During pre-season preparations, John Force was loitering near Alan Johnson, his newly-hired tuning consultant for daughter Brittany Force’s Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster.

“I told him a of couple jokes I don’t think he got. I’m laughing and he looked at me and he don’t get it,” Force said, adding that crew chief Brian Husen filled him in on one essential detail about working with Johnson.

“Brian said, ‘It’s probably because you were talking to him when he was trying to think about the motor and he isn’t listening to you.’ So far me and A.J. have a relationship like me and my wife,” Force said. “She doesn’t talk to me very much, and he doesn’t talk to me at all. I really kind of leave it with Robert Hight. Don’t want to bother him.”

Gary Sclezi could have warned Force. Years ago, Scelzi said, “A lot of people might think he’s stuck up, but Alan just wants to win. He gets a bad rap because he’ll walk right by you, look you in the eye, and not say anything. But the truth is he’s not even seeing you. He’s focused on racing and that’s it.”

A former sponsor told Johnson one year that it would conduct guided tours through the pit. Johnson responded, “Well, that’s nice, but I plan on going rounds and winning races. So don’t look for me to be the greeter. You can talk to my driver and do whatever you want to do, but I’m going to tell you right up front: I’m trying to make this car go fast and win races.”

Johnson did just that earlier this month at the NHRA’s season-opening Circle K Winternationals at Pomona, California. However, the clear beneficiary was not Brittany Force, but rather Steve Torrence, the first driver to capitalize on Johnson’s free agency last fall.

Brittany Force took the provisional qualifying lead after that Friday’s first session, and with her top performance at the Nitro Spring Training final day of testing at Phoenix, it appeared she was coming into the season’s first race day with a full head of steam. But she lost on a first-round holeshot at Pomona to JR Todd.

Torrence won the event from the No. 1 spot to claim the early points lead and an automatic berth in the $100,000-to-win Traxxas Shootout. He built on his late-2015 successes since Johnson signed on with the Capco Contractors dragster team as a technical consultant to crew chief Richard Hogan. So while all the buzz was about Johnson and JFR aligning, Torrence took the headlines.

Both Torrence and Force have acknowledged that they’re on-track rivals, but this tech alliance is mutually beneficial.

“It has been a big deal. Anytime you can go to the racetrack and get twice as much data as opposed to being a single-car team, it’s a huge benefit,” Torrence said. “Alan is that thorn in Richard’s side that keeps poking him to tune it just a little bit farther. That 3.73 [his winning elapsed time February 14 against Doug Kalitta] is a representation of that.”

Force said he has no problem with sharing Johnson. “Alan builds engines for a lot of people. He’s a consultant to me. He’s a consultant to Torrence. They’ve got their crew chiefs, and we’ve got ours. And we like it that way. When the opportunity arose to work with Alan Johnson, a proven champion, and his crew chief Brian Husen, how could I resist?”

He said the initial conversation went like this:

Alan Johnson: First of all, if you want me to run your program, I’m not interested. Do I want to sell you parts? Yes, I do.

John Force: But we already build them in-house.

AJ: If you want me to oversee this team and be a consultant, you’ve got to run my program, because that’s all I know. And if I try to run that program, I’d be in the same boat as the other people you’ve given it to to run. It would take me a long time to figure it out, and we don’t have time. Sponsors want to turn on win lights.

“So we made the change,” Force said. To be able to share technology with Steve Torrence, a great young racer from a racing family, that made it all make sense and feel like a blessing,”

John Force Racing President Robert Hight said of the organization’s first co-operative venture, “I don’t think you’re going to have much chance of beating these other teams out here with just one car. To have another car that you can share data with and compare [is imperative].”

Johnson doesn’t seem conflicted at all about working with two distinct teams. Their differences might possibly make his job easier.

“If you look at the two teams, the immediate goals are different,” Johnson said. “I think the Force family realizes that Brittany may need a year or two more before she’s a legitimate championship contender. She hasn’t even won a race yet. On the other hand, Steve Torrence’s team has won lots of races. And all it lacks is consistency in eliminations to get them where they need to be to be able to win a championship. So the immediate goals are different between the two teams.”

Indeed, Billy Torrence – Steve’s father, team owner, and occasional second driver – confirmed Johnson’s assessment. He said, “At the end of last year, Alan and Richard collectively were able to take the performance of our team to the next level. I feel like there’s no reason that we can’t be a legitimate contender this year. We’ve always used AJPE [Alan Johnson Performance Engineering] parts and have a long-standing relationship with Alan. When he and Richard get together, it seems like good things happen. We’re excited about the opportunities that this unique alliance with JFR brings. I am confident both will make excellent progress and be in the running to win the 2016 NHRA Top Fuel World Championship.”

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Brittany Force still is adjusting to the extensive changes Johnson made to her car.

He said, “we have made some dramatic changes to the car, engine combination, and clutch.” But he was quick to say, “I think equally important will be our experience with a variety of different drivers over the years and what we can do to help Brittany mature as a driver. She is very smart, goal-driven, and committed to doing what it takes to win. With evident signs already of the crew’s re-dedication toward superior preparation and attention to detail, I am confident we can improve the entire team’s performance and strive to get Brittany her first win very soon.”

For Johnson, he was satisfied to know that he would be working with, in his words, “two very qualified and experienced crew chiefs” and two teams that “have all the ingredients for success: proper budgets, excellent crews, and very committed owners in John Force and Billy Torrence.”

Observers wondered if this three-way partnership signaled that Johnson’s devotion to engineering and innovation might be pushing to the background his need to add to his 11 Top Fuel championships, sort of in a Dale Armstrong kind of way. Make no mistake, Johnson still wants to win.

“I’ve been innovating my entire career, from alcohol through Top Fuel. It’s all been about innovation. That’s how I got where I’m at. And I’ll continue doing that,” he said. “Innovation happens when you realize that you have a problem to solve and you need new tools to do it with. As far as the innovative part of drag racing is concerned, it’s not quite what it used to be, because … we can’t design a lot of new stuff, especially in the engine department. But there are still innovative ways to run the clutch.”

Ultimately, though, each of the teams that hired him want to win the title.

“The reason I’m out there is to win a championship,” Johnson said. “That’d be great if they finished first and second, wouldn’t it?”

It would make John Force feel better.

“I failed Brittany,” he said. “And I told her I was sorry. I told her, ‘I thought I gave you all the tools, and I didn’t.’ I took a Funny Car program and stuck it in a dragster and said, ‘Here – run it.’ Well, it doesn’t work that way. I needed to get someone who has a program and knows how to run it.”

He was quick to defend his crew chiefs from last year, saying “These were great individuals that ran my dragster.”

Husen, appealing to Force’s love for football, set the parameters for how the deal would work. “I’m the quarterback. Alan Johnson’s the coach. Let it be, run that way.”

Shot back Force, signaling his compliance, “If I knew how to run it, I wouldn’t have hired either one of you.”

So far, the Torrence performance gains are evident. The season is young, and Brittany Force has shown flashes of improvement. Both teams say they’re pleased with Johnson and the arrangement.

“People ask, ‘How are you and Alan getting along?’ ” Force said. “Haven’t had a beer together. Ain’t had time.”

And that’s no joke, regardless of whether Johnson gets it.