Drag Illustrated Issue 113, September 2016 | Page 42
HOGAN & JOHNSON
things that we seem to pay attention to and the
Torrences have been really good at understanding the amount of money it takes to stay in that
narrow. Everybody has really, really nice stuff,
but we try to keep ours so basically everything is
brand new. We do things a little bit different and
because it’s a one-car team and we’re not competing in the shop with other teams over who gets
what; we set our own level in that department.
relative with the disc he’s using versus the disc
we have,” Hogan said. “Even if I see something
there that I like that they’re doing, it may not
work with our car just because of the disc package.
The tune-up, we’re really close to the same. Our
fuel curves are real close to the same. We’ve just
refined that between the two cars, but sometimes
it’s hard to trade data because of the difference
in clutch discs.”
Regardless, there are not any secrets one way
or another, which may be the best way for Hogan
I think that makes it easier for me to keep the
engine power level up to where it needs to be to
run (well) these days.”
That’s not to say Hogan doesn’t use information from Force’s dragster to help with Torrence’s
performance. There are obvious differences in
the two cars, whether it is the chassis or Force
running with a canopy, but at the very worst it’s
a way for Hogan and Johnson to bounce ideas
back and forth. Having different approaches has
benefitted both as well, even if Hogan has to go
in an entirely different direction at times.
“When it comes to the clutch area, we kind of
have to just do our thing there. I can get some
data from them in that department, but it’s only
to know that things have worked out almost perfectly, perhaps much to the dismay of the naysayers. In fact, it might be working out better than
even Hogan could have expected, bringing out
the best of him in the process.
“Because of (Johnson’s) resources, as far as his
skills, parts building and things like that, I can
tell him what I think I need and he can come up
with his version of it,” Hogan said. “He has the
education and the smarts to build anything we
need, or I can go to him and question, ‘If I change
this, what are the results going to be?’ especially
when it comes to some of the clutch parts and
pieces. That, for sure, is an advantage for me.”
What is at the very least a unique situation
has worked almost seamlessly for Hogan and
Torrence since Johnson’s expertise was added to
the mix late last y ear. Torrence went to five final
rounds, winning twice, and sat third in points
heading to Indy, despite also missing a race due
to a mid-season health issue.
“Both Richard and Alan have been able to feed
off of each other. Alan is a more swing-for-thefence type of guy, while Richard goes down the
track every lap on a hot race track. Combining the
two ends of the spectrum has been good for all
of us,” he said. “We’ve
been able to run well
when the conditions
weren’t great and now
we’re the national record-holder (running
3.671 in Sonoma). It’s
completely a product
of these two guys being an open book to
each other.”
Hogan has had no
problems with adjustments, rolling with
the punches throughout his successful career. He worked with
the likes of Don Garlits, Kenny Bernstein,
and Don Prudhomme
before joining Johnson’s team and also
spent time with Morgan Lucas and John
Force Racing before
joining Torrence’s team. But even those times
have had their ups and downs, as evidenced by
Torrence letting his friend go early in the 2013
season. That storm has since been weathered,
though, with Hogan returning a year later.
This time around, Torrence said he always
remained confident the pairing of Hogan with
Johnson would pay off for everyone involved.
“One thing Alan has done is instill confidence
in Richard,” Torrence said. “It’s been great for us
and I couldn’t be more proud to be in the car.
We’ve assembled a group of guys I would rival
against any team. It’s been a fun journey to get
here. That’s my friend, Richard Hogan, and he’s
putting me here.”
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Issue 113
PHOTOS: MARK J. REBILAS
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