Inside Line Promotions – BOONE, Iowa (April 8, 2019) – Kaleb Johnson’s highly anticipated season debut resulted in disappointment due to an unforeseen situation with a track’s safety status last weekend.
Johnson visited Boone Speedway for the second time in his career on Saturday night. His first laps on the track this season presented some opening-night glitches.
“We had some motor issues during hot laps,” he said. “We had to kind of scramble to get it fixed in time for the heat race and we didn’t have much of a chance to check the track out.”
Johnson started fifth in the race and quickly moved up to second.
“We were doing pretty well until I looped it in turn four on the third lap,” he said. “Then I kind of got clipped. I didn’t know if anything was broken so I just pulled in to save the car for the feature.”
Once Johnson pulled in and the race restarted, he noticed an incident on the track that caused him concern.
“Mike Moore crashed and landed upside down,” he said. “That’s about the most dangerous position for a driver. All it takes is for a few drops of fuel dripping onto something hot to start a major fire. It’s about impossible for a driver to get out of a car in a hurry when he’s in that position.
“He must’ve sat there like that for about 45 seconds before someone finally arrived to check on him. And that wasn’t a member of the safety crew. It was a guy on a four-wheeler who pushed cars off.”
It was then that Johnson and his team took notice of the safety conditions at the track.
“We noticed they didn’t have a fire truck there,” he said. “To me, they didn’t really have an actual safety crew. They had fire extinguishers at four poles around the track. The guys on the crew didn’t wear any fire apparel, just shorts and t-shirts.”
The team made the decision not to take any unnecessary risks and Johnson made one lap in the feature before pulling in.
“It was disappointing, for sure,” he said. “We basically ended up towing three hours for a practice session.
“It’s just not worth the risk. There are plenty more races. In sprint car racing today we don’t think it’s too much to ask to have an ambulance, fire truck and a prepared safety crew. If a track chooses not to provide that, we’ll choose not to race there.”
With last weekend behind him, Johnson is looking forward to competing with the Sprint Series of Nebraska this Saturday at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb.
“I’ve watched a lot of 360 races at I-80, but I’ve only raced there once a couple of years ago,” he said. “I think we started 10th and finished fourth. I like the track. It always seems to slick off, which is what I like. And I seem to do a little better on bigger tracks so that works well for me, too.”
QUICK RESULTS –
April 6 – Boone Speedway in Boone, Iowa – Heat race: DNF (5); Feature: DNF (4).
SEASON STATS –
1 race, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 1 top 15, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
Saturday at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., with the Sprint Series of Nebraska
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___Johnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalebJohnsonRacing22
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Oddson Underground
Oddson Underground, Inc., of Windom, Minn., is a family-owned business established in 1998. The business is an underground utility contractor that handles the installation of fiber optic, water, sewer, power, geothermal and other underground services. For more information, visit http://www.oddsonunderground.com.
“We’re really excited to have Oddson Underground join our team this year,” Johnson said. “They came on board with us in a pretty big way and we’re looking forward to having their name on our car.”
Johnson would also like to thank Medical Machining Specialists, Merle Johnson Farm Toys, Kats Hog Heaven, GRP Motorsports, DeBerg Concrete, Snyder Logging & Tree Service, SeaFoam Products, the Ron Weber Team, TL Racing, Big Al’s Diecast, Guaranteed Rate – Mike, Brudigan Home Loans, Dave’s Lawncare & Landscaping and Last Deck for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Apr 08, 2019
- Article Date: 4/8/2019 by Inside Line Promotions