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Wednesdays with Wayne – Wilmot Wanderings!
(Bill W) August 26, 2009 – Rain took its toll on Wayne Johnson's race week. Plans for the Deer Creek Speedway with the World of Outlaws on Wednesday, and the Wilmot Speedway with the IRA on Friday were a wash. Luckily, the IRA did get their Saturday race in and the Oklahoma City native ended up with a podium finish. This week will find the FattFro #14AJ at Knoxville only, though Wayne is entertaining any rides for the ASCS-Midwest/WOW show at the US36 Raceway on Friday.
Wayne dominated time trials in spite of coming out 26th in the 40-car field on Saturday. His quick time of 12.843 seconds around the 3/8 mile oval was a tick off the record. "They said we were .018 thousandths of a second off of Becca Anderson's track record," he says. "We really had it set up, and it was nice and heavy."
The conditions remained for the first heat, in which Wayne drove from 6th to 3rd. "The heat went pretty well," he says. "It was still kind of heavy and narrow at that point, but the car was really working well."
Drawing the feature invert should have been left to someone else. "We drew our regular good number (ten)," says Wayne sarcastically. "I was cautiously working my way up through the field, and trying to pick my spots. I could roll around there pretty good. The top was definitely faster."
Wayne continued to pick his way forward, using patience to move into the top three. "We finally got to third," says Wayne. "I knew the laps were winding down, and I needed to get going there. I drove beside (Bill Balog) on the outside in one and two and he pushed across the track in front of me. I jerked it to the right, straight into the fence. I knocked the Jacob's Ladder off at that point."
Wayne continued on, and thought about making a move despite the ill-handling car on a late restart. "On the restart with three to go, I tried to run low," he says. "Maybe I should have tried to slide by them, but with no Jacob's ladder, I was a little gun-shy. I didn't want to hit that curb very hard, or it may have turned us over."
Tracks were made for home in Knoxville, Iowa, and the FattFro #14AJ will be in action at the "Sprint Car Capital" on Saturday. Without a 360 to run in the area, Wayne is looking for someone who may need a hired gun for other shows. "We'll just run Knoxville this week, unless someone wants to give us a 360 ride down in Cameron (ASCS-Midwest/WOW) for Friday," he says. "We always seem to do well down at that track (two wins in five tries)."
Wayne Johnson Apparel in Stock!
2009 Wayne Johnson apparel for both men and women is now in stock! T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops and hats are all in! To order, e-mail Wayne at [email protected] or stop by the trailer at the track.
Wayne's Website
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Kevin Jackson from Des Moines, IA asks: What do you think of the new engine compression rules they are talking about? Will it save money?
Wayne answers: I don't think much of it. It's going to cost more money. The rules they've come up with the last couple years have done nothing but cost the owners money, and the racing definitely hasn't gotten better. I think people just need to leave things alone for awhile. The economy is what it is right now, and we just have to deal with it instead of changing all these rules. There are a lot of issues surrounding the compression rule and a lot of R&D that would need to be done to make them run right. I think it needs to be left alone.
Wayne's Tech Tips
What kind of track gives you the biggest challenge on setup?
Wayne: The biggest challenge is the track that has different ends. If one end is heavy, rough and choppy, and the other is dry-slick, you've got a handful. You need to find a happy medium.
Got a question for Wayne? Each week, Wayne will answer your questions about "Tech Tips", or anything that's on your mind. If you ever wondered what a part on a sprint car is all about, send an e-mail 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!
"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 FattFro, Stone Mountain Access, Bral Restoration, Deberg Concrete, TNT Custom Golf Carts, www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Maxim Chassis, ARP Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Wayne races at Wilmot Speedway (Kathleen McKay/McKay's Digital Images)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
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