In a sport where success is measured by being ahead and going forward, Tommy Johnson Jr. sure likes being behind things.
For more than 30 years, the Iowa native has spent much of his time being behind the wheel of Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters, earning 25 national event wins and 62 final-round appearances.
Last year, the man nicknamed “TJ” moved on to another profession that again has him behind something — but this time, it’s behind a microphone as analyst/commentator on IHRA telecasts on SPEED SPORT 1, SPEED SPORT 2 and IHRA.TV.
He continues in that role for IHRA this season and is having the time of his life.
“I wasn’t really ready to quit racing, and would still go racing today,” Johnson told CompetitionPlus.com. “I’d love to go racing, but unfortunately, sponsorships and things like that nowadays are a little different, a little tougher, and there was no opportunity to drive.”
The 58-year-old Johnson, who now calls suburban Indianapolis home — and where several of his businesses are located — admits he misses being in the cockpit of a race car, but he’s getting just as much enjoyment bringing insight and knowledge to the IHRA telecasts.
“Plus, it’s safer,” Johnson, a veteran of more than 450 career starts, said with a laugh.
Johnson’s role in the broadcast booth and in front of the camera is to not only help drag racing fans understand some of the nuances of the sport, particularly the nitro classes, but also help educate fans on what they should look for and pay attention to as a race progresses.
Johnson is among the most seasoned and well-respected drivers in drag racing. He’s driven for some of the top owners in the sport, including the late Don Schumacher, Kenny Bernstein, Don Prudhomme and former NHRA team owner and current NASCAR team owner and three-time Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs.
Johnson has come a long way from his rural Iowa roots, literally winning around the world, with event triumphs not only in the United States and Canada, but across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in places like England, Finland, Sweden, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
He’s also in a very select class of drag racers, being one of only 19 drivers in NHRA history to win national events in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, as well as earning No. 1 qualifier honors a combined 18 times in both classes.
TJ is celebrating his 50th year in drag racing this year. He began his long and successful career at just 8 years old, racing a Honda three-wheeler at his local drag strip, and earned his NHRA competition license seven years later.
Five years after that, in 1988 at just 20 years old, he earned his first NHRA national event win at National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio.
Other career highlights include becoming the 15th member of the Slick 50 300-mph Club as one of the first 16 nitro drivers to reach 300 mph (302.01 in 1994). He also became a member of the Cragar 4-Second Club as one of the first 16 nitro drivers to complete a quarter-mile run in less than five seconds (4.964 in 1990).
As his racing career began slowing toward its end, Johnson recorded career bests in elapsed time (3.837 seconds) and speed (333.82 mph) that still stand.
Johnson’s shift from the cockpit to the announcing booth was not really anything new, as he made numerous appearances over the years on NHRA telecasts on networks like ESPN and FloRacing, as well as in public-address roles.
He had just done the preseason Professional Racers Organization race in Bradenton, Fla., in early 2025 for FloRacing when he received calls from IHRA and its TV production house, Windy City Creative, asking if he’d be interested in continuing in a TV color-commentator role for the 2025 IHRA season.
“I wanted to do it,” Johnson said. “I thought it was a good opportunity and I’ve actually enjoyed it more than I expected to.”
Which is saying a lot because, as TJ readily admits, “I’m not a very good spectator. I can’t just go watch a race.
“People would tell me to come to the races and I’d say, ‘I’m sorry, can’t do it.’ But this has been easier because you do have some involvement with what’s going on and you have a purpose, you have a job.
“Wandering around the pits and talking to your friends is okay, but after about 30 minutes, I’m ready to go home.
“This has been better. I’ve taken on the challenge and with each broadcast, I want to get better and I want the broadcast to be better.
“I want to see what else we can do to make it more interesting and try to think of ideas, like what hasn’t been done in this type of television before. And what can we do that may be interesting to fans and what they would like.
“I’ve really taken to the challenge and enjoyed it.”
Johnson is paired in the booth with veteran motorsports play-by-play voice Ken Stout.
“Ken Stout has been phenomenal to work with,” Johnson said. “He has actually made it easy.
“I don’t know that it would have been this easy if it wasn’t for somebody like him. He just really took me under his wing and gave me some pointers.
“When we sat down and started working together, it was like we’d worked together for 10 years already.”
In addition to all the IHRA national events on land, Johnson is taking on a new challenge: announcing drag racing on the water.
“We’re going to venture into and do the boat drags,” Johnson said. “My cousin used to drag boat race, so I’ve got a small background in it, not much, but a little bit, and I always wanted to learn more about it.”
Johnson then adds with another laugh, “And, hey man, it’s drag racing. It doesn’t matter if it’s water or pavement, it’s still got the basic principles.”
Between his broadcast work for IHRA, as well as running several businesses, spare time is sparse for Johnson.
But he does concede one thing.
“I miss racing. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m at a 12,” he quipped. “I really miss the competition.
“Driving the car is phenomenal. I love driving because the whole goal of driving these cars, which are animals and super hard to drive, is to do it and do it well.
“That’s the challenge. I miss that challenge of doing it really, really well and better than other people.
“I never really got the adrenaline rush just from the ride. I mean, it’s hard not to, but I got the adrenaline rush from the competition and the ride kind of together.”
