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Wednesdays with Wayne – Good Runs in Charlotte Come up Short!
(Bill W) November 7, 2007 – Qualifying can make you or break you racing with the World of Outlaws, but Wayne Johnson bounced back from a pair of bad laps to run well in Charlotte last weekend. The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway played host to the WoO finale.
"We stunk in qualifying, but we knew that going in," says Wayne. "We had motor trouble, and I don't know what was going on…we just couldn't get a good lap in." The result was 43rd quick and 30th quick in Thursday night qualifying. That set up a long weekend for the Knoxville, Iowa driver, but he was up to the challenge.
Many would have packed up Thursday and went home, but not Wayne, who posted inside row six for his heat event. With only the top five moving on to the main event, chances were slim. Luck was on his side, however! "Thanks to Dean Jacobs and Justin Henderson getting together, and Greg Hodnett getting a flat, we managed to transfer into the feature," says Wayne of his move up to the fifth and final transfer. "Better to be lucky than good, any day!"
The FattFro #14AJ was lightning in the feature. "In the feature, we were awesome!" says Wayne. "We were able to charge up to 13th, and we were moving! (Jac) Haud(enschild) was going to be the next victim, and he ended up 10th, so I think we had a top ten car."
Disaster struck at that point. "Coming off of turn four, something went through the hood, and bent the throttle shaft," says Wayne. "That hung the throttle wide open, so I shut it down. I thought it may have been the throttle linkage and went to the work area, but we were done." The results saw him officially 21st, but he knew he had something coming back for the finale on Saturday.
Starting two rows ahead of where he started on Friday, Wayne was quickly into the top five and in a transfer under the Live Speed Channel lights. "We were coming in the heat race on Saturday too," he says. "We were able to get by Tim Shaffer and we were racing (Donny) Schatz in the top five. He kind of pinched me on the bottom coming off of turn two, and I lost my momentum big time. That let Shaffer get back by me and then I was moving around trying to get some momentum back up, and the next thing you know, Jessica Zemken got by me too!" The end result was seventh, and set him up in the B.
He was able to surge into a transfer before mixing it up with a veteran. "We were able to get up into fourth, into a transfer," he says. "Then (Fred) Rahmer gave me a big nasty slider and I had to check up. I gave one back on the other end, and we got to racing and Haudenschild got by us. We were just a tick off the second night. We can't complain too much, as much as we do this with these guys." All in all, it was a good weekend to close out his 410 season.
This Weekend
Wayne will bring his season to a close this weekend in Mississippi. The Battle at the Bullring will commence at the Columbus Speedway in Columbus. Pole qualifying will commence on Friday night, with two features scheduled for Saturday.
Preliminary qualifying and heat races will take place on Friday night. Saturday, twin 25-lap main events will be contested 3/10 mile oval. The second feature will be inverted and if a driver can take both races, he will earn $10,000.
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
John Binz from Dallas, TX asks: When did you get your driver's license?
Wayne answers: When I was 16, unlike you. Don't you think you should get it so you can take that girlfriend somewhere?
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's 410 season saw him compete in 16 main events. He finished with two wins, 9 top fives (56%) and 12 top tens (75%).
"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 at Charlotte (Doug Johnson)
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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