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Wednesdays with Wayne – Highs at Lowe's!
(Bill W) November 5, 2008 – Hopping into new cars has been a frequent occurrence for Wayne Johnson lately. He did it again at the Vault World Finals with the World of Outlaws last weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, and passed with flying colors. That's nothing new for Wayne, though. With a top ten in Friday's preliminary event at the Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway while going through motor problems, and earning hard-charger honors in Saturday's finale, Wayne proved he is at home racing with the best of the best.
Racing the Glenn Styres/Miles Hill #77x for the first time in the "Queen City", Wayne attacked qualifying action on Thursday. The format called for two sets of time trials to determine Friday and Saturday lineups. A Vault one-on-one match race was also a part of the festivities, and it included the top five in WoO points, along with the next five quickest qualifiers. Wayne was one of them, and was summoned from the pits for a challenge with Jason Meyers, who was on a roll in the event. "Meyers had the preferred (bottom) line," says Wayne. "I told everyone before I went out there that I was going to jump the start. It was really the only chance anybody had with the track the way it was starting on the outside. You gotta try!"
The try failed and Wayne went down after his gamble was called. He had to start behind Meyers on the next start, and Meyers took off. In qualifying, Wayne timed in sixth quick in the first round and 21st in the second amongst the 47 cars assembled. "The motor definitely ran this time," Wayne said of his primary Fisher engine that had given him some troubles in 2008. "There's no doubt about that. I was extremely pleased with the way it qualified. The second round should have been better; I just screwed up and got the car too free."
The optimism quickly went away in the heat race after a strong start from inside row two. "We were running third, and I was feeling good about things," he explains. "That's when it blew up…kicked the rods right out."
It was time for "Old Lucy", the motor that has been faithful to Wayne for five years now, and has carried him…especially during the Knoxville Nationals. After bolting the backup powerplant in, Wayne ran away with the B main, before lining up thirteenth for the main event. In the end, he would run a steady race and finish tenth in the prelim. "Everybody was happy about the night," he says. "'Old Lucy' came through for us again."
The #77x, sponsored by Iroquois Poker was put together in a hurry, and Wayne got all he could out of it during the weekend. "It's really a 360 car," he says. "It had the steel rotors and everything on it. It was about 100 pounds heavy."
The 21st quick time Wayne recorded on Thursday set him up outside row three of the first heat on Saturday night. He rode to the fifth and final transfer spot, putting him 21st on the starting grid for the finale. He immediately surged forward. "The car was really nice," he explains. "The yellows (a number of them) were really killing me, because I put a little harder tire on than most, and it took awhile to get going. Once we got that tire firing though, we were rolling! That's one of the best handling cars I've driven."
Wayne roared forward despite the slowdowns, and ended up just short of another top ten in eleventh. The hard-charger effort was not captured on the SPEED channel. "I don't know how they could do it better, but they just show the leaders," says Wayne of the TV coverage. "We got by Danny Lasoski before he pulled off, and Kerry Madsen before he got into that wrecked car. We got by Paul McMahan and Fred Rahmer. We were passing some good cars out there. We were definitely moving up through there. I'm proud of the effort there with a new team. We had the best of the World of Outlaws, Pennsylvania, and the East Coast, so I think we did well for the first time out."
2009 plans and preparations are in the works, so stay tuned to Wednesday's with Wayne for an upcoming announcement!
T-shirts and Hats
Separate shirts for the H&H #94 and FattFro #14AJ are now available at the trailer.
Wayne's Website
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Pat Comer asks: You've had a great season. Where would you rank it among the seasons in your racing career?
Wayne answers: I think it ranks up there with quite a few of them. We didn't win a championship, and winning eleven races, if you look at the past several years is a little low. If you take out the wins at Volusia (All Stars and Outlaws) and the prelim at the Knoxville Nationals, it was just a normal season for me. Volusia and Knoxville really made it one of the best seasons we've had.
Got a question for Wayne? Send it to us at [email protected], and we may answer it in this section! Put "? for Wayne" in your subject line. He'll try to keep it clean if you do!
Wayne's Fast Facts
The year in the 410's was feast or famine for Wayne. Some handling and mechanical problems slowed him at Knoxville Raceway, but he scored a couple of monumental wins along the way as well. In fifteen feature starts in the 410, he registered two wins, and six top tens. He is one of six drivers to qualify for the last six Knoxville Nationals finales joining Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Danny Lasoski, Terry McCarl and Shane Stewart. His wins came at Volusia Speedway, with just about everyone (All Stars and WoO) in the house. Sam Hafertepe Jr. was second, ahead of Danny Lasoski, Craig Dollansky and Donny Schatz. He also won his prelim at the Knoxville Nationals ahead of Lasoski, Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild and Daryn Pittman.
"Wednesday's with Wayne"
"Wednesday's With Wayne" is an up close look at the past, present and future of colorful and talented sprint car driver Wayne Johnson. You'll never know what to expect next with Wayne, so don't miss us on Wednesdays!
To receive "Wednesday's with Wayne", send an e-mail to [email protected] with "Wayne" in the subject line.
Wayne would like to thank H&H Enterprises, Pearson Farms, R&A Farms, FattFro, Stone Mountain Access, Deberg Concrete, www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Maxim Chassis, ARP Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
(Jason McConnell Photo)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IAUSA[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
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