Sonoma: Tommy Johnson Jr. final summary

Johnson Jr. Suffers First Round Setback at Sonoma SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 1, 2004) -- Despite suffering an opening round setback Sunday at Infineon Raceway, Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Blue Skoal Racing crew maintained their place in the Funny Car ...

Johnson Jr. Suffers First Round Setback at Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 1, 2004) -- Despite suffering an opening round setback Sunday at Infineon Raceway, Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Blue Skoal Racing crew maintained their place in the Funny Car points standings.

On a cool overcast day at the Bruton Smith-owned track, Johnson was matched up against No. 4 qualifier Cruz Pedregon in the first round. The veteran drivers had nearly identical reaction times before Johnson's Skoal Racing Chevy Monte Carlo lost traction allowing Pedregon to drive by for the win. Johnson posted a run of 7.688 seconds at 111.81 mph, while Pedregon, a fellow Chevy driver, powered to a pass of 4.854 at 311.63 to collect the round win. Johnson remains 11th in the POWERade points standings.

"We're obviously disappointed," Johnson said. "All I can say is that the cool conditions were different from qualifying and we were the first pair of cars to hit the track. The blue guys will regroup and hopefully turn the tables at Brainerd (Minn.) in a few weeks."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 23rd annual Lucas Oil Nationals, Aug. 12-15, at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn.