Richie Stevens Jr. to Drive Dodge Dart Pro Stock Car and Join Forces with Allen Johnson Racing

March 14, 2015 , Gainesville, Florida -  Mopar fans will see another Dodge Dart hit the drag strip this season in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock class, as driver Ritchie Stevens Jr. prepares to take the wheel of his Mopar for at least ten events as a teammate to 2012 NHRA Pro Stock World Champion Allen Johnson.

The New Orleans native will field a new Dodge Dart chassis prepared by Jerry Haas and a HEMI^® engine tuned by Roy Johnson of Johnson & Johnson Racing, to mark his return to Pro Stock competition this April at the NHRA SpringNationals in Houston.

“I’m really excited and just can’t wait because my best times on track were racing with Allen [Johnson] as a teammate, and I’m really happy to get back to that,” said Stevens, whose last full season of NHRA competition was with Don Schumacher Racing in 2007 aboard a Dodge Stratus with Johnson as his Mopar teammate.
Johnson & Johnson Racing’s Adam Hornberger will perform double duty as crew chief for both Allen Johnson and Ritchie Stevens, while Tom Pierson will take on duties as car chief for the additional Dodge Dart entry.

“The last couple of years have been up and down racing-wise but I’m really looking forward to working with Allen again and with [crew chief] Adam Hornberger, who is talented and just as laid back as I am,” Stevens said. “The cars will be the same, but we’ll try different things and try to help AJ compete for another championship by running at as many events as we can. I’ll definitely be racing to win and I expect to have some fun out there.”

Stevens has six career Pro Stock wins (Pomona 1998, Englishtown 1999 and 2001, Seattle 2000, Dallas 2006, Las Vegas 2006), 11 final round appearances, three No.1 Qualifier honors, and a career round record of 117-139. He also competed in four Pro Stock events during the 2014 NHRA season (Indianapolis, Charlotte, St. Louis, Reading) posting his career best elapsed time run of 6.506 seconds and best speed of 212.25 miles per hour (mph) at Reading, Pennsylvania.

“It’ll always be interesting to face my wife when the occasion presents itself, but we’ll race heads-up like we did last year when we were on the same team for a few races,” adds Stevens, in reference to possible on-track battles against his wife and 2014 NHRA Pro Stock champ, Erica Enders-Stevens.

It’s a win-win situation for Mopar, one that adds a past winner to the fold for the 2015 season, even on a limited basis, to gather more data and help both drivers be more competitive on race days. The move also improves the chances of bringing home another NHRA Pro Stock World Championship for the brand after back-to-back championship wins by Allen Johnson and Jeg Coughlin Jr., respectively, in 2012 and 2013.

“The benefits for our Mopar team are exponential because we now have two cars to try stuff with,” Allen Johnson said. “Having Richie [Stevens] as a teammate and a second car will give us more experience and help us try things to take us further than we could as a one-car effort with just the Magneti Marelli/Mopar Dodge Dart. Any time we can have more Mopar cars in the field to go to battle with, the better it is.”

Stevens’ HEMI-powered Dodge Dart will carry a familiar Mopar brand livery look with support from Blue Emu, as well as a continued relationship to bring awareness to Serving Orphans Worldwide. Familiar supporters such as Pierson Construction, Penske Shocks and Stevens Collision Center will also be onboard. A longtime silent and committed partner will also be along for the ride for the 2015 races, but Stevens and his team will continue to seek out additional sponsorship opportunities in order to compete in additional events this season.

Stevens joins Allen Johnson in flying the Mopar banner aboard their Dodge Darts, with Vieri Gaines and Deric Kramer rounding out the HEMI-powered entries competing this season in the NHRA Pro Stock category.
About Mopar Brand
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product, but it truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical service and customer support.

Today, Mopar is FCA’s service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 27 customer contact hubs globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands.

Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles. This offers a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at: www.mopar.com.

Mopar-first Features
Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:

• Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with customers
• Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format. First to offer complete vehicle-information kits in Spanish
• Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
• Wireless charging: first to introduce in-vehicle wireless charging for portable devices
• Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters
• wiADVISOR: first to provide factory-connected tablet technology in the service lane for instant vehicle diagnosis
• wiTECH: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network
• 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car