February 27th 2010

The Phoenix race was a challenge. It was one of the most trying weekends that I’ve spent as a racer for a lot of reasons, but mainly because of the tragic accident.

I won first round and then eliminations were postponed. NHRA did everything it could do to make that lane better. Actually, they gave us the option, after it turned out they couldn’t make it better, to go to Gainesville and finish the Phoenix race during Gainesville qualifying. It says a lot about the NHRA as far as looking over us for safety.

Vinnie has his car from last year, the Stratus. He’ll have that out at Bradenton before the Gainesville race, with my dad Roy supplying his HEMI® engines. We’re going to test a couple three days. His Stratus should be just like it was last year. It’s a good car, maybe not as good as the Avenger, but it’ll do for three or four races.

Gainesville should basically be like the K&N Horsepower Challenge deal. It should be exactly the same format, a sort of race-within-a-race. We won the K&N a couple of years ago, so maybe it will play right into our hands. It would be huge if we could win both the Phoenix event and the Gatornationals in one weekend! With our experienced team, our new Mopar Dodge Avenger and all the help and assistance we are getting from Mopar—hey, it could be ours.

The Mopar Dodge Avenger has just been awesome in its first two races. After seeing all the efforts of the Mopar and Dodge engineers in the wind tunnel, and seeing how much better the Avenger was, we thought for sure that it would be quite a bit better on the track than the Stratus. Now, have we got the full optimum output out of it? No, we have not—it’s still got a little bit left. It’s not performing at the 60-ft. mark as well as our old car did. We were always No. 1 or No. 2 in 60-ft., and now we’re down to No. 5 or No. 6 in the new car. If we can get it up there to the top at the 60-ft and 330-ft. mark, I think you’ll see it show off even more.

As far as a social life, I pretty much don’t have any plans between now and the Gatornationals. I might go into Bradenton early before testing and play some golf with the guys down there. After two straight weeks of flying back and forth on the West Coast, and testing the week before that in Vegas, I need a weekend or so of R&R just to get my feet back on the ground.

February 20th 2010

Prior to the NHRA Winternationals, we went out to Vegas for the Pro Stock Showdown. The weather was unusually cool and the track was cold. It wasn’t a very good test for us. We had one day we could run, then on Monday it was too cold and then on Tuesday we made one run and it started raining. It was pretty much a disaster, but it did give me and my J&J Racing team some warm-up time.

Now, the craps table was anything but a disaster. I played every dang night ’til the wee hours of the morning and left with a bunch of the casino’s dollars. I was there by myself in Vegas, so my wife Pam didn’t get any shopping money out of all my winnings!

I headed to Pomona, and my dad and mom, the engine guys, Brian and Matt, and Pam flew in on Wednesday. Pam then took some of my winnings and went shopping, so I didn’t get out of it totally. It was Valentine’s Day weekend, so I had to give her a shopping spree. She bought several tops, including one that said, “I Love Johnson,” and a pair or two of shoes. She bought me some really nice cologne and a nice card. It was our thirteenth Valentine’s Day together.

The weather at the Winternationals was like night and day compared to last year. We sat there for about four days last year and didn’t even make a qualifying pass. This year it was awesome, sunny and warm, with a great crowd. Hopefully NHRA made a lot of money so they can give it back to us in the form of pay raises! We had a driver’s meeting near the Golden Corral the NHRA hosted at Auto Club Dragway to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Winternationals, and I stopped by to check out the historic cars. I spent a few minutes eyeballing those old race cars. It was packed over there, with a ton of fans crowding the area.

I made the semis in the race debut of my new Mopar Dodge Avenger. We were tickled to death. We made three good runs. We even made a decent run in that right lane at Pomona, which gives everyone fits. I felt like my driving was decent all day. I think we reached all of our goals in the new car’s debut—short of winning the race.

Pam and I flew out early Monday, with a 6:45 a.m. flight back to Tennessee. It sort of forces you back on East Coast time, which was good. The boys are thrashing right now on a new engine combination to get together in time for Phoenix. We’ll fly it out there if we finish it, but I don’t know if they’re going to make it or not. I stopped by the shop earlier today to check on it. I’ll have a day of rest, then fly to Arizona to see if I can’t get my second win at Firebird International Raceway and eighth career win overall.

