Gainesville: Tommy Johnson Jr final summary

JOHNSON JR. DRIVES TO FIRST-ROUND PERFORMANCE AT GATORNATIONALS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 19, 2006) - Seven-time NHRA winner Tommy Johnson Jr. drove his Skoal RacingSM Chevy Funny Car to a first-round finish Sunday at the 37th annual ACDelco Gatornationals.

Johnson, who qualified in the No. 13 position, was pitted against No. 4 qualifier Robert Hight for the second consecutive event. Johnson used a starting line advantage to race to the early lead, but Hight powered to the quickest pass of the opening round of Funny Car eliminations, 4.761 seconds, to earn the win light and trip to the second round. Johnson's Skoal Racing flopper earned a 4.829 second, 325.02 mph time slip.

"We struggled with the new tire during qualifying and that got us behind," Johnson said. "We didn't qualify where we would have liked and had to race a really tough car. We did what we wanted that round, but they made a great run and we got outrun."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 19th annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals, March 31-April 2, at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas. Johnson and the Skoal Racing team will test on Monday at Gainesville Raceway before returning to the team's Brownsburg, Ind. race shop.

-www.snakeracing.com