NHRA season ends with two Mopar championships

The 2012 season for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series came to an end this past weekend and in dominating fashion, Mopar teams
claimed both of the branded drag racing classes (as opposed to the Top Fuel
class which doesn’t have Dodge, Toyota, Ford, etc).

In the Pro Stock category, Allen Johnson claimed the 2012
championship in the best way possible – by winning the final event of the
season against fellow Mopar racer  Vincent
Nobile to concrete his already-solid lead in the championship points.  Johnson ended up winning the 2012 Pro Stock
category by 185 points over GM driver Jason Line.  Other Mopar drivers in the top 10 for Pro
Stock standings include Vincent Nobile (3^rd), V. Gaines (7^th)
and Jeg Coughlin Jr (9^th). 
This marks Allen Johnson’s first NHRA championship as well as the first
for the new Dodge Avenger pro stock race car.

Over in the Funny Car class, the 2012 NHRA season came down
to a shootout between Mopar drivers Ron Capps and Jack Beckman.  The two drivers entered the final event of
the 2012 season with just two points separating them in the shootout for the
title so all Ron Capps had to do was finish a couple spots better than Beckman to
win the championship.  Capps made an early
statement with the fastest qualifying time of the weekend (4.007 @ 319.29mph)
while Beckman settled for the 3^rd best time in the preliminary
rounds.  In round one, Capps and his NAPA
Dodge Charger funny car took out Tony Pedragon in his STP Camry but Beckman
countered, beating Alexis DeJoria in her Patron Tequila Camry to maintain his 2
point lead.  In round two, Capps made
short work of Robert Hight and his Auto Club Mustang and again, Beckman
answered by beating Jeff Arrend and his DHL Camry.  However, in round three, Capps couldn’t hang
on to a starting line advantage over Courtney Force and with Beckman still in
the running – Capps’ chance at winning the 2012 Funny Car championship had
slipped away.  Beckman would also lose in
the third round (to Cruz Pedragon in the SnapOn Camry) but it didn’t matter –
he had secured his championship.

There are 2 other classes in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series do not have Mopar entries – Top Fuel and Pro Stock
Motorcycle.  In the Pro Stock Motorcycle
class, Eddie Krawiec took the title on his Vance & Hines Harley Davidson
for the second time in a row while the Top Fuel class saw its first ever
African American champion as Antron Brown claimed the title in his Matco Tools
Dragster.

DodgeForum.com sends a big congrats to the championship
Mopar teams lead by Allen Johnson and Jack Beckman along with those non-Mopar
teams who claimed championship titles in the 2012 Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series.

The Mopar NASCAR program might be coming to an end but it is
very clear that the factory backed drag racing program is alive and well in the
NHRA.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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