Mile-High Milestones
Team Mopar® drivers Allen Johnson and Jack Beckman just missed repeating as event winners in a Mopar Mile-High Nationals that made history as the first ever NHRA event to feature Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers racing to 1,000 feet.
Words: Darren Jacobs
One year had passed, but in the final eliminations of the 29th Annual Mopar® Mile-High Nationals on July 13 at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., it was as if time had stood still.
Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson and Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car pilot Jack Beckman were once again in the finals, poised to follow up their 2007 Mopar Mile-High event victories with repeat titles. A huge contingent from Mopar’s headquarters in Centerline, Mich., was in attendance, on the edge of their seats, rooting on their Mopar HEMI®-powered heroes.
Johnson and Beckman came oh-so-close (in Johnson’s case an agonizing six feet) but were ultimately denied their storybook endings. The Mopar-powered duo may not have wrapped up the weekend in the winner’s circle as they would have wished, but their two runner-up finishes were the final elements in what was an unforgettable weekend for Mopar.
Kicking off the festivities on Thursday, July 10 was the Mopar Big Block Party, Mopar’s much-anticipated annual bash in downtown Golden, Colo. Fans from the Mopar Nation crowded the streets and were treated to an autograph session featuring more than 13 Team Mopar drivers, including a who’s who of NHRA POWERade stars, Mopar Mile-Highs Grand Marshal Don “Big Daddy” Garlits and Honorary Starter Judy Lilly, Brian Collins and Chuck Hovey from the SCORE Desert Series, and Cindi Lux, Team Mopar’s driver on the SPEED World Challenge GT Series.
SpeedFreaks Motorsports Radio Show host Kenny Sargent emceed the event. Race Central Radio’s host Kurt Hansen talked with Team Mopar drivers during a live remote from the event on his ESPN Radio program. Chicago-based rock cover band Maggie Speaks rocked the party once again until they were interrupted by a special treat — the firing of Garlits “Swamp Rat” dragster, which was met with a loud roar of delight by fans.
When the partying was over, it was time for the Team Mopar drivers to get down to business and do what they do best—go racing. Johnson defeated Warren Johnson, fellow HEMI-powered driver Larry Morgan and Ron Krisher to set up a finals face-off with Greg Anderson, the man he beat at the NHRA Norwalk event to win the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge. Johnson posted a superb pass of 7.028/195.79 but it wasn’t enough to beat Anderson’s run of 7.024/196.39. Anderson’s margin of victory over Johnson was a mere six feet.
“I think we’re on the turnaround mode,” said an upbeat Johnson of his weekend, which saw him move to fifth in the NHRA Pro Stock standings and his J&J Racing team capture the Full Throttle Pit Crew event award and overall points lead. “We would have really liked to win this one, but we’ll take a runner-up here at our sponsor Mopar’s race and smile about it. I hope all the folks at Mopar are happy. We’ve been gaining momentum and I think we proved it today.”
“Allen is a longtime member of Team Mopar, and he has a great history here at Bandimere Speedway, Mopar’s ‘home track,’” said Sunil Lahoti, Mopar’s Senior Manager, Marketing & Strategy. “We’re very proud of Allen’s result here today. It’s a testament to the performance of Mopar parts and also Allen’s skill as a driver. When you put those two together, you’re going to have success.”
Don Schumacher Racing driver Beckman sent home HEMI-powered Monster Energy Dodge Charger R/T driver Tommy Johnson then dispatched Gary Densham and Cruz Pedregon before meeting Tim Wilkerson in the finals, where his run at taking home a second straight Mopar Mile-High Funny Car title ended. “The nice thing is it’s Mopar’s race, we put Mopar into the final in Funny Car, we’re back in the top 10, and maybe we got a little bit of steam going now,” said Beckman.
The 29th Annual Mopar Mile-Highs made drag racing history on many counts. The event was the first in NHRA history to see pro nitro drivers race to 1,000 feet instead of the usual quarter-mile. The shortening of the track was prompted after NHRA Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta’s fatal accident in Englishtown, N.J. The change was widely hailed as an appropriate safety precaution by most NHRA drivers and fans, including Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Gary Scelzi, who advanced to the quarterfinals at the Mile-Highs.
“I’m very proud to see that NHRA has taken immediate action starting at Denver,” said Scelzi, who left the Mopar Mile-Highs just 39 markers out of the top 10. “I think we should all band together and applaud the NHRA for trying to make things safer.”
Mopar also teamed with Garlits and Lilly prior to the final rounds on Sunday in a history-making launch 40 years in the making—a demonstration race featuring new Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Race Package Cars (for more details see story on page 10).
As the sun set on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway, and the last Mopar fanatics walked tiredly and contentedly from the stands to the parking lot, the countdown had already begun for next year. See you in July 2009 on Thunder Mountain, Mopar Nation!
