Johnson eliminated in first round of Nationals, Morgan wins for Mopar

Mopar/J&J Racing NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson saw his race day cut short at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals as he lost to Jeg Coughlin in the first round. However, Mopar ruled the day; The final run was all-Mopar HEMI-powered as Larry Morgan emerged victorious, beating Rickie Jones.

Johnson posted his Mopar-fueled Dodge Stratus R/T at No. 6 after two days of qualifying, drawing No. 11 seed Coughlin as his first-round foe. The Greeneville, Tennessee, native recorded the quicker trip down the strip with a 6.706-second/205.76 mph pass to Coughlin’s 6.715/205.54 mark but Coughlin was faster off the start with a reaction time of .007. Johnson’s .053 time was just too much tomake up in the run.

“We did make a decent run that round,” remarked Johnson. “I don’t think we had enough to overcome the magical light he [Coughlin] had. We made a little headway there with the car. The motor ran well.

“We’re just going to throw everything at it at Pomona, and I’m going to go home and work on that practice tree a little more to get quicker on my starts.”

Morgan drove to his tenth career win with a winning pass of 6.720/205.69 to Jones’ 6.794/203.16 run. It was Morgan’s first win since the 2002 Sonoma event. The 22-year-old Jones was making his first appearance in the finals.

Along with Allen Johnson’s earlier victories at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver and the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Morgan’s triumph was the third win for a Mopar-powered Pro Stocker this season.

Johnson is now seventh in the NHRA Countdown to 1 standings. Next up for the Mopar-powered Pro Stock contingent is the final race of the season, the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 12-15, at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.