Allen Johnson took home $50k. He'll be shooting it again for 2010.

The K&N NHRA Horsepower Challenge – which is a bonus-style event for NHRA Pro Stock Racers, has been renewed, announced NHRA. In this difficult sponsorship environment, this is a plus for NHRA Pro Stock racers, who have been under pressure financially to keep sponsorship support. Thanks K&N for the support.

The official press release is below:

NHRA and K&N Renew Sponsorship

GLENDORA, Calif. — NHRA announced today it has signed a contract extension with K&N Engineering, Inc., locking in the company’s sponsorship of the popular K&N Horsepower Challenge, a lucrative bonus event for Pro Stock competitors, through the 2012 event.

The K&N Horsepower Challenge is a special race-within-a-race bonus program for the top Pro Stock drivers in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. The K&N Horsepower Challenge is contested during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. The race features a special elimination pairing with eight Pro Stock drivers in the field, including seven who accumulate the most points in qualifying during the 23-race Challenge series, and one driver who is selected to the starting lineup for the event via a special fan vote.

As part of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, K&N will conduct a fan promotion during the running of the series and will present a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle to a lucky fan during the finals of the K&N Horsepower Challenge. In the promotion, eight lucky fans will receive a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park for the event, where one fan will be selected as the winner of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Each finalist will be paired with a K&N Horsepower Challenge driver during pre-race ceremonies and will be introduced on stage with the driver.

“We are pleased to extend the sponsorship of this important bonus event for Pro Stock racers with our friends at K&N Engineering,” said Gary Darcy, senior vice president of sales and marketing, NHRA. “The K&N Horsepower Challenge certainly brings an increased level of excitement to the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.”

The winner of the K&N Horsepower Challenge will earn $50,000, and the runner-up will earn $10,000. The two semifinalists will earn $3,000 each, while the four first-round finishers will receive $2,500 each.

“K&N is committed to making the Horsepower Challenge the premier Pro Stock event at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park,” said Steve Williams, vice president, K&N Engineering. “This year we are paring up eight lucky fans with the top eight drivers for a chance to win a Harley-Davidson Street Bob motorcycle, all they have to do is go to KNfilters.com, vote for their favorite driver and register to win.”

The K&N Horsepower Challenge features an overall purse of $145,000. In addition to the $76,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge, K&N also will award $69,000 in qualifying bonuses to quick Pro Stock qualifiers throughout the K&N Horsepower Challenge series. Low qualifiers earn $3,000 at each of the 23 events in the Challenge series.

Last season Jeg Coughlin claimed his third title in the prestigious race-within-a-race bonus event. Other past winners of the K&N Horsepower Challenge include Greg Anderson, Dave Connolly, Kurt Johnson, Warren Johnson, Darrell Alderman, Larry Morgan, Jim Yates, Bruce Allen and Bob Glidden.

K&N Engineering has been a major NHRA contingency sponsor for many years and has been the title sponsor for several NHRA national events in the past.

K&N is located in Riverside, Calif., and has more than seven hundred employees. Its 400,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution facilities produce the world’s best air filters that are reusable. Besides creating the first reusable performance air filter, K&N also produces the Wrench-Off oil filter and complete replacement air intake systems, adding horsepower for most cars and trucks.

Headquartered in Glendora, Calif., NHRA has 80,000 members and 140 member tracks nationwide. As the primary sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the United States, NHRA presents 23 national events featuring the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. Two NHRA-sanctioned bracket racing series provide competition opportunities for drivers of all levels: the NHRA Summit Racing Series and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal Style presented by AAA. NHRA also offers the Jr. Drag Racing League for youth ages 8 to 17. In addition, NHRA owns and operates five racing facilities: Gainesville Raceway in Florida; Atlanta Dragway in Georgia; National Trail Raceway in Ohio; O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis; and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California. For more information, log on to NHRA.com, or visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.