[b Wednesdays with Wayne – Mr. C’s and Mexican!]
[i (Bill W) September 2, 2009]
It was another one-race week for Wayne Johnson. He’d like to be racing more, and soon will be. Saturday he returned to Knoxville for the first time since the Nationals, and the end result was a tenth place finish after starting from the tail of the field. The Knoxville, Iowa resident will return to Knoxville for the Season Championship this weekend.
Wayne, who has had some issues qualifying, registered the 21st quick time of the night in the field of 31 cars. “We were off just a tick in qualifying, and that’s all it takes with the quality of cars we had on Saturday,” he says. “We’ve struggled with that all year. The track was nice and there were some fast times.”
The Oklahoma native lined the FattFro #14AJ inside row seven for his heat. With the top five transferring, he would have to come from outside the invert of the 18 quickest qualifiers to make the A. “Starting outside the invert makes things tough,” says Wayne. “We’ve been doing that too much. We’ve been able to get up through there more times than not, but it makes it hard.”
Wayne had to fight to get in through the B main. Running sixth at one time, he was able to secure fourth and a transfer in the 12-lap event. He would line up inside row eight for the 20-lap feature, and surged forward for a tenth place finish. “The track came back to us pretty well in the feature there, and we were able to make some ground up from the back,” he says. “Once we got into the top ten, it was just tough to work our way by some of those guys.”
In addition to the cars the he passed, Wayne knew there was a pretty good show going on for the fans. “I couldn’t see the guys in front, but anytime there’s some passing it gives the fans something to watch,” he says.
Wayne escaped any mechanical problems, but several motors in both sprint classes went up in smoke on Saturday despite good conditions. “The air was good, so I don’t know what was happening,” he says. “It was strange.”
This week, the plan is to run Knoxville again before hitting the road again next week.
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 WayneJohnsonRacing@yahoo.com 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
Sam Wright from Monroe, IA asks: What is your favorite restaurant in Knoxville?
Wayne answers: Answering that question could get me in a whole lot of trouble around town, but I’ll say breakfast at Mr. C’s, and dinner at Mexican (Casa Grande).
Wayne’s Tech Tips
Dustin Selvage’s right side board came off, and he was able to hold off the field for two laps. How does the side board coming off affect handling?
Wayne: The one that came off for him is the better of the two to come off if you have to choose. The left one would have really rolled the car up and made it tight. I really thought it would affect his racecar more than it did, to be honest. He seemed just as fast without it as with it. You need the right sideboard to give you more surface to drive the car down. The right one really works all the way around the track for you.
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 sprntcar@iowatelecom.net, 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 sprntcar@iowatelecom.net 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 ButlerBuilt for all their help!
[b Wayne at Knoxville (Dave Hill’s Racing Images)]
- Bill Wright on Sep 02, 2009
- Article Date: 9/2/2009