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Wednesdays with Wayne – A Night in Paris!
(Bill W) April 30, 2008 – Solid outings last weekend for Wayne Johnson were a little bittersweet at the end of the day. Despite problems with his primary motor, the Knoxville, Iowa driver persevered and was in position to win feature events at Paris Motor Speedway and I-30 Speedway. Unfortunately, Saturday ended without a victory, and Wayne will look for a win in a pair of Missouri outings this weekend.
Wayne's bad luck in the draw changed a bit this weekend, thanks to a relative. Father-in-law Carl Berkenpas rode along and did the drawing for the weekend. The American Sprint Cars on Tour series visited Paris Motor Speedway near Paris, Texas on Friday, and despite a late shower, they got the show in. "We started fourth and ran third in the heat," says Wayne. "It rained about 5:00 and it was so heavy, there wasn't much passing to be had. Our primary Fisher motor broke a gear drive in the heat, so that set us back a bit. We had to change engines before the feature."
Hopes were high entering the night with fresh power, but Wayne drew outside of row one in the 25-lap feature and made the most of his starting spot outside of eventual feature winner, Skip Wilson. "We weren't too bad in the feature, we just had a little trouble taking off at the start," says the 2000 ASCS National champion, who settled for the runner-up position. "On the first start, I got the jump, but it was brought back for an accident. The next start, he (Wilson) did a good job of blocking and he was able to get the jump on me. There wasn't much passing going on. We challenged him a little bit when he was in traffic, but that was it. Starting the night having to take the primary motor out, we were happy with second at Paris."
I-30 Speedway in Little Rock has always been good to Wayne and it started out well on Saturday. "We were able to get a good run in the heat there," he says. "We started third and got a real good jump and got in front for good." The heat race win put him in the redraw, which saw him line up inside row two for the 30-lap main event.
Wayne took off at the outset, chasing eventual winner, Nick Smith, and Kenneth Walker. "We bided our time through the race there and had some good battles," he says. "We were able to get by Walker for second there later on (lap 19), and then, unfortunately, (Tim) Crawley got into our left rear and turned us around with about three to go."
The unfortunate incident resulted in a restart from the tail and Wayne officially ended up 14th in the running order, and maintained his second place standing in ASCoT points. "Other than getting spun out, it was a good weekend; though you get the feeling you let two wins get away," he laments. "We missed out on some points there, but not as many as we could have if (6th place) G.W. (Gary Wright) and (7th place) Jason (Johnson) would have run well at I-30. We feel good getting the primary Fisher motor fixed this week, and we'll be better at the Lake of the Ozarks."
The beautiful Lake Ozark Speedway near Eldon, Missouri will host the traveling group on Saturday, while Wayne will head to Sedalia on Sunday. "We're going to run the Bob Ramey Sr. Memorial on Sunday. It pays $1,500 to win, and usually we avoid anything under $2,000, but we want to see how this new Fisher motor reacts on a big track. It's always tough when you run with the Winged Outlaw Warriors, and I'm sure there will be others there too, but we'll try to come out of there with a win while we're in the neighborhood."
Up Next
After this weekend's ASCoT date at Lake Ozark Speedway on May 3, Wayne will take the Mike and Tim Hammers/Robbie Forbes #94 to his hometown State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City, and the Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas on May 9 and 10. After that, he'll settle into Knoxville Raceway with the 410 for awhile.
T-shirts and Hats
Separate shirts for the H&H #94 and FattFro #14AJ are now available at the trailer. Keep an eye on www.RacingThreads.com in the near future to order. Hats are sold out, but a new batch has been ordered.
Wayne's Website
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Bobby in Rogers, AR asks: How do you keep your composure when you have a good run going, and something happens mechanically or beyond your control that makes you restart at the tail?
Wayne answers: I usually have to take a breath, especially if it's something that's beyond my control. Sometimes the anger works to your advantage, sometimes not. There will always be another night. You've got to take the good with the bad. Some nights you're the windshield, some nights you're the bug!
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
When Wayne won the 2000 ASCS National title it was impressive in more ways than one. He was able to win eight times over the 42 race schedule and finished in the top ten 90% of the time. His eight wins on the tour in Fred and Jo Threatt's #29 came on eight different tracks in seven states: Arkansas (Crowley's Ridge Speedway), Missouri (Sedalia's State Fair Speedway, Joplin 66 Speedway), Oklahoma (Muskogee Speedway), Iowa (Knoxville Raceway), Tennessee (Atomic Motor Speedway), Texas (Route 66 Speedway) and Indiana (Terre Haute Action Track).
"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!
(Highfly-n Photos)
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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