JOHNSON JR. FINISHES INDY QUALIFYING IN NO. 3 POSITION

CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 3, 2006) – After three days of qualifying at NHRA drag racing’s marquee event, Tommy Johnson, Jr. drove his Skoal RacingSM Chevy Funny Car to the No. 3 qualifying position Sunday at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis to conclude qualifying at the 52nd annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. Johnson’s quickest qualifying attempt came! on Saturday evening when he blasted to a 4.701-second pass in his special edition Don “the Snake” Prudhomme-owned Monte Carlo.

After making the third quickest pass of his career on Saturday evening at the historic ORP quarter mile, Johnson entered the final day of qualifying for the U.S. Nationals in the No. 3 qualifying spot. The eight-time NHRA winner powered his silver-and-blue Monte Carlo to a performance of 4.750 seconds at 324.36 mph to card the quickest elapsed time of the Sunday’s first qualifying session. On his fifth and final qualifying attempt, Johnson clocked a consistent 4.823 at 321.04 to finish qualifying with five solid passes for the Skoal Racing/Lucas Oil team. The Iowa native remained third in the flopper order behind John Force and Robert Hight, the only two drivers to record 4.6-second passes this weekend. There were 22 cars attempting to make the 16-car show th! is weekend.

“We made five really strong runs during qualifying this weekend,” Johnson said. “In fact, that should be really close to winning the Full Throttle award. Whether day or night, we’ve got a really solid race car. I fully expect us to go rounds on Monday and we should be back in the final round tomorrow afternoon.”

Johnson and the Skoal Racing team look to claim their first career Skoal Showdown victory when final eliminations for NHRA drag racing’s marquee event begin at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday morning. Johnson posted a runner-up finish at Indy in 2002.

Q1 4.747 ET, 322.96 mph No. 5
Q2 4.814 ET, 318.32 mph No. 5
Q3 4.701 ET, 325.14 mph No. 3
Q4 4.750 ET, 324.36 mph No. 3
Q5 4.823 ET, 321.04 mph No. 3