Pro Stock Promise
DaimlerChrysler's much-anticipated four-car factory-backed Mopar Motorsports team made its debut during NHRA's '03 season-opening K&N Filters Winternationals in February. The results were impressive and, in fact, reinforced what many insiders have been speculating: This team will be a dominant player in NHRA Pro Stock racing this season.
The team came close to winning the event outright, with driver Allen Johnson going all the way to the final round driving his Hemi-powered Dodge Neon before narrowly losing to Warren Johnson. Allen's racing stable mate, Darrell Alderman, also had a strong event run, finishing in the semifinal round, also driving a Hemi-powered Neon. Johnson and Alderman qualified within the top five in what proved to be NHRA's all-time quickest Pro Stock eliminator. Class racers had produced a record-quick 16-car bump spot of 6.811 seconds.
"For our team to go to the final round in our first race out is just an awesome accomplishment," said Johnson, who has two career NHRA titles to his credit. "We took two Hemi cars to the semis, and I think that sends everybody in the class a message for this season. We truly have an all-star team assembled. My father, Roy (Johnson), and his cylinder-head man, Todd Parin, did a lot of research and development over the winter. We have multiple Hemi engines available now, which are all basically equal. That is a luxury we've never enjoyed before."
The Pomona event also marked the public debut of the revolutionary '03 Dodge Stratus Pro Stock cars, driven by fellow Mopar Motorsports team members Larry Morgan and Gene Wilson. Construction of both cars was completed just prior to Pomona, and as a result, the cars entered the event for the most part untested. That factor prevented both machines from cracking the record-quick field, however, despite the fact that both Morgan and Wilson wheeled them into the 6.8-second zone, showing great promise for the future.
"I got my car on Tuesday before the race, and Larry had his only one week earlier," affirmed Wilson. "It was a real thrash rounding everything up just to get the cars down track. Once we get a handle on the Stratus, things like finding out what the chassis likes and what gear ratios work best, they will be at the front of the pack. The DaimlerChrysler engineers, led by Terry DeKoninck, have done a superb job designing a Stratus which is intended to not only go fast, but very fast."
Johnson and Alderman are expected to take delivery of similarly prepared '03 Dodge Stratus Pro Stock cars in time for March's NHRA Mac Tools Gatornationals in Florida.
Father Knows Best!
California's Mike Loge earned his second career NHRA national event title when he prevailed in Stock eliminator at the season-opening K&N Winternationals. Loge, who won his first title during the '86 Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver, drove his I/SA 360-cid '79 Plymouth Volare to victory, defeating a star-studded 84-car field. Loge qualified fourth in Stock eliminator (1.240 seconds under his index) and beat a red-lighting Curtis Coulter in the final round.