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Tommy Johnson Jr., who was celebrating his 30 years of nitro racing at this event, probably won his wildest first round victory in the Magic Dry Organic Magic Dry Organic Absorbent, winning the heat despite an explosion that caused damage to the car.
Racing Jim Campbell, Johnson's Make-A-Wish driver, broke the left rear axle a few hundred feet into the race, allowing the engine to coast and explode the fan. The new body of the Dodge SRT Hellcat Charger team was seriously damaged and the tire and left rear wheel broke off.
Despite all this, Johnson still got the win when Campbell cut the lights of the finish line for automatic disqualification.
"I did not really know what had happened," Johnson said. "I knew the tires had smoked, so I cycled, but there was nothing left to pedal. I did not know that the tire had fallen before seeing me when I stopped the car. I think that was taken in my parachutes for a second [see third photo below] because the car was jerking left and right. There have been two or three times that headers have appeared and I wondered what had happened. I thought the exploding blower had removed the rear tire. "
Johnson also did not know he won the round until Amanda Busick of NHRA on FOX told him after he got out of the car.
Crew Chief John Collins said the chassis was not injured and the team had a replacement Hellcat body ready for the second round, where they will face J.R. Todd.
This is not Johnson's first experience with a broken axle because he lost his right rear wheel and tire due to a broken axle during qualifying at the 2017 Sonoma, although the engine was not damaged during this accident.
"And do not forget Englishtown 2007," said Johnson. "I had a bad fire and I burned the car on the ground by winning the first lap and we came back and won this race."
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