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Wednesdays with Wayne – Ready for the Big Week!
(Bill W) August 1, 2007 – A strong transition from the 360 sprint car to the 410 highlighted last weekend's performance at Knoxville Raceway for driver, Wayne Johnson. A setback early in the feature was not enough to deter him from coming back to a strong top five finish and feeling good about the prospects heading into the biggest shows of the season!
There was concern early on Saturday night after pulling in for warm-ups. "I stalled the motor coming into the pit area after hot laps," says Wayne. "The road was blocked by the push trucks, so I had to lock the brakes up. I stalled the motor and it washed the spark plugs down. I knew I had done it, but I forgot about it with just Jeremy (Rankin) and I working down there. We didn't even back it down until the last minute (before time trials). In qualifying, it really didn't even get up on the pipe. When we came back in, I put new spark plugs in it. So we felt really good about qualifying second there."
The car was performing well and after starting sixth in the heat, Wayne charged to third. On the last lap, he was knocking on the door of second place runner, Lynton Jeffrey, but settled for the show position in the end. "It was a daylight and dark difference from where we've been," he says. "We finally got all the bugs worked out of it. I think we had some bad shocks and we put some Supershox on, and that was a huge difference. We didn't really change anything all night long other than a little bit of stagger."
Sprint car racing on dirt is a mystery, even to a veteran like Johnson. "It's amazing to me, how we could go from as bad as we were, to where we are now. People didn't think much of it, because of the way we finished (earlier this year in the top ten), but the car drove like complete crap then! I tell you, I'm fired up now for the Nationals!"
Having started ninth in the 20-lap feature, Wayne explained his rocky beginnings. "On the start, we went down into turn one, and (Calvin) Landis just stopped. I don't know, something must have happened to him…so I ran into the back of him. I got shot out into the middle, and Skip (Jackson) may have even run into the back of me. I think we fell back to about fifteenth there. I thought we were screwed then, but I just put it up on top and we started to roll! We were passing some of those guys, two and three cars a lap."
By lap 17, Wayne had worked his way up to fourth and was closing on top three cars of Mark Dobmeier, Brian Brown and Brooke Tatnell. Unfortunately, a caution came out. "That last caution actually hurt me a little bit. After that, I got tight for some reason…I don't know if the right rear went down or what. It just didn't feel as good after that caution." Despite Jeffrey applying some heat for the fourth spot, Wayne was able to hold onto the solid finishing position.
Nationals Time
The richest two weeks are upon us and Wayne is ready to tackle both the 360 and 410 ranks at Knoxville. "I think our chances are really good at running well in both the 360 and 410 Nationals. I honestly think we have a good chance to win the 410 deal if everything falls our way. We're going to build on how well the car felt the other night."
A new Charlie Fisher engine is on the way from Ohio to tackle the 410 Nationals. Extra crew help from Oklahoma, Mississippi, Illinois and right here in Iowa will also arrive to help both the 360 and 410 teams. Wayne will qualify this Friday night to start things off in the 360 Nationals. He will then participate in the finals on Saturday, while pulling double duty with the 410. On Sunday, the Brodix Tournament of Champions will be the focus, while Monday will see the 410 back out at Oskaloosa for the Front Row Challenge.
Wayne Co-Hosting on ADN Thursday Night
All the races at Knoxville will be broadcast over the internet starting at 7:30 p.m. CST on www.AmericanDirtNetwork.com. Wayne will add some "color" to host Bill "W" Wright's play by play on Thursday night to open the 360 Nationals. Be sure to tune in, if you can't make it to the track!
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 World
Russ in Enid, OK asks: When you're running back to back days, especially with both 360's and 410's, what takes the most time as far as maintenance goes?
Wayne answers: Everything takes time. We go completely over each car and running both the 360 and the 410 makes it double time. Usually the motor takes the most time because we go over it thoroughly. We check the valves and valve springs, change the oil, cut the filter open to make sure there's no metal in it, etc.
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
Most know that Wayne won the 360 Nationals in 2000, but did you know that he has competed in seven 360 Nationals driving the Sparks 91 ('96), the Archer 1A ('98), the Threatt 29 ('00-'02), the Vielhauer 12x ('03) and the FattFro 14AJ ('04)? He has won two prelim heats and one prelim B main. He has qualified for six prelim A mains, finishing in the top five four times, with wins in '01 and '02. He has made five Championship A main events in his seven appearances and has three top five finishes. He has led 25 laps.
"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!
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me!
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com
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