{"id":98620,"date":"2025-02-05T15:18:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T15:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/mcphillips-racing-signs-melanie-johnson-for-2025-nhra-top-alcohol-dragster-campaign\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T15:18:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T15:18:33","slug":"mcphillips-racing-signs-melanie-johnson-for-2025-nhra-top-alcohol-dragster-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/mcphillips-racing-signs-melanie-johnson-for-2025-nhra-top-alcohol-dragster-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"McPhillips Racing Signs Melanie Johnson for 2025 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

McPhillips Racing has announced that Melanie Johnson will pilot their Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) during the 2025 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series season. Johnson will claim the North Central Region for points.<\/p>\n

Melanie Johnson is a third-generation racer and the daughter of 13-time Top Fuel champion tuner Alan Johnson. She made her debut in Top Alcohol driving for McPhillips Racing during the 2024 fall regional event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After competing in Super Comp, Johnson earned her Top Alcohol license at Brainerd International Raceway last August. During testing, she completed her quickest pass thus far in the Alcohol Dragster, with a run of 5.289-seconds. Her fastest speed is 274.11 mph during qualifying at the Las Vegas regional event. <\/p>\n

Johnson will pilot the famed \u201cGreen Machine\u201d chassis, which has collected numerous victories in the 16 years McPhillips Racing has entered the car in competition. She will have support from Alan Johnson Performance Engineering (AJPE) for the 2025 campaign and will be announcing additional partnerships soon. Johnson\u2019s goal is to become a Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion, following in the footsteps of her father and her late uncle, Blaine Johnson, who together won four consecutive TAD titles from 1991 to 1994.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve dreamed of competing in Top Alcohol Dragster for the past six years, and I couldn\u2019t be more eager to get out on the track and race this season,\u201d said Melanie Johnson. \u201cTAD is an incredibly competitive class, and with Rich (McPhillips) and Richie (McPhillips Jr.) handling the tuning and the strength of AJPE power, I\u2019m confident we can achieve great success this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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McPhillips Racing was formed in 1969 with team owner Rich \u201cPops\u201d McPhillips Sr. getting his start behind the wheel of a Bracket Class Altered drag car, then a Comp Eliminator Altered, before running an Alcohol Econo Funny Car. McPhillips would then transition to an Alcohol Funny Car before running Top Alcohol Dragsters. <\/p>\n

Hailing from Pennsylvania, McPhillips Racing has earned nearly 100 wins and nine regional\/divisional championships during their 56 years in competition (Rich McPhillips Sr. \u2013 3, Troy Coughlin Jr. \u2013 2, Matt Cummings \u2013 2, Mike Coughlin \u2013 1, Tony Stewart \u2013 1). Joining Pops is Richie McPhillips Jr., who co-owns the team, with the pair serving as lead mechanics on both Top Alcohol Dragsters. <\/p>\n

Notable drivers for McPhillips Racing have included Peter Gallen, Skip Gladstone, Bill Litton, Rich McPhillips Sr., Rich McPhillips Jr., Troy Coughlin Jr., Mike Coughlin, Matt Cummings, and Tony Stewart. The team is looking to earn their first national championship in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to have Melanie and the Johnson family join McPhillips Racing,\u201d said team owner Rich McPhillips Sr.. \u201cTheir family has racing in their DNA like we do. Melanie is a former collegiate athlete that has a fierce competitive mentality. We\u2019re looking forward to being a part of the start of her professional racing career and can\u2019t wait to accomplish great things together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2025 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series season kicks off March 6-9 for the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on February 5, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post McPhillips Racing Signs Melanie Johnson for 2025 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Campaign<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McPhillips Racing has announced that Melanie Johnson will pilot their Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) during the 2025 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series season. Johnson will claim the North Central Region for points. Melanie Johnson is a third-generation racer and the daughter of 13-time Top Fuel champion tuner Alan Johnson. She made her debut in […]<\/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-98620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98620","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=98620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}