It was a solid weekend for the Wayne Johnson Racing #77x team in Little Rock, Arkansas. Narrowly missing a lock-in position on his qualifying night, the Knoxville, Iowa driver charged from 12th to fourth in the finale. Next week will find him competing with the World of Outlaws at the World Finals at the Dirt Track in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be his last race of 2014 if he can’t find a ride for the ASCS show in Yuma, Arizona November 14 and 15.
Wednesday night at the I-30 Speedway now serves at the Short Track Nationals Open. Wayne would go from eighth to fourth in his heat, and come from row eight to finish twelfth. That gave the team a baseline to go with in their Friday preliminary.
Friday, Wayne would move forward in both his heat and qualifier. He would go from fourth to second in the heat and sixth to fourth in the qualifier. “All weekend, I thought about being conservative and getting as many points as we could,” he says. “If we kept adding points to the deal, there would be no way we could miss.”
Starting fourth in the feature, he quickly moved into third, which would have locked him into Saturday’s Dash. Unfortunately, he was passed in traffic and checkered fourth. “That hurt us,” says Wayne. “I got little bit impatient with that lapped car. The top wasn’t any good, but I thought I’d drive around him on the outside. That opened the door for AG (Rains) and we got beat. That’s all I can say.”
Wayne had the distinction of having the most points of any driver that wasn’t locked in, heading into Saturday’s finale. “I knew all we had to do in that heat was have a decent run and not get into somebody’s wreck,” he says. “I knew we were going to be in, because we had such a good point lead going in. I think we were twenty-some points ahead of eighth, and the top eight made the feature.”
He would go from fifth to fourth in his heat. “We struggled a little bit,” says Wayne. “We must have a bad torsion bar floating around. After we got through that heat, we changed all four bars and four shocks. We knew the shocks were new. We put four new bars on it too, and the car came back to life.”
With car responding, Wayne drove from 12th to fourth in the finale against a stacked field. “I wish we could have started a little closer to the front, because I think we had something for those boys,” he says. “We were coming. I don’t know if we had anything for (Christopher) Bell, but I definitely think we were a second place car. I couldn’t watch him to see how he was doing it, but I could see (Brian) Brown and (Aaron) Reutzel. I think we had something for them. With about three to go, we did start to get a left rear flat. When you lose left rear spring rate…that takes away from your drive leaving the corner. Before that, I think we were as good as anybody.”
Wayne’s 2014 season may end in Charlotte. “We’ll fly out next Wednesday to go drive Miles Hill’s car at Charlotte at the World Finals,” he says. “I’d like to drive for someone for the ASCS show out in Yuma (November 14 and 15), but I’m not finding much luck right now.”
Wayne’s #77x is back at the shop and done for the season. “It’s time for our team to get ready for next year,” he says. “I’m really excited about it. Everyone knows how much we struggled the first half of this year, but we’ve come on strong here the last couple of months. I have to thank our partners. Without them, we couldn’t do this.”
Follow Updates on Facebook!
Wayne will update as his race night commences at his Facebook page. Find it by searching for Wayne Johnson Racing or clicking the following link…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WayneJohnsonRacing
Outlaw Wings – “The Wing with an Attitude”
Check out the new “recessed rivet” design put out by Outlaw Wings. Talk to Wayne about purchasing Outlaw Wings for your car! Outlaw Wings – "The Wing with an Attitude"!
Wayne's Fast Facts
Wayne won at the Joplin 66 Speedway in Missouri on July 29, 2000. The ASCS National series win came ahead of Tim Crawley, Terry Gray, Toby Brown and Jason Johnson.
Partner of the Week – Canyon Apparel
With over sixteen years of experience in the screen printing industry, Canyon Apparel’s work is of the highest quality you will find anywhere in the country. Although their primary focus is custom racing shirts (sprint cars, midgets, late models and modifieds), they are more than capable of handling other jobs for businesses, events or race track designs. If you would like a quote or just need more information, call them at 866-799-6966 or visit them on the web at www.CanyonApparelPrinting.com!
"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 sprntcar@hotmail.com with"Wayne" in the subject line.
Wayne Johnson Racing would like to thank partners, Todd Carlile, Vern Rengen, Miles with Townline Variety, Russell with Outlaw Wings, Ray with City Vending, Scott with Stone Mountain Access Systems and product sponsors Bill with The Oil Medics, Byron with Sebastian Sandblasting & Powdercoating, Shawna and Kaleb with Triple X Race Components, Bob with Rod End Supply, Dave with Astro Titanium, Mark and Doug with Schoenfeld Headers, Desiree at Simpson, Jeannie at Butlerbuilt, Tom at Xtreme Accu-Tach, Carl with Kustom Sprint Car, Charlie with Fisher Racing Engines, Team Achieve and Tim with Canyon Apparel.
Attached: Wayne at I-30 Speedway (Serena Dalhamer Photo)
- administrator on Oct 29, 2014
- Article Date: 10/29/2014