January 23rd 2010

I’m at the airport as I type this, having a cocktail, waiting to head home after four long days of testing at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. Pam and I actually got into town on Saturday and stayed with some friends, played some golf and just chilled out. Then we began testing on Monday. Vinnie Deceglie and his team owner Nick Mitsos were down here as well, so we tested both cars all week. Vinnie’s going to run with Mopar® HEMI® engines supplied by my dad Roy in 2010.

We tested our new NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger through Thursday, and I think I got in about 19 runs total, so we definitely got in some work. We’ve made quite a bit more progress since the last test sessions at Bradenton and Palm Beach International Raceway. The Mopar Dodge Avenger ran real good the last couple of days. I felt we were pretty close to where we need to be; we went 6.54 seconds at 210.70 mph for our best run of the four days. We tried quite a few different things, and I think we’ve got the car sorted out pretty well.

The J&J Racing crew and I will recharge our batteries now until the Pro Stock Showdown in Vegas. Dad’s got some HEMI engines he needs to work on and freshen up between now and then. He’s still on a high after I gave him that Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar as a Christmas gift. He’s talked with Gary Stanton on getting the engine for it, and he’s hoping to get out to Gary’s shop after our swing out West to open the NHRA season. So he’ll have that to look forward to in a month or so.

I was actually thinking about bypassing the Pro Stock Showdown and instead just going out to test Monday and Tuesday before Pomona, but the crew talked me into it and said it’s like our preseason game. We won the Showdown last year so we’ll head back and try to have a little fun, hopefully win it again and get in the groove before the season starts. I can’t wait to race, especially with all the news coming out.

I just saw the announcement about four-lane racing at Charlotte in March. It’s definitely a unique approach that should generate a ton of publicity. It may be good for the sport—I guess you just have to try it. I think the jury is still out as of now, but I’m sure it will be exciting. It’s just another interesting thing we can look forward to during the upcoming season.

January 13th 2010

The holidays are over, and I have to say mine were very relaxing and peaceful. My daughter Kimmie and her son came into town from Hawaii and we celebrated Christmas at my house on Dec. 22 along with my daughter Heather and her two sons. Kimmie had to return to Hawaii so we had to celebrate it early. I gave my three grandsons their presents from my wife Pam and I early on Tuesday morning—three dirt bikes! I’ve got a farm of 40 acres around my house and I have my own dirt bike, so I spent all day until dark teaching them how to ride dirt bikes and picking them up off the ground! We had fun all day and the boys loved their gifts.

We all went to dinner that night and then returned to my house and celebrated our Christmas together. Of course, we always visit with Pam’s family on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas morning my entire family goes to my parents’ house. It’s a tradition. My mom fixes a huge breakfast with homemade sausage, country ham and biscuits and gravy. Actually, Pam’s mom, dad and brother came to my mom’s as well. They used to go to Pam’s grandparents’ house on Christmas, but both her grandma and grandpa passed away last year, so they came to our celebration. It was nice to welcome them in and help fill that void by doing something different. All went well and we all had a great Christmas.

I threw a big party on New Year’s Eve, at the same place Pam held my surprise birthday party this year, the General Morgan Inn & Conference Center in Greeneville. We had a band in from Charlotte and stayed right at the hotel. Then the next day was consumed with planning how to surprise my dad with the new Dodge Challenger Drag by Mopar vehicle I was giving to him.

I got the car in October and B&B Racecars finished it in two months time so I could surprise dad with it. I had the guys delivering it wait out on the interstate near our house until I knew mom had dad out of the house. Once he left, we unloaded the car into our race shop. We had about 20 people, friends of my dad and folks who he used to race with, who were going to be there when I gave him the Drag Pak. Pam shuttled them all from our house a few miles away to the shop, so dad wouldn’t notice the cars.

I was on the phone once or twice with mom. She would sneak off and call and ask, “Are you ready for me to bring him back yet?” When they came back all my dad saw was my car in the shop driveway. They pulled up and I called for him to come into the shop and check out what I had rigged up on the practice tree I use to improve my time off the starting line. He walked in the door and it took him about 30 seconds to even notice there was a crowd in the shop. It was a total surprise. He had no clue. He was absolutely thrilled by his new Mopar Drag Pak. He called Gary Stanton that night and was like, “Where the hell is my motor?”

