Pro Stock's Allen Johnson has had a very eventful off-season, and after a couple of days of testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the decade-long Dodge campaigner is targeting the upcoming O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries as the beginning of a successful defense of his position as the No. 1 Mopar driver in the factory hot rod pits.
 
Johnson very cautiously, yet successfully, raced his Dodge Avenger for most of last year with a torn bicep tendon and headed straight into reparative surgery just a couple of days after the 2011 season ended. The winter was a time to mend – and to contemplate – for the driver who has finished in the top 10 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series standings nine times and consecutively in each of the last six seasons.
 
"I've babied [the bicep] and worked on it all winter, and I'm ready to get back in the car for the first time in Vegas," said Johnson, who qualified in the top half at all but four events last year, including three No. 1 starts, went to four final rounds, and won in Englishtown.
 
"I'm a little nervous about the bicep – I'll probably start out wearing a brace so I can't shock it too much – but I have worked out with it for the past 30 days, and I feel confident it's going to be OK."
 
The off-season was also a time for the guys back at the J&J Racing shop, including Hemi-builder/dad Roy Johnson, to dig a little deeper in anticipation of a season that would include the return of multitime Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., this time in a Dodge instead of the familiar JEGS Chevy Cobalt of years past.
 
Johnson, along with engine customer and rising star Vincent Nobile and motivated three-time Pro Stock winner V. Gaines, have held down the fort for the Dodge brand in recent times, and the addition of Coughlin provides an increased opportunity for a resurgence of the brand wars that were fiercely contested in the early days of Pro Stock between now-legendary drivers and teams such as Bob Glidden, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Lee Shepard, Sox & Martin, and others in Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, and Plymouths.
 
"We have been right on the edge of doing good things out there the last few years, and we just haven't been able to get the breakthrough season," admitted Johnson. "Hopefully, Jeggie's program will be up to snuff fairly quickly to where we can all be buttin' heads and have the Dodges up there.
 
"The focus on the brand is a great thing. You've got the Fords trying to emerge; Larry Morgan looked like he really made up some good ground there at the end of the year, and he really ran close to us in testing, so I expect him to be a contender in the top 10 this year. And we know the new Camaros will be coming out, and I guess Jason [Line] and Greg [Anderson] are getting those fairly quickly. I'd like to have the brand wars all refreshed. It would be good for the class."
 
For its part, the J&J Racing team has already been looking sharp: In January during testing in Bradenton, Fla., Johnson had former NHRA Pro Stock standout Richie Stevens filling in behind the wheel and watched his Avenger record the unofficial fastest pass in the history of Pro Stock with a run of 6.466 at 212.51 mph. The current official record is 6.477, set by Line at the national event in Reading last fall.
 
"We made a really, really good run there, and that all comes down to hard work," said Johnson. "The engine guys worked on new stuff all winter, and we have our new duo of Jim Yates and Mark Ingersoll working together – instead of just one person, now you have two, plus the Jerry Haas car that we have now. We've worked out the bugs, and it's at its optimum, too.
 
"We certainly have put all the ingredients in place to start thinking about making a run for the championship. I feel like we could have won one, but we had a couple of missing ingredients the last three years. We've fixed those areas, and hopefully the driver can do his job. I've had the title of the No. 1 Dodge for a lot of years now, and I want to make sure I keep that. We'll have some good, healthy competition, but I think we'll be all right out there. It all starts in Pomona."


The 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season kicks off Feb. 9-12 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with the 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries. Click here to get your tickets.