Photo courtesy of Mike Cornelius
Chandler, AZ – Even though Johnny Ahten lives near Disneyland and attends often, nothing was like the thrill ride he was on at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park for the Phoenix Regional race this last weekend. Not only did Johnny lower his career best elapsed time, he rode out a 5.154/270.48 blast in the final round. That’s the exciting part. The not so fantastic part is for that final run the Nitromethane percentage was read at 95.4%, which is over the allowable limit under the current rules. The run was thrown out, and Joey Severance was awarded the win. The 5.15 might have been taken away, but they can’t take away the experience Johnny had rocketing down the strip at over 270 miles per hour.
“I was able to experience a 5.15 run, and it’s a short list of people who have,” said Ahten. “I really enjoyed that ride and now I crave more. It was such a rush and makes me want to move up to Top Fuel right away. That day will come, but for now we have one bad hot rod,” added Ahten.
The first qualifying session was an involuntary smoke show courtesy of a loss of traction at the hit. Saturday’s first qualifying session produced a 5.320/260.36 run. Back in the pits Johnny, along with his Crew Chief Dad Al Ahten and Howard Katano, knew the tune-up was coming together. Chuck Costabile and Bob Ahten put the Stump Puller back together and they pulled to the staging lanes. The result was a 5.267/262.23 pass that gave the Island Renovations / Combust Filters Team the #1 qualifying spot.
“Qualifying number one is a testament to hard work, hours spent analyzing data, time on the clutch dyno, and testing”, added Ahten. “To see it pay off makes the night before eliminations so much sweeter. It’s been a long road to get where we are now, and we don’t plan on easing up.”
Ahten’s first round match up with Ross Stickler was a real white-knuckle ride. Johnny got off the line first, but then had to pedal the car which lifted the front tires off the ground. Another quick slap and some tire shake followed. Luckily the holeshot and 5.401/266.27 was enough to get the win to Stickler’s 5.378/257.58. The semi-finals saw a match up with CleanBoost Performance Oil Teammate Chris Demke. Johnny had lane choice and got the head start once again and never looked back. A 5.241/269.83 blast took the win over Demke’s 5.337/271.68. This proved to be a career best run for Ahten.
Now it was on to the finals and a match up with another CleanBoost Teammate. Joey Severance lay in wait, and the conditions were ideal for a record run. The angry sounding Stump Puller inched to the line and blasted down the track to an incredible 5.154/270.48 to Severance’s 5.390/230.21. The shutdown area was a blur of excitement and amazement. All was well until NHRA’s mandatory fuel check. The problem arose when the percentage of Nitromethane proved to be over the limit at 95.4%. The run was disqualified and the win given to Joey Severance.
Johnny Ahten left Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park with a new career best, beat the best, and got to experience a ride that was 95.4% better than any ride Disney could dream up. Ahten Racing’s next race will be March 21-23 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the LODRS Regional event. Follow Ahten Racing on FaceBook at: www.facebook.com/JohnnyAhtenRacing
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