After all the holiday excitement, now we’re just doing the small things needed to get ready for the upcoming season. The crew is sprucing up the trailer, stocking it up and preparing for the long season. We have a test session planned for Bradenton in a few weeks and then after a quick return trip home we’ll go to Vegas for the Pro Stock Showdown. Then it’ll be time to visit Pomona, Calif., and get our season started at the NHRA Winternationals.

October 1st 2009

It’s hard to believe we’re in the homestretch of the season, with the Countdown to 1 playoffs in full swing. Heading into the first Countdown event at Charlotte, I took part in the B.R.A.K.E.S. dinner on Thursday prior to the race, where I spoke a little bit about the organization. It’s a very important cause for me, helping to promote safe driving by teenagers. During the dinner/auction I sat next to Anna Lisa Smith, the daughter of Bruton Smith, owner of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Anna was in a severe car accident herself last year.

The auction included a puppy to bid on. She bid around $1,500 and then someone went to $1,600. I heard Anna Lisa tell her friend she really wanted that dog. The bid was at $1,600, and the auctioneer called out, “Going once, going twice …” I stood up and said, “$10,000!” The whole crowd went crazy. I got the puppy, walked over and gave it to Anna Lisa. She was tickled, to say the least. I bid $10,000 on an item last year as well. I do it to help out B.R.A.K.E.S. It’s a great cause and it saves a lot of lives.

Charlotte was a great race; we put our Mopar®/J&J Racing Dodge in the semis and got off to a great start in the Countdown. I feel like I’m really driving well again. I’ve been working hard on the simulator, trying to get better off the tree. I think it’s starting to pay off.

It’s been a whirlwind since Charlotte. We stayed over and tested the Monday after the race, then the next day I went to Rick Jones’ shop to get fitted for a new car. I got back that night at 7:30 p.m., then flew out the next morning for the Dallas race. I played in the Greg Morris Memorial golf tournament in Dallas. Greg worked at Texas Motorplex before he passed away from brain cancer. His little daughter Heather also lost her mother in a traffic accident, so the event helps raise money for her college expenses later in life. Top Fuel driver Shaun Langdon and several sportsman racers also took part in the event. It’s another great and worthwhile cause.

I thought I drove well at Dallas, but we just had some bad luck. We experienced some mechanical issues that got us behind the eight ball. But in the last round of qualifying and the first round of eliminations we had the second-quickest car of the field. We were happy with that, despite losing a close race to Greg [Anderson] in the quarterfinals by only one inch!

I got home from Dallas and only had time to uncover my desk full of papers, then I left today for Memphis and the race this weekend. We have to get on our game at Memphis right out of the gate during qualifying, get some of those extra bonus points, and try to catch up to Mike [Edwards]. We have to find a little bit better performance on the track. If I can be within a hundredth of a second or two of him, we have a chance to win if I can outdrive him. We’ll see how it plays out this weekend!

September 16th 2009

Well, the Countdown to 1 playoffs are ready to start, and thankfully we made the cut and are in the hunt to bring home an NHRA Pro Stock championship for the Mopar®/J&J Racing team.

Heading into the first playoff race at Charlotte, the NHRA Carolinas Nationals, it’s been a little hectic, especially having the huge Indy race a few weeks ago. We tested in St. Louis before heading out there to O’Reilly Raceway Park. I was supposed to play in a golf tournament for Morgan Lucas on Thursday the week of the race, but we stayed an extra day and tested in St. Louis because we weren’t satisfied with the set up, so that nixed the golfing.

My wife Pam wasn’t able to get to Indy until Saturday due to some work obligations, so she missed Friday’s qualifying for the U.S. Nationals. We were able to visit with Justin Humphreys and his wife and Dave Connolly and his girlfriend during the week. They’re close friends of ours who we spend a lot of time with, and Pam hadn’t had the chance to see them for awhile, so it was nice to have the chance to catch up.

Indy, the U.S. Nationals—it’s just awesome. It’s a long weekend, and you’re absolutely worn out when it’s done, but it’s fun. I love watching the Darts and Barracudas run against each other in the Mopar HEMI® Challenge. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year. I raced sportsman cars back in the day, just like my dad, so I have a special place in my heart for them.

We had a hiccup in the race at Indy and exited in the first round, but we just got right back to work. After our loss at Indy we drove home to Greeneville, Tenn., and spent less than a day there before we headed out for Charlotte to test for the NHRA Carolinas Nationals.

