Pomona: Mopar Motorsports eliminations summary

Johnson & Alderman make early statement in Pomona.

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 9, 2003) -- Mopar Pro Stock pilot Allen Johnson lead the Hemi stable to its first final-round appearance of the 2003 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season in today's K&N Filters Winternationals at the historic Pomona Raceway.

Johnson lined up next to series veteran Warren Johnson and was not able to overcome the elements of the slower lane that he staged in. A. Johnson was able to log a run of 6.801 seconds at a career best 204.73 mph, but was not able to surpass the advantage of W. Johnson's lane choice, which produced an event-winning pass of 6.780 seconds at 204.01 mph.

Johnson's teammate, Darrell Alderman, who has four national event wins at Pomona, was also eliminated in the semifinals by W.J. Alderman clocked an elapsed time of 6.809 seconds at 203.54 mph to Johnson's 6.764-second at 204.54 mph run. Alderman qualified third for today's event on the strength of a career-best elapsed time and top speed pass.

Independent Mopar driver Greg Stanfield, who won the No. 1 qualifier for today's contest with at 6.772 second pass at 203.77 mph, fell to Brad Jeter in the first round of eliminations. Although Stanfield ran had a better time and speed, he was not able to recover from a tire-shake off of the starting line. Stanfield recorded a pass of 6.789 seconds at 203.71 to Jeter's 6.830-second, 203.16 mph mark.

This weekend's Pro Stock field was the quickest field in NHRA series history and all three Mopar drivers established new career-best qualifying runs (both elapsed time and top speed) to get into today's eliminations bracket -- Allen Johnson (6.780 seconds at 204.08 mph); Darrell Alderman (6.779 seconds at 203.43 mph); Greg Stanfield (6.772 seconds at 203.77).

Allen Johnson, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T
Johnson & Johnson Racing
Elapsed Time: 6.801 seconds
Top Speed: 204.73 mph (career best)
Pomona Raceway: First final-round appearance (2003)

"Lane choice was so important today. I spun (the tires) in second (gear) and third (gear) in the right lane and never spun once in the left lane this whole weekend. This was just an awesome weekend. To come out with Mopar on board, to have Darrell (Alderman) with us and for both cars to make it to the semis (finals) was just a dream come true. To have a shot at winning is just awesome. To leave Pomona with both cars in the top five in points is great for us to be going after a championship. This is the kind of momentum we need to keep for us to win a championship."

Darrell Alderman, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T
Johnson & Johnson Racing
Elapsed Time: 6.809 seconds
Top Speed: 203.52 mph
Pomona Raceway: Four event wins (1995, '94, '91 (2))

"That was a close one. We were running side by side for most of the run, but he got to the line first. We ran consistent times this weekend and my Hemi engine was producing the horsepower I needed to get to the semis (finals). The run felt good, but we didn't have lane choice and we figured that the difference in lanes (time) is about one-to-two-hundredths (of a second) and that's advantage enough to win in this series.

"I would have liked to have an all-Mopar final, but I'm glad that my teammate (Allen Johnson) is there. This gives us some great momentum for the season."

-Mopar.com-