{"id":105017,"date":"2026-10-14T16:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/melanie-johnson-sets-personal-best-and-claims-runner-up-finish-at-texas-motorplex\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:44:08","slug":"melanie-johnson-sets-personal-best-and-claims-runner-up-finish-at-texas-motorplex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/melanie-johnson-sets-personal-best-and-claims-runner-up-finish-at-texas-motorplex\/","title":{"rendered":"Melanie Johnson Sets Personal Best and Claims Runner-up Finish at Texas Motorplex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Melanie Johnson and the Speedmaster Top Alcohol Dragster team kicked off the Stampede of Speed with a strong performance at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Regional event at Texas Motorplex, earning a runner-up finish and setting a new career best elapsed time.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson set the tone early in qualifying, laying down a stellar 5.173-second pass at 277.71 mph to claim the No. 1 qualifying position. The run marked a new personal best E.T. for the California native.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carrying that momentum into Sunday\u2019s eliminations, Johnson opened round one with a victory over Chris Demke, clocking a 5.222 at 277.38 mph to Demke\u2019s 5.406 at 274.07 mph. In the semifinals, she posted a 5.219 at 276.34 mph to defeat Jamie Noonan and earn a spot in the final round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final matchup produced a tight drag race against Alan Bradshaw. Johnson made a solid 5.240-second pass at 275.20 mph, but Bradshaw edged out the victory with a 5.227 at 275.13 mph, taking the win by a margin of just .021 seconds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe car was on rails all weekend at the regional,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cTo be out of the car for four weeks [since the U.S. Nationals]\u00a0and set a career best E.T. on the first run of the weekend, really sets the tone and is a testament to that AJPE power. We have a great tune up for this track and I\u2019m very excited to see what we can do this weekend. We\u2019ve got our sights set on a Jegs All Stars win and a Texas FallNationals win. Pops and Richie have been making changes to the program and we\u2019ve been seeing the success over the past few races. I think it\u2019s all coming together right now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson remains at Texas Motorplex for the second weekend of the Stampede of Speed to compete in the NHRA Texas FallNationals. Representing the Central Region in the Top Alcohol Dragster division, she will also compete in the prestigious Jegs Allstars event after earning points throughout the season to secure a spot on the regional team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson and the team are proud to be supported by primary sponsor Speedmaster, alongside Alan Johnson Performance Engineering (AJPE), NGK Spark Plugs, Lucas Oil, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Shift Up Now, and WIMNA (Women in Motorsports North America).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Action for the NHRA Texas FallNationals and the Jegs Allstars begins this Thursday, October 15 at Texas Motorplex. Johnson will be present at the\u00a0Pre-Stage Fanfest presented by Red Line Synthetic Oil at Railyard Park in Waxahachie on Thursday evening. She\u2019ll sign autographs with fellow Jegs Allstars and Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competitors at the\u00a0free event from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Pre-Stage FanFest will\u00a0also feature live music and vendor booths. To learn more, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stampedeofspeed.com\/\">www.stampedeofspeed.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-modified-info\">This story was originally published on October 14, 2026. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\" width=\"20px\" alt=\"Drag Illustrated\"><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/melanie-johnson-sets-personal-best-and-claims-runner-up-finish-at-texas-motorplex\/\">Melanie Johnson Sets Personal Best and Claims Runner-up Finish at Texas Motorplex<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/\">Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melanie Johnson and the Speedmaster Top Alcohol Dragster team kicked off the Stampede of Speed with a strong performance at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Regional event at Texas Motorplex, earning a runner-up finish and setting a new career best elapsed time. Johnson set the tone early in qualifying, laying down a stellar [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}