I had to break away to attend a Tennessee Oil Marketer’s conference in Hilton Head, trying to stay on top of happenings in the industry in my other role as owner of a chain of gas stations. I’m flying out to Charlotte today, and then tomorrow I’m attending a dinner to support B.R.A.K.E.S., the organization founded by Doug Herbert to promote safe driving by teenagers. Doug founded B.R.A.K.E.S. in honor of his two young sons, Jon and James, who were killed in a car accident. I’m proud to help out in anyway I can to support Doug and his organization.

Come Friday we’ll do our best to qualify high at Charlotte and take advantage of the new point system just instituted by the NHRA that gives points to the car with the lowest E.T. of each qualifying session. We’re in the home stretch now. Six races to go with the title in sight!

July 31st 2009

After my win at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver on July 12, the Mopar/J&J Racing team moved on to the last two of three events on the NHRA’s Western Swing, at Seattle and Sonoma. My wife Pam always enjoys going to downtown Seattle with all the girls and going to the Space Needle and shopping a bit. Saturday night we always enjoy going over to Don Schumacher’s spread at the track and having crab legs and seafood. Don came over and invited us to that, and the whole team went. He has a big party in the hospitality area of his pits, with fresh seafood, each year at Seattle.

Pam and I flew to San Fran for the Sonoma event with my mom and dad. The team went their own separate ways and did their own thing. Pam and I stayed at the Huntington Hotel in downtown San Francisco. They have a really good spa there. We did all the spa stuff for two days, worked out, and walked down to Union Square for some shopping. Every night we were there we ate at a really good restaurant. We ate at the House of Prime Rib, Sinbad’s, Bob’s Steak and Chop House and, of course, at Scoma’s, on Fisherman’s Warf. We met the team at Scoma’s on Thursday night and had a big seafood blast there before heading up to Sonoma for the race.

As for the races at Seattle and Sonoma, we had a boo-boo in the semifinals at Seattle and shook the tires. That’s one of the things we’ve got to get rid of. We did it at Norwalk also. Hopefully, we’re learning from our mistakes, but we should have been in position to win at Seattle. So I wasn’t very happy about that.

In Sonoma we took what I call the “A” combination I ran at Seattle and put it in my partner Johnny Gray’s Mopar Dodge. We pretty much put the “B” combination in my car, and we still qualified third and did okay, but that “B” combination is not totally perfected yet or I think we could have qualified No. 1 and beat Jeggy [Coughlin] in the second round. Johnny actually had trouble with the “A” combination in his first run, so we had to take it out and put in the “C” combination in his car. But he still qualified seventh and won a round, and gained a round on Warren [Johnson], as he tries to make the top 10 in points and qualify along with me for the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoffs.

We have a nice little break now before we head to Brainerd on Aug. 14–16. Pam and I will probably go to the lake house we own about 40 miles from our home in Greeneville, Tenn. We’ll do a little R&R—some boating, water skiing and hang out there at least one weekend while we’re off. We’ll spend some time at home, maybe ride some motorcycles and play a little golf for a week. Then it’s back to the races as I try to get my third win of the year in my Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge!

July 14th 2009

I went into Denver early on Tuesday, July 7, so I could be at Morton’s Steakhouse in downtown Denver for the NHRA press conference prior to the Mopar® Mile-High Nationals. Wednesday morning I met up with my fellow Mopar Pro Stocker, V. Gaines, and toured his rod and crankshaft shop which was exciting. I was in awe of what he had going on. It was very impressive.

Then I went to the press conference, along with Morgan Lucas and Tim Wilkerson. I was interviewed by Sara Geiger, the seven-year-old daughter of Rob Geiger, who covers the NHRA on his Web site, www.go2geiger.com. I was one of the first drivers there, and Rob introduced me to her. She’s going to follow in her father’s footsteps as a reporter. I sat down with Sara for about 15 minutes and gave her a lot of attention and time. She took like three pages of notes on the questions she asked and a few days later Rob sent me the story she had typed up herself on the computer with very little help. It was very, very impressive and I think she’s well on her way to becoming a member of the media!

My daughter Kimmie flew in from Hawaii for the race, which was nice, as I only get to see her a few times a year. My grandson, Andrew, was with her. So that made the Mopar Mile-High weekend, which is always a huge event for me, even more special.

