Race Cars in Winter? Must Be Pomona!

POMONA, CA – Racecars in Pomona California in the winter... must be Winternational time!  The 2015 racing season has begun with the first NHRA race of the season at Pomona.  With the gorgeous weather, the racers must think California is always like this (well it’s not, but don’t let our secret out).  It was an exciting weekend, and the most exciting story must be that of Alan Johnson Racing (AJR).  After Al-Anabi announced it was seizing all NHRA racing activities in 2015, Alan found himself in a predicament, how to go racing without a sponsor.  But as any good competitor, and Alan is one of the best, he never quits.  He pulled together some one-event sponsors, including Food Channel’s Guy Fieri, and showed up to Pomona with one Top Fuel dragster piloted by Shawn Langdon.  But AJR didn’t just show up, they showed up with a Knuckle Sandwich earning number 1 qualifier with an et of 3.700 sec at 328.30 mph!

  Langdon put down all of his competitors and in the final round went a 3.799 sec, 309.91 mph against Antron Brown’s 3.804 sec, 310.70 mph to take home the win.  “We had a lot going on positively with Guy Fieri here this weekend,” Langdon continued. “We had to come out here and do well and make a statement. Now we’ll take what we did here and move on to Phoenix and continue what we are doing. We are still looking for sponsorship and trying to do the best we can.”AJR has secured sponsorship for the Phoenix race in two weeks, but after that, it is uncertain.  Surly someone will pick this team up!

Erica Enders-Stevens may have won the 2014 Championship when Jason Line fouled at the winner-take-all final round at the NHRA finals in November.  To make sure Erica still knew who the competition was, Line showed that he was the man to beat in 2015 with a final round victory against Ray Skillman.  Jason went a 6.545 sec at 211.13 mph against rookie Skillman’s 6.556 sec at 211.13 mph run.  "It's great to get off to a good start," Line said. "To be honest, I didn't expect to come here and do this well. I didn't think the off-season had gone well enough for us, but apparently it has. And it feels great to win.”  Erica had some troubles earlier this weekend when she was not able to complete her first two qualifying passes due to some traction issues.  She was able to bring it together and finished third for the weekend.

Competition Eliminator went to Alan Ellis in his A/AP-Altered roadster powered with a Gray Motorsports Pro-Stock 500 cid engine.  Alan was number one qualifier with a 6.464 et putting him 0.686 under his 7.15 index.