Commerce: Tommy Johnson Jr final summary

Johnson Jr. Suffers First Round Setback at Atlanta

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 16, 2004) -- Faced with hot, sticky track conditions at Atlanta Dragway on Sunday, Tommy Johnson's blue Skoal RacingSM Chevy Monte Carlo lost traction during his opening round race and the Iowa native fell in a tire-smoking battle with Jerry Toliver.

Johnson, who equaled his best qualifying position of the 2004 NHRA season after qualifying fourth, had to peddle his Chevy flopper after the car lost traction early in the run. Johnson slowed to a performance of 6.900 seconds at 142.55 mph, allowing Toliver's Toyota to record a run of 5.419 at 251.72 in a winning effort.

"We've made so many good runs down the race track lately, that's the last thing I expected to happen," Johnson said. "The car was just too aggressive for the track today. We ran a new set of tires and that might have caused us some problems. It's frustrating because we're running so well, but at the same time we're optimistic because we know we're capable of winning the next race. We can't quite get everything lined up at once. Once we get me driving right and the car running right, it's going to be big."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the seventh annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals, May 20-23, at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

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