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NHRA: Tommy Johnson Jr. -- Red Hot in Gibbs' Funny Car

16 October 1999

    DALLAS/FT. WORTH (Oct. 15, 1999) -- Tommy Johnson Jr. has been a
remarkable driving student.  If grades were given, he'd likely be the 1999
NHRA rookie class valedictorian.

    OK, so he wasn't a total novice when he accepted Joe Gibbs' offer to
drive his Interstate Batteries Hot Rod Pontiac Funny Car, beginning with the
10th race of the year.  But he did find out that making the transition from
Top Fuel (where he'd raced since 1990) to Funny Car was more difficult than
he expected.

    He endured some tough times - like successive first-round losses at
Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, Calif., NHRA's western swing - but never was
discouraged.  Now he is beginning to show why Gibbs sought his driving
services.

    Johnson - 10 races into his Funny Car career with three events remaining
on the schedule - is the hottest Funny Car driver going into the O'Reilly's
Fall Nationals, Oct. 22-24, at the Texas Motorplex.  He's won two of the
last
three races (at Reading, Pa., and Memphis) and was runner-up in the other
(Topeka, Kan.).  While that might have him in title contention had he been
in
the seat all season, Johnson and the Interstate Batteries team are on course
to earn a place in the top 10, something that was simply a long-shot goal
four months ago.

    "The guys didn't think we would have a decent chance of getting a top 10
finish, but I kept telling them, 'Oh yes we do,'" Johnson said.  "As long as
we get in the top 10, that would be a great goal to accomplish.  We missed
quite a few races at the beginning of the season so if we could still make
the top 10 that would make this a great year."

    He's really not that far from finding a place in the top 10.  He is 14th
with 677 points, 31 behind 10th-place Scotty Cannon and 81 behind No. 7 Jim
Epler.

    "Racing at the Motorplex gives us good track conditions," Johnson said
of
owner Billy Meyer's concrete racing surface. "Our car really likes running
on
the good tracks and that makes us even more confident going into not only
this race, but the ones in Houston (Oct. 31) and Pomona (Calif., Nov. 14).

    "When we went to Reading, we really didn't have a very good tune-up for
the tricky track surfaces, like the ones that bit us earlier on the western
swing, but all of the sudden we stumbled across something."

    That "something" - from crew chief Wes Cerny's tuning tricks - produced
four very consistent runs at Memphis, where rain played havoc with
qualifying, limiting drivers to two qualifying attempts.  Johnson made the
most of his, running 4.972 seconds at 305.29 mph to take the No. 2 position.
During eliminations, he beat Cruz Pedregon (5.005, 295.72) and Cristen
Powell
(4.999, 300.73) before meeting eight-time champion John Force in the
semifinals.

    Johnson ousted Force (4.990, 299.66), then defeated Tony Pedregon,
Force's teammate, in the finals, 4.996, 300.33 to 5.916, 176.72.

    "When you can take out both Force's cars it doesn't get any better than
that," commented Johnson, who lost to Force in the Topeka final.

    Unless, Johnson could've added, more race wins and seventh place are
included later.