Dirt
By Sadie Floyd
R
oy Johnson began racing in the sportsman categories all the way back in
1962 and has two Super
Stock championships to his credit
from 1976 and 1977. Now, many decades later, Roy Johnson and his son,
Allen, are staples in the Pro Stock category since their debut over twenty
years ago.
What were your initial thoughts when
NHRA announced all the new rule
changes to be implemented in 2016?
Well, the biggest change was obviously the fuel injection and I told
Allen, ‘Allen, that’s your game. I’m not
even gonna mess with it.’ Allen does
all the fuel injection and that took the
pressure off me. And now, if it doesn’t
run right, it’s on him.
How has the learning curve been with
the new fuel injection?
It has been very tough. I haven’t
tried to really learn it because I put
it all on Allen’s back and I think he’s
done a great job with picking up on
it. Not being a tuning guy, I think he’s
doing a really great job. I’m just looking over his shoulder and telling him
when he’s doing something wrong.
Thankfully, that’s not often because
seriously, he’s doing a great job.
How big was the win in Denver for
the Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing
team?
To be the one in the Dodge to break
KB Racing’s streak – that is just awesome. I can’t
believe it was us. I really can’t believe it was us. I
just thought some of the other GM cars would’ve
been the one to do it. We’re kind of the lone
Dodge; we’re kind of a stand alone team and I
just couldn’t believe luck played a big role in it.
We were there to take advantage of the luck that
came our way.
What typically are your racing duties at the races
every weekend?
I’m there to tell Allen what he should or
shouldn’t be doing and I take care of the majors
on the motor.
You’ve been making a lot of the tuning calls
on AJ’s car for his whole career, have you ever
thought about getting behind the wheel of a Pro
Stock car yourself?
Years ago I did. Surely after we started in Pro
Stock, he [AJ] wanted me to test the
car and drive it but I told him no. I’d
be like a damn drunk because if I did
it one time, I’d be wanting to do it all
the time. In the beginning, when I was
full of piss and vinegar, I would say,
‘Hell, get your ass out of there and let
me show you how to do it!’ But not
anymore. I’m too old now.
Now we’re more than halfway
through the first fuel injection season, are there any rules you’d want
to modify?
With the fuel injection, I just feel
like somebody went about it the
wrong way cause it makes it so hard.
I hate that the cars run slower than we
did in the past and then they changed
the rules and hell, I don’t know anything about fuel injection other than
it’s a young boy’s game so I don’t think
I should comment on that.
What do you say to those people that
say Pro Stock is losing its popularity?
I don’t think its losing popularity.
There’s more talk about Pro Stock
right now than there’s ever been because of fuel injection. I think if it was
to lose popularity, it’d be because a
lot of people don’t have the money
to switch over. If Marathon Petroleum wouldn’t have come along, we
wouldn’t be out there racing.
What direction do you see Pro Stock
going in the future?
If we can keep money out of it and
once we get fuel injection going, I
think the fuel injection overall in the
long run will lower the cost of it because we’re
not tearing up motors now that we’ve learned. We
probably went through $500,000 worth of stuff
learning but once we learned fuel injection, it’s
easier on the motor. Pro Stock is no longer an old
man’s game and now it’s up to the young kids. If
we have enough young kids coming to race Pro
Stock, they’ll carry the class along if they have
enough money.
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46 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 112
PHOTO: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Talking EFI with Roy Johnson