Baytown: Tommy Johnson Jr final summary

SKOAL RACING'S TOMMY JOHNSON JR. HELD BACK BY FASTEST RUN AT SPRING NATIONALS

BAYTOWN, TX (Apr. 4, 2007) -- The rain subsided, the track dried, but in the end, Skoal Racing's first victory of 2007 is still on hold. Skoal Racing's Tommy Johnson Jr.'s weekend ended at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals as his Chevy Impala Funny Car was defeated by the fastest pass in Houston this year. Mike Ashley thwarted Johnson's efforts with a run of 4.788 seconds at 325 mph.

Johnson started off in promising position with an initial pass of 4.964 at 304 mph--good enough for 7th after Friday's first session. Despite improving his qualifying sessions with a run of 4.902 seconds at 312 mph, Johnson qualified at the 13th position heading into Saturday. Heavy rains completely washed out Saturday's qualifiers.

"It was certainly a disappointing weekend for us," said Johnson. "As tough as the funny car division is right now, you can't be off at all, and we were off a little. It did definitely hurt us only having two qualifiers due to the rain, but Saturday was a perfect example why every run has to be treated as the real thing--sometimes we just don't get the chance to put ourselves in better standing. We have to come into Las Vegas with an eye on improving our overall performance."

It was quite a busy week for Johnson as he and his wife, Top Fuel Dragster Melanie Troxel, toured NASA for an ESPN reality show--taking part in the facility's flight simulators. In addition, on top of the circus of fans and media at the Spring Nationals, all drivers were required to attend the NHRA-sponsored safety session on Friday to prevent future serious injuries.

Johnson, who turns 39 on Friday, currently sits 10th in points standings with 128; tied with Tim Wilkerson. The SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals are scheduled to take place in Las Vegas from April 12-15.

-credit: sr