On Thursday I took part in the Mopar Big Block Party in downtown Golden, Colo. Having all the Mopar execs and Mopar employees there is just an awesome deal, to be able to share time with them at the Block Party and talk about plans and about ways to further our program. We did a “Mopar Squares” game show on the Mopar stage, where I was asked questions and fans could either agree or disagree with my answers, and if they guessed correct they won a Mopar freebie. I had a lot of fans come up to me during the Mopar autograph signing and say how cool that was. It was fun, and stuff like that is good for me because it helps to break up the intensity of the weekend. The party was as good and as big as ever. Thanks to Jim Sassorossi, Stephanie, Andrea, Janna and everyone from Mopar who was there, because the event was awesome.

We did great in Mopar Mile-High qualifying, holding the No. 1 spot and also the Bandimere Speedway track record briefly. We planned all that and tested hard the week before the event, and to go out there and show it in the first two qualifying runs the way we did was just awesome. Friday night, when I saw Greg [Anderson] run the first six second run at Bandimere right before us, it disappointed me a bit not to be the first one to do it, because I knew we could. But like I said, I don’t think it’s the first that matters much, it’s the best run of all, and we went and kicked him right between the you-know-what, claiming the track record right after his run. The next day Mike [Edwards] went out and upped us one to take the No. 1 spot, so we knew we had some work to do.

Come race day I went into the first round a little nervous for a couple of reasons. First of all, I knew we had the car to beat, I knew we had the plan and I knew everything was there, I just needed to do my job well. And I had Danny [Gruninger] in the first round, who is a newcomer. Not to take anything away from him, but I knew I had a big cushion. It was creeping into my mind, you know, “You don’t need to red light. You don’t need to do this, you don’t need to do that.” Anytime you start to think too much, you’re going to mess up. So it was hard for me to get my focus to go up there and just do a good job. But once I got that behind me I was okay.

It was a little bit of a downer to have to race my partner, Johnny Gray, in the second round, because I know he’s having to go rounds right now, and I’m wanting him to go rounds right now, to get in the Countdown. In the back of my mind I was thinking, “Man, he needs to be the one to go on and win this thing and get some points.” It’s just a hard position for me. Then going to the semis against Rickie Jones, I’m thinking, “Darn, I’ve raced a Mopar Dodge three rounds in a row! Mopar’s going to get mad at me for beating all the Dodges.” But I got over that real quick.

In the finals I was really up for it. I owed Jason [Line] one from Gainesville, where he beat me on a holeshot in the finals. I went up there and was very calm and did my job and we pulled it out—on a holeshot, at that. From there it was great going to winner’s circle and enjoying it with the Mopar and Chrysler Group LLC execs, Jim Sassorossi and Byron Kearney. It was just an all-around awesome weekend, giving Mopar a win at their biggest event!

June 19th 2009

It’s been a while since I blogged last, but mostly I’ve just been working hard at the track. We had a little break around Memorial Day weekend. My wife Pam and I went down to Justin Humphries’ parent's place, who bought a new house near Sanibel Island in Florida. We went down and hung out with Humphries, and Dave Connolly and Jenny came along. I got in a few rounds of golf out there, which my game really needed!

After that, basically, I’ve been racing and working. We had three races in a row at Topeka, Joliet and Englishtown, so we’ve really been at it. Of course, Topeka was awesome. I got the monkey off my back and got my first win since 2007 at the Mopar Mile-Highs. I had a great celebration with my Mopar/J&J Racing team, but unfortunately my mom and Pam weren’t there, so it was a little tame. We were able to sleep in on Monday because we were only driving over to St. Louis to test, so we had an extra day of rest to recuperate from the partying!

Since then we should have had one more win. We’re still working on the bugaboos and I think it’s all going to come together right before the Countdown playoffs start after the U.S. Nationals. We’re heading to Norwalk next week, where I won the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge last year, and then on to Mopar’s big race, the Mopar Mile-High Nationals, in early July. I’ve done well at the Mile-Highs in Denver in the past, so I’m really looking forward to heading out there again and seeing all the folks from Mopar who we’ve got to know over the years.

April 23rd 2009

At the NHRA Vegas race we did a bowling gig before the event with the U.S. Bowling Congress. It was a blast. There were a lot of drivers that took part and we were all a little rusty, but we did pretty well, those of us that hadn’t bowled in years. The USBC was really good to us and treated us like professionals. They gave us a free ball, custom-fitted, with a bag and equipment. It was awesome. It’s going to make me carry my ball along on the road and do a lot more bowling.

