Tommy Johnson Jr Phoenix Saturday test notes

From The Snake Pit
Johnson Jr. Resumes Testing For Season-Opener in Valley of The Sun

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 7, 2004) -- Tommy Johnson Jr. and his Skoal Racing blue Funny Car team picked up where it left off a week ago in Las Vegas Saturday when he tested his Don Prudhomme-owned Funny Car at Firebird International Raceway outside of Phoenix.

Johnson, who enters his fourth season driving for "the Snake," clocked the quickest 60-foot time on Friday when he tripped the beams in .879-seconds. Saturday, Johnson and his Skoal Racing blue team continued to test its new engine combination, making three passes on the Firebird Raceway quarter-mile.

"On the first run, the track was still pretty marginal," Johnson said. "The track got a little bit better as the day went on. It was good enough to get to half-track, but after half-track there's not much there. It was too cold for the night pass. The conditions changed so much from the afternoon session. So, Mike (Green) just took a shot at what conditions might be during a night qualifying session.

"We've seen some good signs. We're making some progress with the clutch setup, but it's frustrating to try and test here and get your tune-up straightened out when the track is lousy. If you were the only guy out here not getting down the track, then you'd worry a little, but very few people have made it down the track. It's a hard test learning curve right now because of the tricky track conditions."

Johnson posted consistent 60-foot times on Saturday, recording a .888-60-foot time on the first run, a .887-second time on the second run, and he stopped the 60-foot times at .888-seconds on the final run of the night.

Johnson and the Skoal Racing blue team will resume its preparation for the 2004 NHRA season-opener, Feb. 19-22, at Pomona Raceway in Pomona, Calif. on Sunday.

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