” and a pair or two of shoes. She bought me some really nice cologne and a nice card. It was our thirteenth Valentine’s Day together.

The weather at the Winternationals was like night and day compared to last year. We sat there for about four days last year and didn’t even make a qualifying pass. This year it was awesome, sunny and warm, with a great crowd. Hopefully NHRA made a lot of money so they can give it back to us in the form of pay raises! We had a driver’s meeting near the Golden 50 Corral the NHRA hosted at Auto Club Dragway to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Winternationals, and I stopped by to check out the historic cars. I spent a few minutes eyeballing those old race cars. It was packed over there, with a ton of fans crowding the area.

I made the semi's in the race debut of my new Mopar Dodge Avenger. We were tickled to death. We made three good runs. We even made a decent run in that right lane at Pomona, which gives everyone fits. I felt like my driving was decent all day. I think we reached all of our goals in the new car’s debut—short of winning the race.

Pam and I flew out early Monday, with a 6:45 a.m. flight back to Tennessee. It sort of forces you back on East Coast time, which was good. The boys are thrashing right now on a new engine combination to get together in time for Phoenix. We’ll fly it out there if we finish it, but I don’t know if they’re going to make it or not. I stopped by the shop earlier today to check on it. I’ll have a day of rest, then fly to Arizona to see if I can’t get my second win at Firebird International Raceway and eighth career win overall.
 

We tested our new NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger through Thursday, and I think I got in about 19 runs total, so we definitely got in some work. We’ve made quite a bit more progress since the last test sessions at Bradenton and Palm Beach International Raceway. The Mopar Dodge Avenger ran real good the last couple of days. I felt we were pretty close to where we need to be; we went 6.54 seconds at 210.70 mph for our best run of the four days. We tried quite a few different things, and I think we’ve got the car sorted out pretty well.

The J&J Racing crew and I will recharge our batteries now until the Pro Stock Showdown in Vegas. Dad’s got some HEMI engines he needs to work on and freshen up between now and then. He’s still on a high after I gave him that Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar as a Christmas gift. He’s talked with Gary Stanton on getting the engine for it, and he’s hoping to get out to Gary’s shop after our swing out West to open the NHRA season. So he’ll have that to look forward to in a month or so.

I was actually thinking about bypassing the Pro Stock Showdown and instead just going out to test Monday and Tuesday before Pomona, but the crew talked me into it and said it’s like our preseason game. We won the Showdown last year so we’ll head back and try to have a little fun, hopefully win it again and get in the groove before the season starts. I can’t wait to race, especially with all the news coming out.

I just saw the announcement about four-lane racing at Charlotte in March. It’s definitely a unique approach that should generate a ton of publicity. It may be good for the sport—I guess you just have to try it. I think the jury is still out as of now, but I’m sure it will be exciting. It’s just another interesting thing we can look forward to during the upcoming season.

We all went to dinner that night and then returned to my house and celebrated our Christmas together. Of course, we always visit with Pam’s family on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas morning my entire family goes to my parents’ house. It’s a tradition. My mom fixes a huge breakfast with homemade sausage, country ham and biscuits and gravy. Actually, Pam’s mom, dad and brother came to my mom’s as well. They used to go to Pam’s grandparents’ house on Christmas, but both her grandma and grandpa passed away last year, so they came to our celebration. It was nice to welcome them in and help fill that void by doing something different. All went well and we all had a great Christmas.

I threw a big party on New Year’s Eve, at the same place Pam held my surprise birthday party this year, the General Morgan Inn & Conference Center in Greeneville. We had a band in from Charlotte and stayed right at the hotel. Then the next day was consumed with planning how to surprise my dad with the new Dodge Challenger Drag by Mopar vehicle I was giving to him.

I got the car in October and B&B Racecars finished it in two months time so I could surprise dad with it. I had the guys delivering it wait out on the interstate near our house until I knew mom had dad out of the house. Once he left, we unloaded the car into our race shop. We had about 20 people, friends of my dad and folks who he used to race with, who were going to be there when I gave him the Drag Pak. Pam shuttled them all from our house a few miles away to the shop, so dad wouldn’t notice the cars.