The Vegas race itself wasn’t the greatest, as I lost to Rickie Jones in the first round. The weekend wasn’t all bad, though. Later on Sunday night my wife Pam and I got to go to the Country Music Awards show, and had real good seats up front. The show was at the MGM, where Pam and I always stay, and the people who run the hotel really took care of us. We even went to an after-party on Sunday and then stayed over on Monday night for a tribute to George Strait for being named entertainer of the decade. We were right up against the stage for that also. We got to meet almost everybody in country music. Garth, Faith—everybody you can name, all the stars, we got to be right up close with them. We really enjoyed all that, because Pam and I are big country music fans.

After that we went home and regrouped before we went to Charlotte and tested. We spent two days there and felt like we made quite a bit of progress, but we didn’t really show it when we went to Atlanta. Johnny Gray’s car was running really good, though, but he had some unfortunate luck there in the first round, hitting a wet spot on the track and getting loose. Overall, his car was running a lot better at Atlanta, which was encouraging.

Right before the Atlanta race Pam’s mother, Betty Bird, had both knees replaced. That took Pam away to take care of her mom so she didn’t get to come to Atlanta. Betty’s doing all right, though, and she’ll be able to come out of the hospital this weekend. We’re all happy about that and we wish here a speedy recovery.

After our quarterfinals appearance at Atlanta, we’re off to St. Louis next weekend. It’s my 300th race, so it’s going to be a little bit of a milestone weekend. I can’t believe I’ve been out racing NHRA Pro Stock that long. I feel like we can keep going, though, and make it to the 500-race mark.

I’m heading for a workout today, making sure I keep myself up physically for racing. It’s important to be strong behind the wheel, and also it helps mentally. I spend a lot of cardio minutes sweating, and the whole time I’m doing that I’m really just going through my head with runs, and leaving the starting line. I’m still not where I want to be, but I have to keep working at it and I’ll get there.

April 2nd 2009

We went to the NHRA Houston event last weekend, and any time we’re in Houston, we’ve got to eat crawfish. We’ve got a friend there, Kenny Anthony, who always takes the team to a great crawfish restaurant. Other than that, really all I did was go to the racetrack and race!

On Saturday morning at Houston we had a clutch malfunction and blew the clutch out, and I had to lift and didn’t get down the track. It was the best conditions ever for Pro Stock runs, and I didn’t get to make a full pass! That hurt me during qualifying, so I didn’t have lane choice during eliminations and lost in the first round. We don’t want to stumble at all, but if you’re going to stumble, now would be the time, early in the season. Now is the time to test things and get your A game in place down the stretch. But the mission for our Mopar®/J&J Racing team is always to win races, so if I go out and don’t win the race I’m disappointed.

We stayed over Monday and Tuesday, Johnny Gray’s team and mine, and tested at Houston. We didn’t really try to break the national record or anything like that. We were just going through about eight or ten parts we wanted to test. It was more an informational test than trying to fix something.

I’m in Vegas now. We’ve gotten to know the management at the MGM Grand. It’s the only place we’ve stayed for about the last 6 to 8 years. We always get a nice celebrity spa suite. And I love to play craps. That’s my game. I played last night for a few hours, and I’m up!

I’m getting ready to head to the NHRA bowling event at the Cashman Center right now. The event is being hosted by the U.S. Bowling Congress, and I’m on a team with other Pro Stock competitors. We’re taking on Funny Car and Top Fuel teams. I was a Tennessee state junior bowling champion, but I haven’t bowled much at all in the last few years. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself!

We’re looking for a rebound this weekend at Vegas. I reached the semis at the fall race last year here, and I’ve got a pretty good track record overall. I love the track, I love the facility, and I’m going to be disappointed if we don’t win.

March 19th 2009

My wife Pam traveled with me down to Valdosta where we did some testing right before the Gatornationals. We made like a little mini-vacation out of it. On the testing side, we concentrated more on Johnny Gray’s car than we did on mine. I think we proved that our hard work on Johnny’s car paid off. He qualified in the top half of the field for the first time this year at Gainesville, and in the process we learned some things on my car. My Mopar®/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T seemed to be more consistent, where Johnny’s car stepped it up a little. Combined we both made 36 runs between the two cars at Valdosta, so we worked our butts off. We tested a bunch of parts and some off the wall stuff to make our cars better.

