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Wednesdays with Wayne – Can History Repeat Itself?
(Bill W) October 24, 2007 – It's been ten years. Time flies, but 1997 was the year Wayne Johnson took top honors at the prestigious Short Track Nationals in Little Rock, Arkansas. This weekend, he will be aiming for the same prize, and his chances of duplicating that feat have never been better as he heads to I-30 Speedway. This year, Wayne will tackle the ¼ mile red clay bullring aboard the Mike and Tim Hammers/Robbie Forbes #94 machine.
Wayne's stories are always entertaining and his remembrances of 1997 are no different. "I won a bunch of races that year with Bobby Sparks (#91)," he says. "I was flying to Little Rock for the first preliminary night. I flew from Oklahoma City to Dallas to Little Rock. I was flying for free…through my sister. I got to Dallas, and I was flying stand-by and I got bumped off the flight! We got on the second flight, and we were going to get there, but it was going to be late!"
Wayne notified his car owner as preparations needed to be made without him. "I called Bobby and told him to have everything ready. Jamie Passmore ended up hot lapping the car. They drew dead last for the heat race too."
The Oklahoma City native now living in Knoxville probably resembled someone that shouldn't be allowed in public when the rental car arrived. "When I finally got to the airport, I was waiting on the rent-a-car," he says. "I changed my clothes right on the sidewalk. I put my racing uniform on right there on the sidewalk! When the rent-a-car guy pulled up, I'm standing there with a racing uniform and carrying a helmet! I don't know what he was thinking, but I got in and hauled ass to the track."
Wayne didn't bother to check in when he arrived at I-30. "I pulled straight up to the pit gate, jumped out of the rent-a-car, and ran to the pit area," he remembers. "I didn't even get a pit pass, I just ran to the car. I climbed in, and buckled the seatbelts. I never hot lapped…never did anything. Bobby had everything ready. Another five minutes, and we would have missed our heat! Thank God, we were in the last heat race. If we would have been later, we would have loaded up. I think Bobby had already started loading some stuff."
Things couldn't have gone better after Wayne had honed his skills in the rental car just getting to the track. "We started dead last in the heat race and won. That put us on the pole of the feature, and we won that, leading every lap. Then on Saturday, we won the dash from sixth. Then, we ended up leading every lap of the main event, too! That was an awesome weekend!"
Wayne remembers fondly the time he ran for Sparks at Little Rock in the mid-90's, but it made for some long times behind the wheel. "When I first started driving for Bobby, we ran Memphis (Riverside) and Little Rock quite a bit. I would drive from Oklahoma City to Memphis (about 7 ½ hours) on Friday. We'd race Memphis, drive to Little Rock on Saturday, and race Little Rock, and drive home on Sunday morning. I paid my dues back then."
This weekend Wayne will be qualifying on Thursday. It will be the first race his daughter, Paige, has attended. There is more than a race car to bring with a baby on board. "Thank God we have a 53 foot trailer behind us to haul all this stuff!" says dad. "You have no idea how much stuff we have along." Wayne hopes a new beginning may mean a historical repeat
Looking Ahead
Wayne and the team have packed heavily, because after Little Rock, they will point the 410 FattFro rig to the East for Charlotte, North Carolina. There they will battle in the World of Outlaws finals commencing November 1-3.
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 World
Larry in Norman, OK asks: What do you think about them splitting the field into two separate nights this year in Little Rock?
Wayne answers: I don't know about the change in format. I'd just as soon race them all at once. You've got to beat them sometime. In the past, if you beat the whole field in a prelim, you could really build your confidence. Now you may wonder about the guys on Friday and how you will match up. It should make the nights go quicker, at least! I'm not crazy about using that format at Little Rock (at the STN), because of the inversion (32) in the qualifiers. It can be a wreck waiting to happen. But…everyone has to race with the same rules on the same track! It should be great for the fans, and that's what matters.
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 has made ten STN finals. In addition to his win, he has finished in the top ten seven times. He finished 2nd to Gary Wright in last July's ASCS Speedweek stop at the ¼ mile bullring.
"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, Cerma Technology (www.cermatechnology.com), www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Eagle Chassis, Fast Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Wayne earlier this year at Little Rock (ASCS)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
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