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Wednesdays with Wayne – Bermuda Triangle!
(Bill W) March 5, 2008 – Southeast Texas is known as the Golden Triangle, but last weekend, it resembled the Bermuda Triangle to several competitors including sprint car driver Wayne Johnson. Competitors disappeared quickly in the weekend's feature events at Golden Triangle Raceway Park near Beaumont on Friday, and Houston Raceway Park on Saturday.
Things were going well enough for Wayne when he drew outside row two of his heat event on Friday night at the ¼ mile bullring. He was cruising along when Jimmy Brooks had problems in front of him. "His (Brooks) motor blew up or something, and stalled, and I ran into the back of him and turned over," says Wayne. "It didn't even smash the wing. It cleared the wing, and bent the front axle just a little bit. We were able to get back in the race." Starting at the rear, Wayne was able to scramble back and finish third under green/white/checker conditions.
Starting outside row five in the main event, things ended before they ever began. A nasty pileup involving several drivers left Wayne with nowhere to go, but back to the trailer. "That was a nasty accident," he says. "A guy flipped and landed on me. There were multiple cars, and we didn't even get that one started." Officially, he was scored eighteenth.
It was on to the 3/8 mile Houston Raceway Park Saturday, and slick conditions awaited Wayne, who drew poorly for his heat starting spot. The bad luck continued. "In the heat, I got into the back of a slower car and broke the nose wing," says Wayne. "We were holding on from there and finished fifth. That put us in row nine for the feature."
The main event was a race of attrition for the second night in a row. "We started in the back there, and passed a couple cars," says Wayne. "I went through 38 tear-offs. The tracks last weekend had a ton of water on them. We made three or four pit stops over the course of the race, because they were wrecking them left and right. We were about involved in a couple of those too."
Despite restarting in the back a handful of times, Wayne was able to climb to seventh at the checkers. Why all the trips to the work area? "We were just trying to work on it and get better," says the Knoxville, Iowa driver. "We were a little better, but we're still a little concerned about how to get it going on the smaller tracks. I've talked to some guys that run them this week, so we have some ideas."
With the American Sprint Cars on Tour set to resume racing March 14 and 15 at the Devil's Bowl Speedway near Mesquite, Texas, Wayne has confidence in the car's performance. "I think we're going to get a handle on it by the time we go back to points racing. This car (Maxim) doesn't sit on the left rear like our Eagle did, but we'll get that set up. I think we'll be good at Devil's Bowl in a couple of weeks just because we know the place so well. We've raced there more than anywhere that we're going with the series this year."
The best thing about last weekend is that it is in the past. "I think we tore up more stuff last weekend, then we did all last year," says Wayne. "I think we turned about 35 laps total all weekend, and we really needed more to shake this thing down."
"We Beat the Best of the Best With a Whole Lot Less!"
Wayne sat in with the boys from Dirt Nation on Monday night, February 25, and this quote about his win at Volusia as well as many others entertained the listeners. If you'd like to listen to the entire (approximately 25 minutes) interview, just log on to this link:
http://dirtnation.net/2008/02/25/wayne-johnson-ascs-360-sprint-cars/
Keep Voting for Wayne!
Wayne's win in February at Volusia against the best in the business gave him a unique opportunity to receive $12,000 in the Alltel Dirt Car All Star Challenge. Fans will choose one Volusia winner as their All Star driver. The winning vote getter will receive $12,000! You are allowed to vote once per day through March 16, so get online and vote at www.AlltelAllStar.com!
Wayne's popular win has put him on top of the voting polls to this point, but he could definitely use your vote every day, because the guys who drive the fendered cars are coming on strong! "It would be pretty cool to win that deal…$12,000 would be huge for a team like ours," he says. "I want to thank my wife Erin, and my mother and father-in-law, they've been going all out to the get the word out about this! The gap is narrowing, so we need the sprint car people to keep voting every day!"
Up Next
The ASCoT will kick back into action at the Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas on March 14 and 15, before heading back to Wayne's old stomping grounds, the State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City March 21 and 22.
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
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Charlotte from Omaha, NE asks: What do you enjoy most and hate the most about traveling?
Wayne answers: The best part is getting to see different places and meet new people. Basically, you're on vacation all the time. The worst part is all the time being away from the family if they're not with you.
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
According to www.Openwheeltimes.com, Wayne has competed in 84 features at Devil's Bowl Speedway in Texas and State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City (ASCoT's next two stops). In those races he has nine feature wins (11%), 44 top fives (52%) and 59 top tens (70%). Inevitably, there are some races missing from the list, but it is an impressive showing regardless.
"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, Cerma Technology (www.cermatechnology.com), www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Maxim Chassis, ARP Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Wayne at Houston Raceway Park (Pushinthecushion.com)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IAUSA[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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