While opportunities in the United States are few and far between, Johnson has been able to get his racing fix the last few years by competing overseas in Australia.
“I was down there three times last year, and a couple of times the year before,” he said. “I think I’ve made 13 or 14 trips to Australia to race down there and still have some opportunities coming up to do that.
“I enjoy going and doing the international stuff.”
He then adds, not bragging but in more of a matter-of-fact way, that his fellow drag racers in the United States can’t even come close to boasting about:
“I’ve won a Top Fuel race in six different countries. I’m the only guy that’s ever done that, by a mile. It’s kind of a neat status thing.”
But there’s one thing still on his bucket list when he goes back Down Under the next time.
“I’ve got wins in Top Fuel over there, but my goal is to win a race in Australia in a Funny Car,” he said. “I’ve got a runner-up in Funny Car, but no one has ever won in Australia in both a Top Fueler and a Funny Car.
“I want to try to knock that one off.”
Even though he’s closer to the end of his racing career than the beginning, time is something Johnson is very cognizant of.
But he also feels he can afford to be selective. He doesn’t want to race just to race; he wants to race in a ride that he can win in.
“I don’t know that there’s a particular class I’d want to come back into, but I do think there’s a particular competitiveness,” Johnson said.
“I would definitely want to be in a competitive ride. I did this for so long — and I drove a lot of stuff that I probably shouldn’t have driven — and just would drive anything that came along.
“I’ve done that, but I don’t want to do that anymore.
“The only thing that I don’t miss about racing is the travel and being gone and on the road and the work that it takes to do that.
“If I did come back and run, I’d want to make sure it was a competitive team, one that you can go out and win the race.
“I don’t want to just try to go qualify anymore. I know that sounds a little arrogant, but I’ve been there and done that and I don’t want to do it anymore.”
Johnson admits he still gets nibbles of opportunity every now and then, but thus far, nothing has come about that has convinced him it is the right situation.
But one thing he immediately disregards is owning and competing in his own race car once again.
“No, I’m smarter than that,” he laughed.
While he still maintains contact with numerous friends and fellow drivers in NHRA, one thing Johnson will not be drawn into is comparing NHRA with IHRA.
“I don’t see any issues with the different organizations,” Johnson said. “I mean, it’s making drag racing better. That’s all I care about.
“I get so frustrated watching the internet and all the negativity and trying to create rivalries between the two sanctioning bodies.
“Everybody loves drag racing. Let’s try to make it the best we can make it.
“There were a few years when it wasn’t doing too well. It just wasn’t where it needed to be.
“If anything can make it better, I’m all about it. A little competition is good for everybody.
“So let’s make it good on both sides and have more opportunities for everybody. There’s not a lot of opportunities. So anything we can do to make more opportunities for everybody, I think it’s great.”
Johnson gives credit to IHRA owner Darryl Cuttell for investing heavily in the sport since acquiring IHRA in 2025, including bringing back long-dormant tracks like Memphis International Raceway.
“The thing that makes it better for the sport is trying to revive some of these tracks that have gone by the wayside,” Johnson said. “There’s several tracks already coming back that were going to be nothing but an empty field.
“That’s obviously a plus if we can continue to get the drag strips coming back instead of them going away.
“I’ve had several people come up to me and say they’ve never been to a racetrack and seen so many people smiling, laughing and having a good time.
“A lot of the years I raced, it was always a frustration and somebody was unhappy with this and they didn’t like that.
“And man, you just don’t see it at these races.
“I like that culture and that atmosphere that they’ve created in the IHRA.
“There’s a couple of reasons, like they have a barbecue for everybody, food every night for everybody.
“And everybody laughs about the free ice, but I’ll tell you what, everybody mentions the free ice. So obviously it’s made an impact.
“I see just a good thing and it’s bringing back a very fun environment.
“The camaraderie amongst all the competitors is really good. And it makes it a fun atmosphere.
“Even for me in the broadcast booth, it makes it fun.”
“I’ve told several people that this isn’t going to be a quick transformation. It’s been incredibly quick from where Darryl’s taken us already.
“Just because of the investment he’s put into it, it’s been extremely quick and tremendously more quick than what it would have been with anybody else doing it.
“But it’s still going to take time.”
“I don’t think people understand the amount of effort and work and what it takes to put events on.
“A lot more goes into the events than what the racer or fan thinks about, and they’re making progress.
“When it first started last year, the first few races were a little rough. There were issues with this and issues with that.
“Each race I’ve watched, it gets better and better.
“We try to make the broadcast better. We try to make the racing better and everything.
“It’s going to be a slow process, but it’s so fast-tracked already that I hope it continues that way — and I see it happening.”
“It’s going to take two or three years to get this to where it’s stable, where everybody can rely on it.
“There’s just so much to do to get this back going and to be a premier sanctioning body again, like it was back in the day.
“It just doesn’t happen overnight.”
While he’s very happy in the broadcast booth, Johnson still would like to get back behind the wheel for something that has been on his bucket list for several years.
“I’d like to win one more time in Funny Car,” Johnson said. “I thought about this the other day.
“I’d like to wait until 2030 and then go race and see if I can’t win another Wally.
“If I win one in 2030, then I’d have won at least once in every decade and beat John Force.
“Force and I are tied right now. That would be neat.”
