Melanie Johnson and the McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster team continued their strong late-season momentum with a semifinal finish at the Texas NHRA FallNationals during the Stampede of Speed at Texas Motorplex.
With 20 cars vying for 16 qualifying spots, Johnson opened qualifying with a solid 5.312-second pass at 273.76 mph on a hot track. In the second session, she improved to a 5.265-second at 275.89 mph, her best of qualifying to secure the 7th position. The team made a setup change for the final session, but the car shook the tires just past 60 feet, resulting in a 10.626-second run.
Johnson entered eliminations with confidence and carried that momentum into race day. In round one against Matt Cummings, she took the starting line advantage and never looked back, posting a 5.231 at 271.08 mph while Cummings went up in tire smoke.
Round two saw Johnson make her quickest run of the weekend, a 5.222 at 275.87 mph, to defeat Kirk Wolf’s 5.380 at 265.50 mph. Her run earned low E.T. of the round.
In the semifinals, Johnson faced eventual race winner Joey Severance. The car experienced tire shake at 60 feet, and when she pedaled it, the front end lifted high and carried for nearly 100 feet before she got off the throttle. Severance advanced with a 5.241 at 277.38 mph.
“I’ve had the front end pick up after a pedal before, but it usually sets back down right away,” said Johnson. “This time it hiked up and carried for a while and I saw Joey drive around me so I knew he was on a clean pass and I got out of it. It all happened in slow motion inside the car, but watching the video afterward was definitely exciting.”
The semifinal finish marked Johnson’s second of the season. The McPhillips Racing team continues to show consistent improvement as they make more power with their AJPE combination heading into the final stretch of the year.
“Each race, we’re learning more about what this combination wants,” Johnson said. “We’ve made big strides in performance and consistency, and I’m really proud of the direction we’re heading.”
Johnson and the McPhillips Racing Top Alcohol Dragster team are proud to represent NGK Spark Plugs, Lucas Oil, ARP, and Alan Johnson Performance Engineering (AJPE). The team will next compete at the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection in Las Vegas before wrapping up the season at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, California.
This story was originally published on October 15, 2025. 
