The time NHRA team owner Alan Johnson almost went to NASCAR

Twice each year, the NHRA’s traveling horsepower show rolls into the Mecca of stock car racing at zMax Dragway, located on the hallowed grounds of Charlotte Motor Speedway. One of the best kept secrets in the drag racing pits focuses on how one of the most successful tuners ever to pick up a wrench 30 years ago almost went roundy-round racing. Alan Johnson, who has won six series championship titles as a team owner with five different drivers and another eight as a tuner for Tony Schumacher, had the opportunity to walk from drag racing for what could have been a lucrative career. Long before he established his name on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, he nearly ended up going to work for NASCAR legend Rick Hendrick. "I had that choice back in the mid-1980s to go to work at Hendrick Motorsports as a cylinder head guy," revealed Johnson. "We just didn't come together on the money right away. It was dragging along, and finally, I said to myself, 'You know what, if it’s going to be this hard to get what I