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Wednesdays with Wayne –Fireworks at Knoxville!
(Bill W) July 4, 2007 – Wayne Johnson provided the fireworks a little early last Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway! An American Sprint Cars on Tour rainout in Wheatland, Missouri provided the opportunity to get some laps in at Knoxville before the upcoming 360 Nationals. After starting 12th in the 360 feature, Wayne cut his way to the front like a hot knife through butter in the H&H Farms #94!
With Wayne being a newcomer to the 360 class at Knoxville this season, he was locked into the rear of heat race number one. The first three laps saw him struggling mightily to gain any ground. "I ran out of tear-offs by lap three," he says. "I started with 14 (tear-offs), but the guys in front of me kept running through the slop on the low side. There was a big water hole low in two, and that's where we got held up."
Wayne was ready to slow to bring out a caution, but was able to keep the few spots he had gained when a competitor spun in turn two and restarted fifth. "I wanted the caution for myself," he admits. "I was chugging to a stop, but the yellow came out for the spin, so I gassed 'er up and kept my spot!"
The restart gave him new life and after moving up to 2nd, Wayne was the high point man in the heats. When a 12 was drawn for the feature invert, he headed for a start outside row six. No worries, however, as the car was hitting on all cylinders and he was fourth by the completion of lap one. "It was the best the car has driven all year long. We've been fast this year, but that was the best the car's felt."
After early leader, Dustin Selvage, got sideways on lap four, Wayne assumed third behind Joe Beaver and Dave Hall. By lap seven, he was on Beaver's bumper and challenged for the point. "When I slid him the first time, I jumped the cushion just a little bit and he got back under me," says Wayne. "After that, I told myself that we're not going to be sliding back and forth and not going forward. I decided to ride around and get a little closer…I was a car length back the first time. I decided to get to his rear bumper before I did anything, because I had the faster race car."
On lap 10, Wayne slid in front of Beaver and began to run away with the 20-lap event. Coming through three and four on the last lap with an 8.4 second lead over Beaver, flagman Doug Clark brought out the caution for a slowing Tyler Thompson. The veteran didn't seem phased by the slowing of the action. "I wasn't worried about the last caution. The only thing I really worried about was someone trying to slide me into turn one, so I prepared myself for that. I saw that Joey was still second, and Hall was in third, and I'd already driven by those guys. After I saw the restart on video later, I saw how good we were, so it wasn't a factor."
Coming into Knoxville, Wayne was unsure how the car would perform. "I wondered how our motor would do here to be honest. After competing in the 410 for so many years here, and watching Jake Peters and Josh Higday…those guys are rocket ships around there! I just can't believe we had such a big lead (8.4 seconds)! It does give us a lot of confidence going into the 360 Nationals."
A Look Ahead
ASCoT will compete at the Daniel McMillin Memorial at Double X Speedway in California, Missouri on July 4, and on Saturday, July 7, they will hit Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
ASCoT Speedweek will run from Friday, July 13 to Saturday, July 21:
July 13 – Tri-State Speedway, Pocola, OK
July 14 – I-30 Speedway, Little Rock, AR
July 16 – Creek County Speedway, Sapulpa, OK
July 19 – Devil's Bowl Speedway, Mesquite, TX
July 20 – State Fair Speedway, Oklahoma City, OK
July 21 – Lawton Speedway, Lawton, OK
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 Is Up!
Visit Wayne's new website at www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com! Check back often for updates, as it is a work in progress!
Wayne's World
Mike from Oklahoma City asks: Most racers help each other. What driver has help you the most?
Wayne answers: There are actually two people. When I first started racing, Stan Constant helped me out a lot. People used to call him "Stan the one-armed man". He was a one armed guy that raced locally in Oklahoma City. He basically taught me the ins and outs of racing. I worked in his body shop when I was 16 years old. We worked on the race cars in the evenings. Stan could bench press 250 pounds with one arm! He wouldn't want you to spot him either. He would move his hand around until he figured out the balance, and he would do it on his own! He was also a stunt man and used to blow himself up…I could go on and on about him.
When I first went to the 410 with the CompUSA Archer team in the late '90s, we were running NCRA and Gary Wright helped me a ton. We used to travel together, park next to each other, and he helped me out a lot with setups and stuff. He helped for about four or five races. On NCRA Speedweek that year, we ran Oklahoma City, and we both started on the front row. I led the first six or seven laps before he passed me, and he never helped me after that, because I became competitive. He used to help me a lot though.
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's only previous visits to Lakeside Speedway came with the lid off. In non-wing two-night SCRA action in August of 2003, he finished 4th and 9th. Driving admirably in the Vielhauer #12x, he trailed non-wing veterans Richard Griffin, Damion Gardner and Troy Rutherford in the prelim that year.
"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, www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Eagle Chassis, Fast Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Wayne in Victory Lane at Knoxville 6-30-07 (Dave Hill)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
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