The Texas Connection

By  Danny White

Photo by B.S. Fotos contributed by Kirk Johnson

Kirk Johnson of Dallas, Texas, has raced alcohol funny cars since 1992.  The "Texas Connection" was a long distance partnership between two states.  The low-buck team formed as a little brother to the "Time Machine" TA/FC of the Stidham Bros. Kirk Johnson’s father, Hap Johnson, was the Stidham’s partner. Hap was a longtime competitor who had raced altereds, funny cars, and dragsters. Kirk took his first funny car ride at the Frank Hawley's drag racing school. The car that became the first "Texas Connection" was the car in which Jackie Stidham ran one of the first five-second times in a TA/FC in 1989.

Photo contributed by Kirk Johnson

The main owner and tuner of the "Texas Connection" cars, Fred Albrigtes, lived in Abilene, Texas. The team raced the Cutlass off and on for three years from 1992 to 1995, running a best of 6.33.  They parked the car for years and returned after the turn of the decade. A new Avenger was built with a cubic inch 541 TFX engine. The car’s best times were 6.23 at 223 in 2003. The team seldom ran the new Avenger and they finally parked it due to Fred Albrigtes’ death in 2003.