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Wednesdays with Wayne – North American Tour Continues!
(Bill W) September 24, 2008 – Wayne Johnson was in contention at the Fred Brownfield Memorial last weekend in Washington State. The Knoxville, Iowa driver was leading on Friday in Mike Anderson's #18 before a breakdown gave him a setback. Still, he ended up on the podium on Saturday. This weekend, he'll continue to span the globe as he heads for Ohsweken, Ontario and the Canadian Sprint Nationals this weekend. He will drive for track owner Glenn Styres this time!
Teaming with the Anderson team saw a new chassis/engine combination. The Eagle was powered by a Shark engine, and Wayne took to it like a "shark to water". After wiring the field in his heat race, he drew an eight for a feature starting spot. "The track was pretty heavy," says Wayne of the fast bullring that is the Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma. "It's a beautiful facility, and I was just thankful to get the opportunity to run there. Mike Anderson is a great car owner, and a great guy."
Wayne's primary competition seemed to be coming from Shane Stewart in the Doyle Harley Davidson #1 and Roger Crockett in the Henderson #7N. "We were running really well," says Wayne of his feature run. "We started beside Shane there in row four, and took off pretty well. By the time we got to the lead (lap 12) he was still back in fifth or sixth, so we had it rolling well."
Wayne found something in turn three that no one else was as he blew by several competitors on the low side of that corner. He took the lead on lap 12 before disaster struck. "We were out front about four laps and the U-joint blew up," he explains. "We were definitely fast up to that point. That killed us and took us out of the redraw for Saturday. That put Shane and Roger Crockett up front and it was going to be hard to catch them from the fifth row."
Despite losing out on a slug of points, Wayne made the most of it in the Saturday Fred Brownfield Memorial finale. Dry conditions threw another wrench in the competitors setup plans. Despite that, Wayne won his heat from the second row. He would line up inside row five for the feature.
Wayne began to pick his way forward in the event, but it was evident that track conditions did not meet the setup on the car early on. "It started laying rubber and the car was way too tight," he says. "Ben (crew chief) and I just screwed up a bit there. We were really good on Friday, and just missed it on Saturday."
Still Wayne would surge to third behind Stewart and Crockett at the checkers. The friendly Oklahoma transplant found plenty of friends in Washington and continues to increase his network in the racing community. He appreciated the offer from Anderson and the team. "Ben, who is the crew chief, and I just hit it off well," says Wayne. "I'm hoping he can help me more this year. Brady was the mechanic, and we all seemed to click pretty good. It was a lot of fun."
This weekend, Wayne and crew chief, Jeremy Rankin, will travel back to Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario. He was there to watch it rain a couple of weeks ago. He will be driving for Glenn Styres in a quest to win $8,000 in the 4th Annual Canadian Sprint Nationals!
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
Allan in Waco, TX asks: When you are racing someone else's car, how hard is it to adjust?
Wayne answers: It's pretty tough, but from a driving standpoint, it's the same. The tough part is adjusting to a group of guys who you're not used to working with. Driving is the easy part; it's working with the others that can be tough. We were lucky in that respect last weekend in Washington.
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 date in 1994, Wayne drove the Grabel 24 to victory in ASCS regional action at the Creek County Speedway near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Shane Stewart, Terry Gray, Aaron Lemmons and Danny Wood followed Wayne to the line in the stout field. According to www.OpenWheelTimes.com, in 39 feature starts at Creek County Wayne has eight wins (21%), 30 top fives (77%) and 34 top tens (87%). The biggest win there may have been an ASCS Speedweek tally aboard Bobby Sparks #91 in 1996 over Garry Lee Maier, Gary Wright, Gray and Skip Wilson.
"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 Grays Harbor Raceway (John's Racing Photos)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
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