[i (Bill W) September 23, 2009]
A busy week of racing included four shows spanning Iowa and Canada. The result was three top five finishes at the festivities surrounding the Canadian 360 Nationals at the Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario. This week, Wayne Johnson and the Miles Hill #07x will run at the Eldora Speedway near Rossburg, Ohio on Friday, before the Knoxville, Iowa driver returns home for daughter Paige’s Birthday Party on Sunday.
Wednesday, Wayne ran with the World of Outlaws at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa. He would finish 16th amongst the field of 33 cars at the end of the night. “We had the wrong gear in qualifying (21st quick) and with the Outlaws that will kill you. The car was good after that. We didn’t put a new tire on all night long; just some good used stuff we had left over. We knew it would be the last 410 show for the FattFro #14AJ this year.”
Despite running in the Northwest corner of Iowa Wednesday night, Wayne had to be in Ontario the next night to run the Empire Super Sprints feature. It was an adventure. “We got back to Knoxville from Spencer after 4 a.m., and I had to be at the airport in Des Moines by 6 a.m.,” he says. “I landed in Buffalo, and they lost my luggage. I had a box with shocks in it, and I was worried about that. That came in fine, but they lost the bag that my helmet, shoes and gloves were in. Luckily, it showed up right before my heat race.”
Wayne went on to win his heat and registered a second place finish in the dash amongst the 51-car field. He would start up front, and run second in the main event on Thursday. “I really feel we should have won. I made a couple mistakes,” he says. “I should have been able to get by (Jeff Cook) on the restart. I went to the bottom, instead of trying to get him on the outside. I just couldn’t make it work.”
Friday was the “Night Before the Canadian Nationals”, and one last chance for the 77 cars entered to get ready for Saturday’s $9,000 finale. “Friday is always like a glorified hot lap session,” says Wayne. “It’s only like $500 to win. The fields are split and it’s a good time to try some things with the car. We were able to go from ninth to fourth in fifteen laps, so it wasn’t bad.”
Qualifying was up first on Saturday, and Wayne’s quest to repeat as Canadian Nationals champion started with the 26th quick time of the night. After winning his heat, Wayne was slated to start inside row three. “We were good there,” he says. “The outside rows including Shane (Stewart) got a good jump on us. We fell back to sixth or so. We were able to get back up to second and run Shane down.”
Wayne was feeling good about his chances before an accident changed things. “I felt like I had something for Shane in traffic,” he says. “Then the red came out. After the restart, I was searching around the racetrack trying to find something to get by him. I slid through the middle a couple of times and sealed up the tires, and ended up third. I’d like to thank Miles and the rest of the guys for the opportunity to run up there again.”
Fisher Motors for Sale!
Wayne has a pair of Fisher motors for sale…
- Charlie Fisher 410 – AllPro 286-4; 2/900 Engler; 16 nights from new; 6 nights from fresh; $30,000
- Charlie Fisher 410 – AllPro 286-2; 2 13/16 Engler; new block last rebuild; Knoxville Nationals A Main 5 consecutive years; 6 nights since fresh; $22,500
Call 405 306-5426…
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
Curt Van Zante asks: The Canadian Nationals is getting to be a big event. Where would you rank it with the rest of the big 360 events?
Wayne answers: I’d rank it right up there. Whenever you get 70-some cars, you’re no slouch. All the top guys from the U.S. aren’t there, but there were more there this year than last year. I think it will keep growing, and I’d rank it right up there with the Short Track Nationals.
Wayne’s Tech Tips
Often I see cars smoking in hot laps, but they are at full speed. I’ve heard this is a leak. Can you explain what is happening with the smoke, and why it happens mostly going into the corners?
Wayne: The oil tank has a “puke tube”. A lot of guys have engine heaters, but there aren’t a lot of oil heaters. When the oil is thicker, it doesn’t scavenge as well, and you see it coming out of that tube.
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!
- Bill Wright on Sep 25, 2009
- Article Date: 9/25/2009