Tommy Johnson Jr. talks return to the raceway ahead of new drag racing season

Drag racers like, Tommy Johnson Jr., driver of the MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car, are experiencing one of the longest breaks that they’ve took from the track, ever.

Now, after a four-month hiatus due to COVID-19, the 2020 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season roars back into action this weekend. The season resumes with a ‘double header’ of back-to-back races at Lucas Oil Raceway this Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12 and the following weekend, July 18-19.

Local NHRA racer Tommy Johnson Jr. enters the race weekend as the most recent Funny Car winner on tour, having won the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix in late February, the last NHRA event contested before Coronavirus halted the season after just two races.

Johnson has been filling his four-month stretch away from the track with various remodeling and construction products around his house, as well as growing TA Candles, an Etsy-based candle business he co-owns with his wife, Amy.

With the NHRA season ready to resume this weekend, Tommy shares his thoughts on getting strapped back into his 330-mile-per-hour MD Anderson Dodge Funny Car after being out of the seat since February.

Before he hits the track on Saturday for two chances to qualify for Sunday’s eliminations race, Tommy and his team will have an opportunity to ‘knock the rust off’ on Friday during a test session.

Tommy would like nothing more than to keep his win streak alive and capture the victory at both Indianapolis events to take over the Funny Car points lead. After the back-to-back Indy races, the NHRA has two weeks off before embarking on a 14-race schedule which finds them back at Lucas Oil Raceway over Labor Day weekend for the annual NHRA U.S. Nationals.

For more information on the revised 2020 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule, click HERE.

To learn more about the Don Schumacher Racing team, visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.