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Wednesdays with Wayne – Knoxville Podium, New Website!
(Bill W) June 13, 2007 – A third place finish for Wayne Johnson at Knoxville Raceway was a great improvement from the previous week's struggles. Last Thursday, a problem was discovered in the front axles used on the FattFro 410 sprint car. The wrong size had been shipped to the team last winter, and by the time they had discovered it, they had run two shows on the big half mile with a short track front axle. Wayne and Crew Chief Jeremy Rankin made the appropriate changes to the #14AJ and the results were much better last Saturday night. "It was ten times better handling," says the Oklahoma transplant who now calls Knoxville home. "I'm excited about it. That motor had 11 nights on it too, so we'll send it back now (for a refresh)."
The team had been chasing their setup, and much of the changes they made were to compensate for the wrong front axle (which they didn't discover at the time). "The stuff we were doing to compensate for the axle deal kind of screwed us up, and took us out of our normal mindset," says Wayne. Despite not having the car at 100%, Wayne still managed the sixth fastest time of the night, and transferred through his heat race to the 20-lap main event.
Starting from row one, Wayne trailed pole-sitter Brent Antill at the outset. Two restarts saw both Dusty Zomer and Skip Jackson get by him. He recalls the passes that set him back. "It was my fault. I was behind (Antill), and he'd go to the cushion, and I'd run the bottom trying to get by him. I should have just ridden around the top and gave him a slider, but I decided against it and stayed on the bottom. On the first restart, Skip (Jackson) got by me on the high side, and then on the next restart, I thought Skip would go to the bottom and I stayed on top. Then I saw Skip wasn't going to the top, and I went to the bottom to pass him, because I'm not going to just follow anyone. Well, I got stuck out in the middle and let (Dusty) Zomer get by me too. But damn, he was fast Saturday!"
Wayne would blow by Antill into the show position later on. He trailed Zomer and Jackson at the checkers. "We got by Antill there and we were actually running down Skip late in the race. We just need more laps. I haven't had a lot of laps there lately. We blistered our back tires and no one else did, so that tells me we're doing something wrong. We were doing things to compensate for our axle problems, so I think we were too tied down on the left rear."
"I was happy with the third, but actually I think we were better than third," Wayne continues. "We just haven't been doing it enough, and now we need to just get back into a rhythm with it. It gave me some confidence in that everything is back to driving the way it did before. We need to go back and do what we used to do, rather than reinventing the wheel. Finishing third with the car we had, just tells me we can be as fast as Zomer."
Northern Tour Begins
The American Sprint Cars on Tour 360 series starts its week-long Northern Tour starting this Saturday night at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa. Wayne pulled within 28 points of leader, Gary Wright, on the ASCoT eastern swing three weeks ago, and is determined to win the championship worth $50,000. Adjustments have been made to make Wayne's transition from the 410 to the 360 as smooth as possible. "We've changed the cars so the steering is the same on both cars now," he says. "We want to keep everything the same as much as possible. That way when we bounce back and forth, there isn't too much of a difference. We especially want to get ready for that 360 Nationals night (August 4) at Knoxville when we go back and forth in the same night."
After racing on the banked ½ mile in Denison, Wayne and the crew will tow North to the 3/8 mile high-banked Interstate Auto Centers' I-90 Speedway near Hartford, South Dakota on Tuesday night. In the meantime, Monday will see Wayne and the Mike and Tim Hammers/Robbie Forbes #94 sprint car at the Travel Lodge/Oaks Hotel in Sioux Falls for the ASCoT tailgate Cook-out party. Be sure to come out and say "Hi" to Wayne and the team.
A Look Ahead
ASCoT will move on to the North Central Speedway near Brainerd, Minnesota on Wednesday, June 20. The northern swing will conclude on Saturday, June 23, at the Dakota State Fair Speedway near Huron, South Dakota.
T-shirts
T-shirts can now be ordered at www.Racingthreads.com and Wayne's trailer. Wayne would like to thank Racingthreads.com and FattFro for all of their help with this!
Wayne's Website Is Up!
Visit Wayne's new website at www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com! Check back often for updates, as it is a work in progress!
Wayne's World
Gary Reed in Sioux Falls, SD asks: What is the key to doing well during a Speedweek situation when you're running a lot of nights in a row?
Wayne answers: I would say that one of the main things is to keep the team focused through all the travel. And the key to that is to be as organized and prepared as possible before we start. We need to make sure that we keep our routine as consistent as possible to be sure that all the equipment is well maintained and nothing is overlooked.
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 Northern Tour will include only one track that Wayne has raced. He was third behind Tyler Walker and Shane Stewart in World of Outlaws Gumout action at the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, South Dakota on August 13, 2002. Terry McCarl was fourth and Jason Sides was fifth.
"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, www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Eagle Chassis, Fast Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me!
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com
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