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Wednesdays with Wayne – A Little Sizzle, A Little Fizzle!
(Bill W) September 3, 2008 – After Saturday night's attempt at racing at the Knoxville Raceway ended in a fizzle, Wayne Johnson lent a little sizzle to the festivities at the Lake Ozark Speedway Nationals near Eldon, Missouri on Sunday. The Knoxville driver's plans are still up in the air for this weekend, but plenty of racing opportunities lie ahead in the next couple of months.
Sunday night's show at Lake Ozark was the second of two nights of racing at the 1/3 mile oval just north of the lake. Finishing second in his heat race, lined Wayne up outside row number four in the 30-lap $3,000 to win main event. The Oklahoma transplant now living in Knoxville, Iowa, was up to the challenge in the Mike and Tim Hammers/Robbie Forbes #94.
When the front row of Gary Wright and Jack Dover was sent to the second row for jumping, Randy Martin and Dustin Barks assumed front row spots. It only took five laps for Wright to catch Barks, and on the next lap he sailed into the point position. Wayne was quickly in the mix as his Maxim was working well under Fisher power. "There was a point early on where I had gotten past him (Wright)," says Wayne. "The caution came out, and they put me three cars behind him. That slowed my progress quite a bit. I couldn't understand how that happened (being put back three spots) when they use transponders."
The lead pair separated themselves from the pack over the last half of the race, as Wayne chased the leader through heavy traffic. "I got to him a few times," he says of his quest of G.W. "When he was on top and I was on the bottom, the lapped cars seemed to be everywhere. They were all over the place, and he was doing a pretty good job of getting through there."
Wayne saw a last-ditch opportunity at the win with around seven laps to go. "It was a good race, that's for sure," he says after settling for second. "I about got by him one time in turn four with a slider, but I didn't get into him. He's always raced me clean, and I try to do the same. We've definitely run a lot of laps out there together. I didn't want to take the chance of taking us both out."
The fizzle came on Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway. With the exception of the Knoxville Nationals in August, the season in the FattFro #14AJ 410 has been one of frustration. After developing a problem in hot laps, Wayne knew it would be a short night. The team pulled the plug after time trials. "We blew a head gasket in hot laps," he explains. "I went back out to qualify to make sure, and sure enough, that was it."
T-shirts and Hats
Separate shirts for the H&H #94 and FattFro #14AJ are now available at the trailer.
Wayne's Website
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Arnie in Chillicothe, MO asks: Congratulations on a good run on Sunday. Do you like racing on the LOS track?
Wayne answers: I like racing there, it just seems the racetrack is almost too good early one, and tough to pass. Come feature time, there always seems to be two lanes with a top and a bottom. It's definitely exciting racing, and anytime you get your elbows up, it's fun. I like it a lot!
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
On this week in history, Wayne raced to victory in ASCS action on September 4, 1993 at the Tulsa Speedway. Driving the Grabel #24, Wayne beat Lance Blevins, Shane Stewart, Donnie Crawford and Rick Barksdale. Dion Hindi was sixth in an interesting field of cars. Two other wins at Tulsa came over Jim Bailey, Dean Bayouth, Larry Ring and Joe Wood in 1990, and a 2004 410 Sprint Bandits win over Gary Wright, Stewart, Jason Johnson and Troy Little.
"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 Advanced Lubrication Technology (www.cermastore.com), www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Maxim Chassis, ARP Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Wayne at LOS (John Lee from Highflyn' Photo)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
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