Tommy Johnson Jr. raced to his first win of the season during the 22nd Annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals near Chicago.  

The win moved him up to second in the Funny Car point standings and brought home the third consecutive win this year for a Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat NHRA Funny Car driver.

The win was the 18th of Johnson’s career in his 50th overall final and second this season, and marked his first victory since the NHRA Finals in November 2017, ending a 32-race drought. The triumph was also the second for the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver in five career final-round appearances at Route 66 Raceway.

Tommy Johnson Jr notched his 18th career NHRA fuel FC win.

The Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) pilot led a field of seven Dodge//SRT Mopar Funny Car drivers into eliminations, with five advancing out of the opening round and two into the semifinals. Johnson’s Chicago win marks the third in a row for Dodge//SRT Mopar following victories at Atlanta and Richmond by DSR teammate Ron Capps, and is the fourth in nine races this year for the Charger SRT Hellcat.

Johnson kicked off race day from the No. 2 spot after a strong qualifying effort that saw the 2015 Chicago event winner collect six bonus points. He posted a steady 3.946-second elapsed time (ET) in round one to defeat fellow Dodge Charger driver Paul Lee, and was even better in the quarterfinals with the quickest pass of the round at 3.941-seconds to outrun DSR Mopar Dodge teammate Matt Hagan.

Johnson left first in the semifinals against John Force with a quicker .081-second reaction time to Force’s slower .137 mark, earning him the holeshot win on a 3.972/321.81 run and a spot against No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight in the final round. Hight knocked out three Dodge machines on his path to the final but Johnson ended that trend in dramatic fashion, overcoming a “boom and bang” under the hood to hold off Hight, who smoked the tires early, at the stripe.

“I felt it (the car) start spinning the tires and I didn’t see him (opponent Hight), and it’s been a long time since I’ve won, so I was going to leg it to the lights, I didn’t care. We were going to get that win. I’m just happy for everyone – Make-A-Wish, Mopar, Hangsterfers, our new partner Okuma. I drove my Dodge Hellcat to the track this weekend and I just drove this one to the winner’s circle, baby!

DSR team racer Ron Capps had his rather impressive NHRA win streak halted in round #2 at Chicago.

Robert Hight qualified #1 and set both low ET and top speed while advancing to the championship round.

Jack Beckman roared to another strong event placing at Joliet — placing his Hellcat in the “final four” on Sunday

Event Essentials:   NHRA Route 66 Nationals (May 30-June 3rd, 2019) 

Highly skilled Toronto-native Jeff Arend had a nice effort subbing in the Jim Head Racing Mustang at Joliet. He qualified #13 (3.985 secs) and won his first round match versus Shawn Langdon.

Wily John Force went to the semi final round at Chicago.

Blake Alexander continued his progression in FC racing — he qualified #12 at the Route 66 Nationals.

Posted with files by Darren Jacobs and Bruce Biegler

Photos by Bruce Biegler

To view additional FC class racing photos from this event visit our LMLCMedia gallery presentation : HERE