It was an all-Mopar Dodge //SRT Funny Car final round showdown at the Arizona Nationals with Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. earning his first victory of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Series season over his teammate, Jack Beckman.

From his No. 4 qualifier position, Johnson Jr. drove his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat past Paul Lee and Bob Tasca, then used a holeshot win over DSR teammate Ron Capps to set up a final elimination battle against Beckman. Johnson powered past his DSR opponent, who lost traction early, to make his way to the winner’s circle in the second event of the season.

Tommy Johnson Jr defeated is racing teammate Jack Beckman in an all Mopar/DSR final round for NHRA’s Arizona Nationals

With the win, Johnson’s collected his 18th career Funny Car national event Wally trophy, his second at Phoenix’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, and his first final round victory over Beckman in five final-elimination encounters.

The early season win provided some relief for Johnson and his team, who were looking to recover quickly from a difficult 2019 Countdown to the Championship that followed a promising regular season.

“We had such a good car last year and we didn’t finish well at all, so to come out strong and get that out of the way right off the bat and know how good a car you have right now is great,” said Johnson who jumps four spots into second place in the Funny Car championship standings with his efforts this weekend.

For Tommy Johnson’s team – it was NHRA career win #18.

“Now we just shift to maintaining it and learn from the mistakes you make. I think we learned really well what we did wrong last year, and what we needed to do to fix it. It’s nice to be able to know that you did fix it.”

In the final against Johnson Jr., Beckman initially had the advantage as they launched off the starting line but lost traction in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and, while he made efforts to pedal it, was unable to recover control quickly enough.

Coming off consecutive wins in both the 2019 season finale and the 2020 season opening national event at Pomona, Beckman’s runner-up finish to his teammate keeps him atop the Funny Car championship standings with 220 points.

Racing for Mopar — Matt Hagan was the #1 qualifier at Phoenix with 3.859 secs run.

Event Essentials:   NHRA Arizona Nationals (Feb. 21-23rd, 2020) 

Wily John Force sped to both low ET and top speed of the race in round #1 and had a “final four” placing

Posted with files by Pat Caporali and Bruce Biegler

Photos by Auto Imagery, Marc Gewertz and Gary Nastase