Reading: Tommy Johnson Jr final summary

MOHNTON, Pa. (Oct. 10, 2004) 0x2022 Tommy Johnson Jr. and the blue Skoal RacingSM crew held their ground in the Funny Car points standings Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway.

Johnson, who qualified in the No. 10 position at the Eastern Pennsylvania track with a qualifying-best pass of 4.841-seconds, had a slightly better reaction time over first-round opponent Tim Wilkerson, but the tune-up call on the Skoal Racing Chevy flopper was too aggressive, causing the car to violently spin the tires as Wilkerson raced to a pass of 4.848 seconds at 317.72 mph to earn the round win.

"Obviously, we had a mechanical malfunction," Johnson said. "It spun the tires as soon as I hit the pedal and barely moved. It's frustrating because we had a good race car."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the fourth annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, Oct. 28-31, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Johnson won the spring Las Vegas event in 2001.

-www.snakeracing.com