I was on the phone once or twice with mom. She would sneak off and call and ask, “Are you ready for me to bring him back yet?” When they came back all my dad saw was my car in the shop driveway. They pulled up and I called for him to come into the shop and check out what I had rigged up on the practice tree I use to improve my time off the starting line. He walked in the door and it took him about 30 seconds to even notice there was a crowd in the shop. It was a total surprise. He had no clue. He was absolutely thrilled by his new Mopar Drag Pak. He called Gary Stanton that night and was like, “Where the hell is my motor?”

After all the holiday excitement, now we’re just doing the small things needed to get ready for the upcoming season. The crew is sprucing up the trailer, stocking it up and preparing for the long season. We have a test session planned for Bradenton and then after a quick return trip home we’ll go to Vegas for the Pro Stock Showdown. Then it’ll be time to visit Pomona, Calif., and get our season started at the NHRA Winternationals.

Then, of course, the rain set in on Tuesday. That day was a washout, so we convoyed west, straight across Florida, to the drag strip at Bradenton, where the weather was better. We tested there on Wednesday and Thursday. The folks at Bradenton are awesome. They’ll do anything you want, and let you stay as late as you want. We got in about ten runs over two days.

I’m getting real comfortable in the Mopar Dodge Avenger. The new, formed seat deal gave me a little problem in the beginning. I didn’t like the constrictive feeling. I got used to it, though, moved around a little bit, and moved the belts around a little, and it felt better every run. I’ve been cutting consistent lights.

We got after the car a little on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I ran 6.58-seconds Wednesday and Thursday, both with speeds over 210 mph. We’re still not as good off the starting line as we want it to be. I’ve been at .980-seconds at the 60-foot mark, and we ought to be going in the high .960s. So we still have a little work to do there.

I think the Avenger is going to be a really good race car, and take us right up there to the top. I know the team, crew chief Mark Ingersoll, my dad Roy, we’re all very encouraged by this first outing. We still have some kinks to iron out. We’re about two-hundredths-of-a-second slower than we should be, and all of that’s down low, in the 60-foot range. We’ll keep working on it and free it up.

Right now, I’m just gearing up for a Tennessee Christmas at home in Greeneville. My wife Pam and I will get some shopping done and then look forward to spending some quality time with our families, before I go back to work. The plan is to be back at Bradenton in the second week in January for about 15 more runs. We’ll take a brief break after that, and then the team will head west to Vegas to test out there for a few days, then it’ll be time for the Winternationals, and away we’ll go!
 

This blog is coming at you from the PRI Trade Show in Orlando, Fla. We utilize the show to shake hands with the vendors that have helped us throughout the year and hopefully meet some new ones that want to come on board, and also to represent for our sponsor Mopar. My dad Roy and I also get the opportunity to see a lot of old friends from other forms of racing that we haven’t talked to in awhile, so it’s a great chance to catch up and have a little fun.

We have spent a lot of time in the Mopar display area, hanging out with the Mopar folks. RaceFanRadio.com is broadcasting live from the Mopar Stage, and I did an interview with them yesterday. They also had on the old Ramchargers gang that made Mopar drag racing history, and it was great to be able to listen in and have a chance to hear some of the old war stories from those guys. I also did a segment with my dad, and he talked a little about how we got started in racing, and also how he worked with all those Ramchargers folks, like Tom Hoover, back in the day. It was nice for dad to get a little time in the spotlight.

Ralph Gilles, President and CEO, Dodge Brand, was at PRI yesterday for the unveiling of a new special-edition model of the 2010 Viper SRT10 lineup, the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR-X. It’s an awesome looking non-street legal race car on tap for 2010, and Ralph said a few words about the car on the Mopar Stage.

I had a chance to catch up with Ralph and chat for a bit after the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR-X press conference. He’s a real down to earth person. He’s also an engineer and designer in addition to his new role, and it’s great to have those types of folks leading Dodge and Mopar. I tried to bend Ralph’s ear a little bit and let him know I would love to have a chance to drive that ACR-X! I like road course racing, and this new Viper looks like it will be a perfect fit for that. I think they’re going to sell a lot of them.

We have my new 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger on display here at PRI, near the Mopar Stage. We’ve had a lot of great comments from the different racers out here, talking about how aero the car looks. After the PRI Show, we’re heading to West Palm for testing. I can’t wait to let the clutch out on the Mopar Dodge Avenger for the first time Monday morning!

