NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series goes a decisive phase — Countdown To One, and a team of Alan Johnson Racing (AJR) announced the termination of its participation in the national championship.
The fact that the problems with the sponsorship of the team began testing before the start of the season. But victory Shawn Langdon in the first event of the championship in Pomona (NHRA Winternationals), where the pilot has shown the best time of the 1000-foot distance in the history of drag racing — 3.700 seconds, caused the extension of the contract with Toyota Motor Sales, which is one of the main sponsors AJR 2001. The last three stages were marked for Langdon one second place and two appearances in the semi-final races. In addition, in Brainerd Sean again he made the fastest race in history — 3.662 seconds, but, unfortunately, the result was not confirmed and as a result, the record is not recorded.
At the end of the regular season, Langdon took sixth place in the standings in the class Top Fuel, what gives him a pretty good chance to fight for the highest trophy.
However, the team did not manage to resolve their financial problems, and the eve of the first phase of the playoff series, Alan Johnson, made a statement that AJR forced to withdraw from further participation in the championship.
Either way, Johnson quite optimistic: «We will return to the sport as soon as only owning a sponsorship at the proper level. At the moment, the decision is the only right one, and we have no choice but to concentrate on preparing for next season. I would like to thank Toyota Motor Sales, and to all our fans for their support during this difficult season for us. »
Recall that Shawn Langdon in 2013 became the champion in the class of NHRA Top Fuel, and the team has won AJR six league titles from 2001 to 2013.
