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Wednesdays with Wayne – Mack Daddy!
(Bill W) May 30, 2007 – The directions to the Clayhill Motorsports racetrack said take a left at Mack's Furniture in Atwood, Tennessee. Once he got to the track, Wayne Johnson became the "Mack Daddy" of Atwood and the United Sprint Car Series, as he capped off an outstanding Eastern swing with a 30-lap win by taking some more left turns on the 3/8 mile oval last Monday night. All tolled, there were six races, with two wins, two seconds and two fourths on the two-week Eastern trip. The Knoxville driver has pulled to within 28 points of leader Gary Wright in the American Sprint Cars on Tour season standings.
The win at Atwood had to be earned, as Wayne was the high point man after the heats, and had to draw for the USCS feature inversion. "We drew a six for the feature inversion. That put Gary Wright on the front row and us sixth, but we were bad-fast!" says Johnson. "(Tim) Crawley got into the lead from fifth. He got around most of them in the first lap or so. He actually got away from us about halfway through the race or so. The track took a little rubber, and I started tracking him down a little bit at a time."
The transplant of Oklahoma City showed his persistence by tracking down Crawley. "With about five or six to go, he got in some lapped traffic and followed them, so I just zinged him on the bottom, and drove away after that." The win was special in part, because two of the three owners of the #94 were in attendance. "It worked out good because both the Hammers (Mike and Tim) were there. Robbie (Forbes) didn't make it because he was cutting wheat. It was a good way to thank them for what they do for us."
ASCoT Action
In ASCoT action at Susquehanna Speedway Park in Pennsylvania last Thursday, Wayne trailed Jason Johnson to the line in a respectable runner-up finish. After winning at Susquehanna earlier in the week, Wayne hoped to repeat his trip to the frontstretch at the end of the night. "We tracked Jason Johnson down after starting sixth. He started on the pole, and we ran him down. We had a caution and we had a tire go down, or else we would have had a chance to win the thing!" Wayne's run was not without a challenge, however. This time, it was New York's "Cobra" Chuck Hebing, who dueled for the runner-up spot. "Hebing smoked by me. Finally we got back by him. I really didn't want to run third to him there."
Virginia Motor Speedway near Saluda was up next for the ASCoT on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, the $6,000 to win finale was rained out, but Wayne had a solid finish in the prelim. "We started 9th. There were long straightaways and tight corners. It was one lane around the curb, so it was tough to pass," he related. Though it was tough to move forward, Wayne managed to come home fourth and lock himself into the high paying feature that would never happen.
410 Time
Wayne is thrilled to get back home to Knoxville, and to get back into the FattFro #14AJ 410 for a couple of weeks. Wayne will run the 410 at Knoxville Raceway on June 2 and 9, and hopes to improve on his early season run at Knoxville. He talked about his expectations going in. "We learned some stuff with the 360, but when we tried to make it work on the 410 at Knoxville (in early May)…well, it didn't work. We were just too tight, but I think we figured it out. The motor's a little tired right now. It's got around ten nights on it, and we're just trying to milk a couple more nights out of it, before we go with a new one."
A Look Ahead
Wayne will continue his quest for the ASCoT championship as their Northern Tour will kick off on Saturday, June 16 at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa. On Tuesday, June 19, the traveling band will hit I-90 Speedway near Hartford, South Dakota, and then hit 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. Wayne would like to thank Racingthreads.com and FattFro for all of their help with this!
Website
Wayne's website is being constructed as we speak, stay tuned!
Wayne's World
Brandon from Des Moines, IA asks: What has the tire rule changed for you as a team? You get to run with ASCoT, at Knoxville and maybe with some other groups, so I thought you may see how it affects things from some different angles.
Wayne answers: It's freed the cars up and made us work harder on the setup instead of just giving it the throttle. It's going better for those that can get the setup right, right out of the box and will make the others struggle a bit more because the other tire was a lot more forgiving. The new tire makes the car slip slide around a lot more and the drivers who can adjust to the car will be the ones with the advantage. We can run the motors more because it's freed the cars up.
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
Wayne may be searching for more USCS dates he can tow to when the schedule allows, as he has won three of four races with the series in 2007. The wins have been at Atwood, North Florida Speedway and Malden Speedway (MO).
"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!
Wayne at Susquehanna (Dave Zortman Photo)
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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