We have a lot to be thankful for, since we’ve been blessed with a lot of good fortune. Pam and I always focus on giving back to others at this time of year. We have a local charity real close by us at our home in Greeneville, Tenn., Family Ministries, and we support them in helping out those less fortunate than us. Also, Pam’s family is in the furniture business, and I own a chain of gas stations, so we try to locate families in need and help them out as best we can. If we hear of a family that has lost their home in a fire or some other disaster, we’ll help out with new furniture, or we’ll donate heating oil for families trying to keep their houses warm during the winter. It’s a great feeling be able to help others and change people’s lives.

I’ve been in rest and relaxation mode since the season ended. Pam and I took in the Tennessee Titans game last week, and saw their last-second win over the Arizona Cardinals. It was our first game of the year, and we’ll try to see a few more. We were also able to visit with some couples we’re friends with that we hadn’t seen in awhile, so it was like a mini-reunion. I also had a chance to spend time with my grandsons, Jaevon and Jakobi. They’re little ones, so it was awesome to have some down time and be able to see them play in their basketball leagues. They’re already little stud players!

My J&J Racing team was up in Detroit earlier this week, putting our NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger in the wind tunnel along with the help of Mopar and Dodge Motorsports engineers. The results were great, as it looks like the Avenger will be a definite improvement over the Stratus. I’ll be in attendance at the PRI Trade Show in Orlando with the car to support Mopar in their display next week, and then we’ll put the Mopar Avenger on the trailer and head out for West Palm Beach for three days of testing following PRI. It will give us an opportunity to get our first drag strip data on the new car.

Besides a little break during Christmas, we’re pretty much back to work from here on out, getting the Avenger ready and testing it. There’s no rest for the weary, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way! After a few weeks off, I’m always ready to get back racing, and with the new Mopar Dodge Avenger I’m really excited for the 2009 season.
 

Looking back on 2009, the Mopar/J&J Racing team experienced a lot of highlights over the entire season. However, we weren’t very happy with the way we ended the year. We probably gave away three to four spots in the points over the last few races. It doesn’t sit well with me to finish like that.

I guess if you don’t win the championship or win the final race, your season always ends on a sour note. But like I said, we had many high points during 2009. We won at the Mopar Mile-Highs in Denver, bringing home the win for our primary sponsor Mopar, so that’s always huge. Winning two races in a year was a first for me as well, so that was a high point. And, of course, making the Countdown playoffs for the third straight year was another big accomplishment for the team. It proves we are consistently among the elite Pro Stock teams.

Overall, I think the team was strong in many areas. I was somewhat more pleased with my driving this year than I was last year. My dad, Roy Johnson, was making great horsepower with our Mopar HEMI® engines. I think we came up with some new designs on our parts toward the end of the year that proved successful. However, I feel like the two-crew chief approach didn’t help us as much as we thought it would. Also, the car was a little older, and I feel like that was a little bit of a negative. The cars do get wore out.

But we were right there with the champion, Mike Edwards, as far out as mid-year. We were killing the racetrack and qualifying right up there close to Mike, but then toward the end of the year we sort of got out of our game and he just stayed where he was. I felt like he was going to be strong this year, but I also thought we were going to give him a little more run for his money than we did.

As far as fan turnout, I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t think we were down as much as what I’ve seen in other types of motorsports or entertainment venues. Toward the end of the year, I think fan attendance even picked up. I think the NHRA, drag racing and Pro Stock in general are thriving.

We unveiled the new 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger I’m going to race next year. The car was displayed in the Mopar exhibit at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas in early November. The SEMA Show is always great, with lots of enthusiasts out there. It was good to interact with folks and hear their comments about the new car, and how unique of a look it has. I also had a chance to meet with the folks from Mopar and spend time with them.

The team is working with Mopar and Dodge engineers to redesign some things going forward, and we have a good plan in place. The team will be in the wind tunnel in Detroit next week. The guys are at the RJ Race Cars shop right now finishing the car, getting the race motors in it and getting ready to go to the wind tunnel. We’ll bring both cars up for the session and put them both in the wind tunnel at the same time so we can get an accurate reading of how good the Avenger performs compared to the Stratus.

The team and I will head to Orlando in December for the PRI Show and probably test soon after in West Palm. I’ll likely take in a Tennessee Titans football game or two and relax for the holidays. I have a lot to be thankful for. We finished another season safely, and we feel really fortunate to still have a sponsorship, when a lot of teams are being dropped. We feel really humble and fortunate to be the only Mopar-sponsored car out there. We hope we can take that support and turn it into a championship for Mopar and Chrysler Group LLC in 2010.