DSR Houston Post Race Recap
NHRA SpringNationals
Event 5 of 24 (Houston)
Royal Purple Raceway
Baytown, Texas
April 20-22, 2018
DSR Houston Race Day Highlights:
- Jack Beckman retains the Funny Car points lead
- Tony Schumacher tied for the Top Fuel points lead (with Steve Torrence)
- Leah Pritchett leaves with the Royal Purple Raceway Top Fuel E.T. record (3.680-seconds)
(EXCERPT)
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 7 (3.926 E.T. at 313.00 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.989 E.T. at 309.49 MPH defeated by J.R. Todd 3.955 E.T. at 321.73 MPH
Race Recap:
Tommy Johnson Jr.’s first round loss against opponent J.R. Todd was the ultimate example of ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’ Johnson, who was previously 3-0 against Todd, charged out of the gate with all candles lit. Both Johnson and Todd were straight down the groove in an exciting side-by-side race. Unfortunately for Johnson, Todd edged past and was able to take the win with his 3.955-second pass vs. Johnson’s 3.989.
Johnson’s 3.989 was the fifth quickest E.T. of the session and would have beat half of the drivers who were able to advance to round two.
Quotable:
The conditions out here are so tricky and today was a perfect example of ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’ We made a nice run, fifth quickest of the round, but came up short. That’s part of the luck in racing sometimes. We have a really good race car, we went down the track when a lot of them didn’t so we’re not going to change anything. We’ll just go on to the next one, keep doing what we’re doing and it’ll come to us.
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Points Standing:
298 points, ranked sixth
Leads seventh ranked Ron Capps by nine points
Trails fifth ranked Robert Hight by 28 points