Mopar Dominates Pro Stock Qualifying and Earns Pole Position at NHRA Texas Fall Nationals

September 21, 2012 , Ennis, Texas -  After dominating every qualifying session, Mopar Dodge Avenger driver Allen Johnson earned the Pro Stock pole position with the lowest quarter-mile elapsed time of 6.550 seconds and set the top speed at 211.99 mph at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the famed Texas Motorplex near Dallas. It is Johnson’s tenth No. 1 Qualifier honor this season and the 28th of his career.

“I can remember my first one like it was yesterday and remember wondering if I’d get another one after that,” Johnson reminisced jokingly as a 17 year NHRA veteran. “It’s been a great year for the Mopar Dodge Avenger qualifying no. 1 and earning four wins this year, and hopefully I’ll add a couple more here readily.”

“We’re hitting on all cylinders and we have a very consistent strategy right now,” added Johnson who is maintaining his status as current points leader heading into the second of six playoff races in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship. “I’m trying to make good clean safe runs on every run, without pushing it at all and we’re still right up front. Hopefully we can take that strategy and work the Eliminations on Sunday. If we need a little more we’ve got a little more and can push the envelope a little bit and that’s a really good feeling right now.”

Johnson will face Warren Johnson for a first round elimination match up.

Fellow HEMI-powered entries of Vincent Nobile and V. Gaines qualified fourth and seventh respectively, while Mopar/JEGS.com Dodge Avenger driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. qualified in 10th spot.

Nobile matches up with Larry Morgan in the first round, while Gaines and Coughlin will face each other in a good old fashioned Texas shootout with their Mopars.

In Funny Car, Don Schumacher Racing’s Jack Beckman led the Mopar Dodge Charger R/T contingent with a third place qualifying run and a best time of 4.109 seconds / 303.98 mph.

Beckman, along with his two other DSR teammates Ron Capps and Johnny Gray, also took part in the ‘race within a race’ inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout, where eight cars battled for $100,000 in an All-Star battle. Beckman lost in the first round while his DSR teammates faced each other in the semi-final match up that saw Capps eliminate Gray.

Capps went on to battle fellow veteran driver John Force in the finals, losing by just two-hundredths of a second.
The fourth DSR Mopar Dodge Charger R/T driver Matt Hagan sits in seventh place after his qualifying efforts with a best run of 4.151 sec. / 296.63 mph.

Qualifying highlights will be shown on ESPN2 Saturday night at midnight ET and again Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Eliminations rounds at Texas Fall Nationals and race two of the six playoff series for “Countdown to the Championship” are slated for broadcast on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 8:30 pm ET on ESPN2.

About Mopar Motorsports
Mopar’s commitment to professional motorsports competition was established in the 1950’s when a partnership ignited with drag racing pioneer, Don Garlits. Combined efforts between Garlits and the Mopar brand resulted in the breaking of numerous speed and performance barriers in a HEMI-powered car over the next several decades. Mopar has remained a fixture on the racing scene in the North America ever since and is currently involved with the NHRA, NASCAR, USAC and TORC series. Mopar also sponsors many motorsports events, including title sponsorship of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Colorado for nearly 25 consecutive years; and it is a proud supporter of amateur racing within NHRA and USAC.

Mopar-First Features
Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:

• Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with consumers
• Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format
• Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
• Wireless charging: first to introduce in-vehicle wireless charging for portable devices
• Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with a new interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owners a text when the vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters
• 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car
• Camper trailers: first to introduce off-road camper trailers
• WiTECH: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network

About the Mopar Brand
Mopar is Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes 280,000 parts and accessories. With the creation of the Chrysler Group and Fiat S.p.A. partnership, Mopar is extending its global reach, integrating service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Combined with Fiat SpA, Mopar’s global portfolio includes more than 500,000 parts and accessories that are distributed in more than 120 countries. Mopar is the source for all genuine parts and accessories for Chrysler Group and Fiat SpA brands.
Mopar parts are unique in that they are engineered with the same teams that create factory-authorized vehicle specifications for Chrysler Group and Fiat S.p.A.vehicles — a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at www.mopar.com.

75 Years of Mopar
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked for an antifreeze product in 1937. The Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s — the muscle-car era. The Chrysler Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth “package cars” equipped with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of “special parts” for super-stock drag racers and developed its racing parts division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use. The brand has expanded to include technical service and customer support.