Allen Johnson picked up his first win in almost two years when he defeated Mike Edwards in the Pro Stock final at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka. Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) and Ron Capps (Funny Car) were also victorious.
Johnson last put his Mopar Hemi Dodge in a winner’s circle at the Denver event in 2007. Dixon and Capps, who are tuned by the father-son crew chief duo of Jason and Ed McCulloch, have already claimed wins in 2009; Dixon’s Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing team also won in Gainesville, and Capps’ NAPA-backed Dodge was also the top Funny Car in Pomona, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.
Larry Dixon
|
One race after a tough holeshot loss on a run that set low e.t. of the weekend in Bristol, Dixon rebounded nicely in Topeka with solid driving and the quickest car of eliminations as he notched his 45th career victory. Racing in his 85th final, Dixon powered to a 3.971, his third straight three-second pass, to defeat Clay Millican and win his second of the year. The win moved him up two spots in the standings, from sixth to fourth.
“I’ve had worse weekends [than Bristol], but it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone to say that I’m not where I want to be driving the car, and I think it peaked out last week,” said Dixon. “Alan [Johnson, team owner] took his crew chief hat off and put his coach hat on and worked on me and getting me right. We went and ran the car at Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday after Bristol and just made a whole bunch of runs. That was just nice, hitting the throttle and getting runs. They learned a lot from that test, and I learned a lot from that test. I was very excited and there wasn’t anything apprehensive about coming to this event. I just wanted to come here and get the gloves on and get in the game.
“The car’s been great all year. They tried some things yesterday that the car certainly didn’t like or the track didn’t like, so they readjusted for it, and it made four good runs down the racetrack. You go up there, and if someone’s going to fire a shot, let ’em, but we’re going to go down the track as quickly as we think we can.”
Dixon began eliminations quietly, running one of the few four-second winning times of the opening round as he got past Steve Chrisman, but his car came to life after that. He ran the lone three-second pass of the second and third rounds to defeat Cory McClenathan and Spencer Massey and advance to his sixth final round at Heartland Park Topeka.
Though he ran strong all weekend — he was the only car to make a full pull Saturday afternoon — Millican came up just short of claiming his first NHRA victory. Millican defeated Joe Hartley and Brandon Bernstein in the opening rounds, then got a free pass to his fourth NHRA final when Shawn Langdon could not get his car in reverse after the burnout.
Ron Capps
|
Capps continued his reign of terror in the Funny Car class, winning for the fourth time in five final-round showings this season. In the final, Capps got off the starting line first and never looked back, running a 4.266 to defeat No. 1 qualifier Ashley Force Hood, who ran a troubled 4.495. The win, the 29th of Capps career, extended his points lead to 119 markers over Del Worsham.
“I told my crew guys in the staging lanes that we were going to make a lot of fans in the stands upset in the final round if we beat her,” said Capps. “My daughter loves her, so I knew my daughter would be upset, too. We figured they were going to run a 4.23, 4.24, to be honest with you, so I had to do my job at the starting line.
“When they said we won, it was such a great feeling. Ed McCulloch fought the conditions today and all weekend long. We dropped cylinders all weekend, and we got put in that lane that was considered not as good as the left lane, and we won two rounds in that right lane. To have conditions with a 125-degree track temperature and have a two-lane dragstrip with both lanes getting wins was a phenomenal job by Heartland Park Topeka and the NHRA Safety Safari.”
Capps did not have the quickest car on the property, but it was definitely one of the most consistent. In the rounds leading up to the final, Capps clocked a 4.280, 4.298, and 4.298 as he defeated Matt Hagan, John Force, and Jack Beckman to earn a spot in his 59th overall money round and fourth in Topeka.
Force Hood’s team rebounded from the tough Saturday outing, during which they failed to make it all the way downtrack fully under power. Force Hood began the day with a 4.252 to defeat Jack Wyatt, and she stayed in that range the following two rounds, clocking a pair of 4.26s to defeat Bob Tasca III and Tim Wilkerson to advance to her eighth career final round. Her runner-up finish bumped her up a spot in the standings, from fourth to third.
Allen Johnson
|
Johnson snapped a 42-race winless streak when he defeated Edwards to claim his first Topeka win and sixth overall Pro Stock victory, and he did so in style. Johnson was the quickest car of the final qualifying session and continued that trend through the first three rounds of eliminations. The only round in which Johnson was outrun was the final, but it didn’t matter because he got a .035 to .045 lead at the Tree, which gave him enough of a lead to hold off Edwards on the top end by .002-second.
“I told the media at the end of the track that I felt like we should have won 10 races the last year and a half, and this is the first one,” said Johnson. “We’ve had the car, and I just haven’t done my job very good the last year or so. I knew a win would come, but I’ve been very, very frustrated with myself, to be honest. I hadn’t done my job really well for the last year, but I’ve really been working on it. I feel like I’ve got my mojo back, and we’re going to do well the rest of the year.
“When the car’s doing as good as it did today, driving it is very fun, very easy. I felt a little pressure in the final because I know Mike, and he always makes a good run against us, and he did. We didn’t take him lightly; we knew he had it. I felt a little pressure, and thank goodness I did my job.”
Johnson’s quick day began with a 6.683 that matched his qualifying time and gave him the win over Ronnie Humphrey. He followed it up with a pair of 6.7-second passes to defeat Warren Johnson and Greg Anderson and advance to final No. 16.
Though he came up short in the final, Edwards had another stellar day of racing, advancing to the final round for the second straight event and the third time in the last four. Starting from the No. 1 spot, Edwards ran the second-quickest times of the first three rounds as he bested Dave Northrop, Greg Stanfield, and Jeg Coughlin to claim a spot in his 33rd career final and third at Heartland Park Topeka.
Lucas Oil Sportsman winners were Jim Whiteley (Top Alcohol Dragster), Steve Harker (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Bruno Massel (Comp), Gary Emmons (Super Stock), Adam Davis (Stock), Ryan Herem (Super Comp), Tommy Phillips (Super Gas), and Tim Forshee (Super Street). Tim Tindle came out on top in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx exhibition.
Related stories:
Saturday: Brown, Force Hood, Edwards hold onto top spots in Topeka
Friday: Force Hood, Edwards lead fields again; Brown tops in Top Fuel