Bob Gilbertson’s Funny Car had a new sponsor at his first race of the season. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the Houston field. (Ron Lewis photo)
"I had a big smile on my face on the plane ride back from Houston," Bob Gilbertson said. "There's something about Houston, I don't know what it is, but we always do well there. I won this race in 2000 and to show up at our first race of the year without having tested much and to achieve our goal of qualifying was a great start to our season. I've got to give all the credit to Nicky (Boninfante, crew chief) and all the guys on the team. They worked together flawlessly, didn't make any mistakes and their long hours of work payed off.
"Plus the response to our new sponsor and our new graphics was phenomenal," Gilbertson added. "Jay Pennington of Tradicion Azul Tequila attended the first drag race he's ever been to and he was blown away by the whole experience. The fans all loved the car and to put the icing on the cake we won the prestigious Best Appearing Crew award so the whole weekend was a great kick-off to the season."
Tommy Johnson Jr. (Randy Anderson photo)
In the opening round of eliminations, Tommy Johnson Jr. squared off against veteran driver Gary Densham. Both drivers were on and off the throttle, trying to get traction to the ground, and Tommy’s efforts paid off in the form of a round win, 6.088/217.63 to Densham’s 13.512.
“The Monster Energy car left really hard,” explained Johnson, “but it started to shake about 150 feet out. The track conditions are way different from yesterday. (Much cooler today.) I was a little worried about tire shake and I was kind of ready for it. I caught it pretty quick, but it just didn't want to hook up.
“I pedaled it once and it took off. But then it kept coming loose and coming loose. I couldn’t see Densham and couldn’t hear him. I kept watching the guard wall and the center line and kept pedaling. I figured as long as I wasn’t close to either one and it was still running, I’d keep going.
“That was probably not text book on how to pedal a car, but that is text book on ‘never quit, never die and get there first on Sunday’."