We headed to Gainesville and attended Don Garlits’ Hall of Fame dinner, and had a great time. Gainesville is a place that we always love to go to. That dang race is always just great. I love it—the sunshine, people walking around in shorts. It’s a race that really gets your blood pumping. It’s one of my favorites. It was also my mom Revonda’s birthday on Sunday at the race, and two of my crew guys, Brian Voeck and Matt Hensley, also had birthdays the week of Gainesville. So we ate a lot of birthday cake down there!

It was also the first race out for the Mopar folks, with people we’ve known for awhile from Mopar, like Andrea Dicola and Stephanie Rooks, and also Jim Sassorossi, the new Director of Global Parts Sales & Marketing at Mopar. I got a real big kick out of showing Jim all of the hands-on stuff, like the graphs and how we read them, and why we do tire pressures a certain way based on the track conditions. He really understands the hands-on stuff and it was a pleasure watching him absorb all that data. It was like he just wanted to jump right in there and get a wrench and start working!

The race itself was awesome. I reached my 350th round of racing at the event. I still can’t believe I’ve been around that long. It actually made me feel old to think I’ve already been to all those rounds. Every milestone my dad Roy and I reach together is special to me. To be able to do all this with my family, through our J&J Racing team, with my wife, mom and dad along for the ride, it’s great. Even some of my crew guys have been with me eight or nine years. It’s like we’re all a big family.

We went all the way to the finals and lost a close one to Jason Line at the Gatornationals. The weekend at Gainesville moved us up to second in points, so of course I was very happy with the weekend. Now we’ll try to do even better at the next race in Houston!

January 21st 2009

The New Year has arrived and I’m ready to get the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock season started. We’ve been testing the Mopar®/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T this week at the drag strip in West Palm Beach, Fla., working with Johnny Gray’s team to make sure both crews jell correctly beginning at the first event in Pomona. With our new two-team set up Johnny and I will be sharing data, so it’s important we have both cars set up as close to identical as possible. It’s also critical both teams develop a good rapport with one another so we can work together smoothly come race day.

Right before we left for West Palm we had a big shindig for my parents on Jan. 17 in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. Half a century together is an awesome accomplishment, especially in this day and age. My dad, Roy, also provides the HEMI® engines for our team, so he didn’t have much time to enjoy the party. We had to head out later that same night for the trip to West Palm.

Having a week-long series of tests gives us a great opportunity to really concentrate on different aspects of the car each day. First we concentrated on dialing in the chassis, then after that we’ll spend a few days testing some new Mopar HEMI engines that dad wants to put through their paces.

After a brief trip home to the shop in Greeneville, Tenn. for any needed repairs and equipment, I’ll head with the team to Las Vegas for the Pro Stock Superbowl, which is scheduled to take place on Jan. 30–31. We’ll stay over at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for another couple of days of final testing then we’ll be off to Pomona for the season-opening NHRA Winternationals on Feb. 5–8.

That first event is always fun, to get back in race mode and gear up for the long road ahead—24 NHRA national events. It’s a grind, but I love it. I really want to set a good tone at Pomona to jump start our season all the way to the Pro Stock title. That’s the ultimate goal, of course, and we’re going to do everything to make it happen.

December 18th 2008

I went and tested with Johnny Gray in early December at the West Palm Beach drag strip prior to the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando. Johnny is partnering up with our J&J Racing team next year. The West Palm facility is just awesome. They just redid it, and I heard they spent $30 million on the project. It looks it! The weather in West Palm was great and the area down there is really upscale. Just a really, really nice place to test.

We had three really good days of testing with my team and Johnny’s team, and then Johnny stayed an additional day because he wasn’t quite satisfied with his car, although he did make a lot of progress with it. The test sessions gave the two crews, and also my new co-crew chief, Jeff Perley, who will work with Mark Ingersoll, a really good chance to jell and get everyone’s personalities in sync with one another. Johnny and I spent a lot of time together; we ate breakfast and dinner together almost every day and talked about the upcoming year, our plans and our goals. He and I jelled perfectly just like our crew guys did. I think it was a great initial trial run of the new two-team set up. We got a lot accomplished and we were really tickled with how it went. I’m really excited about next year.

From there, we all drove to Orlando for the PRI show. We spent a few days shaking the hands of the vendors who give us stuff—and asking them for more! We checked out the new racing technology available, and there’s a lot of it out there. We met a lot of new faces that we liked that Jeff brought to the table. Mark and Jeff spent two full days there just going around visiting. There’s a lot of new stuff on the horizon.

