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Wednesdays with Wayne – Wayne Does Dallas!
(Bill W) March 12, 2008 – Sprint car veteran Wayne Johnson will be heading to familiar ground this weekend with the American Sprint Cars on Tour (ASCoT) series. The highly competitive 360 sprint car band will tackle the famous Devil's Bowl Speedway near Mesquite, Texas for the Spring Nationals this Friday and Saturday night. The 43 race series will see its first action since early February.
Wayne, who finished third in the point standings in 2007, looks forward to closing a small gap in the point standings on rivals Gary Wright, Jason Johnson and Travis Rilat. "We're ready to get going here, and set our focus towards the big prize," says Wayne. "I feel we can get around that place as good as anyone. It will be a good barometer for where our team is here with a new chassis, new shocks and new wings. We've got a new wing design we're trying out with ARP this week and we're excited about it. It's kind of a compilation of what we saw working in Florida."
The Devil's Bowl has been Wayne's second home of late, as he has finished in the top seven in 13 straight races there (since March of 2004). Last year, he won the Spring Nationals prelim and in six features at the oval, failed to finish outside of the top four despite the always tough competition assembled there. "Anytime you can beat the 9 car (Gary Wright) there, you've done something," says Wayne. "He's the man to beat. The competition with ASCoT is as tough as it's ever been, and I'm sure there will be guys from all over. It should be a stout field."
The preliminary win in last year's Spring Nationals was special for Wayne and the team. "That one was the first ASCS National win for the H&H Farms (Mike and Tim Hammers/Robbie Forbes) guys," he says. "That was special for them, and we were lucky enough to get them a handful more since then." The handful included a 410 win with the best in the business on hand last month at Volusia Speedway (FL).
Wayne talks about the keys to being successful at the unique Devil's Bowl ½ mile oval. "The heat means everything at Dallas. With the number of cars there, you really want a starting spot that will get you to the front for the feature. It's usually wet for the heats too. When we've finished outside of the top five in the past, it's been because we were starting in the back for the most part. The track is usually wet for the heats, but by the time the feature rolls around, it's usually perfect and that's usually the best race of the night, as it should be."
Losing a Friend
One of Wayne's loyal fans and friends, and more importantly, one of sprint car racing's biggest fans, Craig Thomas, passed away this week. Wayne, Erin and the entire racing team would like to sent heartfelt condolences to his wife, Marie, and son, Tyler.
"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 this Sunday, so get online and vote at www.AlltelAllStar.com!
Wayne's popular win has allowed him to narrow the gap on the leader, but he could definitely use your vote every day, because the guys who drive the fendered cars are winning right now! "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 head 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
Tom Kohl asks: Did you run the Texas races with your new Benic AFCO's (shocks)? If so how did you like them?
Wayne answers: We were fast every night and the shocks worked well. The weekend was full of bad luck, from the draw to being a part of every accident on the track. We only turned about 35 laps total. This weekend in Dallas will tell us a lot. I feel really confident with the shocks. We won a National Championship with them in 2000, so that should tell you something.
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 built up his statistics over a long period of time at Devil's Bowl. In 41 career feature starts, he has five wins (12%), 25 top fives (61%) and 32 top tens (78%). He has finished in the top five in 14 of his last 18 races at the half-mile (78%), including top four finishes in the six ASCoT events held there in 2007.
"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 will have his game face on at Devil's Bowl (LuvRacin.com)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IAUSA[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me!
@BillWMedia
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