I spent a lot of time with the folks from Mopar®, my primary sponsor, and it’s always good to catch up with them. I’ve been a part of the Mopar family for so long and I’m glad to be back next year. I took part in a signing near the Mopar display with Mopar driver Samuel Hübinette and also Don Garlits, and of course talked with SpeedFreaks on the Mopar Stage, discussing my partnership with Johnny for 2009 and also the challenges the automotive industry is facing right now.

My wife Pam and I met a couple that had moved from my hometown of Greeneville, Tenn. to the Orlando area for dinner one night during the show. They were old friends so it was really good to see them. We went out with the Mopar folks for dinner one night and hung out a bit. I didn’t do a whole lot, since I was only in Orlando for two nights. I left PRI on a Friday and flew to Maryland with Justin Humphreys and his dad, Walter. Walter didn’t know it, but we were going for a surprise 60th birthday party for him! My excuse was that I was going up to watch a Baltimore Ravens game on Sunday. We pulled it off pretty good and gave him a good surprise!

Now we’re getting ready for Christmas here in Greeneville. I’ll have my two daughters in, and we’ll go to my Mom and Dad’s for breakfast on Christmas Day. It’s kind of a tradition to get up early and go over there. My mom makes ham, sausage, gravy, everything you can think of. It’s a feast for about 30-40 people. Then we start running around to other houses, my wife’s family and other relatives.

We’ll go back to Orlando for New Year’s Eve, and spend it with Dave Connolly and his girlfriend at a resort. We’ll stay a few days, and then it’s time to get ready for testing in early January.

To everyone out there and to all the people in the Mopar Nation, Happy Holidays!

December 4th 2008

Looking back on 2008, I think we had a good season overall. I was a little disappointed that towards the end of the year we didn’t win a couple of races after we got the car working a little better. I guess my feeling is a little disappointment at the season’s end, but really revved up about the prospects of testing and getting ready for the next season, because I feel like we used up all of our bad luck or bad karma, and something good has to start happening.

The highlights of my season were definitely the K&N Horsepower Challenge win at the NHRA event in Norwalk, Ohio, where I took home the $50,000 winner’s check, and the runner-up spot at the Mopar® Mile-High Nationals in Denver was pretty special. That was the second year in a row I put my Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T in the finals at the Mile-Highs, which is probably the biggest event of the year for Mopar, my primary sponsor, so that was huge.

I’ve made the Countdown to 1 now in the first two years since the NHRA playoffs were formed, so that’s something I’m proud of. I think I struggled a bit this year as a driver, but I feel like toward the end of the year I got back in my groove, and I look forward to coming out next year in that same groove and having a little more luck.

Once the season ended, it’s a little bit of a shock to have down time. Taking the whole crew, the engine guys and everybody from my team to the NHRA banquet every year is definitely a fun time and gives everybody a few days of R&R. We also had time to visit with some of our suppliers. My dad Roy, who builds my engines, and some of the guys went out to one of the piston companies and watched some pistons being made and went to a couple of vendors that supply parts for us. We won’t just be sitting around until the 2009 season begins in February at Pomona. We’re leaving on Sunday to go testing in West Palm Beach for three days with Johnny Gray’s team, who is partnering with our J&J Racing team in 2009.

We also made another hire we’re excited about. We brought aboard Jeff Perley, who worked as co-crew chief for the KB team the first three years they won world championships. We hired him to serve as co-crew chief with Mark Ingersoll on my car and act as a consultant, along with Mark, to Johnny and Vinnie Deceglie’s teams. All three of us will run Mopar HEMI engines supplied by J&J Racing. It’s just another set of eyes and ears that we need with all three of these cars that were going to be running next year. I think it will pay big dividends. I feel confident for next year. I think our Mopar HEMI engines are solid and the team has already found a little more horsepower. I’m more excited about the coming season than I’ve ever been.

After testing at West Palm, I’m heading to the PRI show in Orlando, where I’ll be making some appearances at the Mopar display at the event. Pam and I will just hang around home with family in Greeneville, Tenn. for Christmas, and then maybe get together with Dave Connolly and his girlfriend for New Years Eve somewhere. Pam and I also might take a skiing trip in mid-January somewhere out West, then we’ll head to Vegas for pre-testing and then on to Pomona!