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Wednesdays with Wayne – New Season, New Look, New Cars!
(Bill W) January 30, 2008 – Wayne Johnson is ready to hit the ground running on his 2008 racing season. The Knoxville, Iowa sprint car driver has been preparing all Winter for an assault on the 360 American Sprint Cars on Tour (ASCoT) championship, as well as plenty of 410 sprint car action. He'll fire up the engines in Florida this week, as he plans 6-11 nights of racing there. First up is the Ronald Laney Memorial "King of the 360's" event at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa beginning Thursday.
"Everything's ready to go," says Wayne of the Mike and Tim Hammers/Robbie Forbes #94. "The cars are looking really good. They're yellow and white now. It actually looks good, and the decals are printed, so it looks a lot different." The different look is just one difference fans will notice when the veteran comes to town. Maxim Chassis and ARP Wings are both on board for the first time as well.
Wayne is confident in the new equipment, but also knows better luck will be required to improve his third place standing in the 2007 ASCoT campaign. "We need to be a little luckier, and get better at the draw thing," he says. "But I'm excited to be running the Maxim Chassis and ARP wings. We shouldn't have to adjust too much to the Maxim. They are a new style Maxim called the 'S' car that Steve Kinser designed. The floor board is shorter, and some other stuff, but we'll try to get it dialed in on Wednesday night in practice. The adjustments are supposed to make it tighter on the right rear, so we'll see."
Wednesday night practice will be followed by two preliminary nights (Thursday and Friday) leading to Saturday's $10,000 to win finale. Last year, Wayne finished second in the first prelim and suffered a DNF in the final. Results have been mixed despite his affection for the 3/8 mile oval. "We haven't won a race down there yet, but we've been close," he says. "I like the track a lot, we've just never been able to get totally dialed in as the fastest car. We've been consistent at times, but never on the front stretch at the end of the night." Hopefully, that can change this time around.
The East Bay event has memorialized Humble, Texas driver Ronald Laney since 2002, when he lost his life in an accident there. The incident still resonates with Wayne. "When he crashed it was such a wreck that I didn't even think he was hurt," he says. "It was just a shame, because we had a lot of fun running together when we were younger. It would be an honor to win this one."
After East Bay, Wayne and the team will drop the 410 in the car and head to Volusia. "We'll run the #94 in Florida in all the shows," he says. "(FattFro's) Al (Christoffer) is helping us big time to do that, by sponsoring the motor. Stone Mountain Access has come on as a sponsor with the #94 car, as well. We'll try out the All Stars at Volusia, and if we do any good, we'll stay and run with the World of Outlaws. If we stay strong, we may even run East Bay on the way out. If not, we'll hit a 360 race on the way home."
Wayne's preliminary 2008 schedule includes all 45 ASCoT dates, with a possibility of 20+ 410 shows along the way. From May 17 through June 14, he will get an opportunity to run the #14AJ car weekly in the 410 class at the Knoxville Raceway. The World of Outlaws will be there for a two-day show on June 6 and 7. "It's going to be exciting," says Wayne of running close to home. "Last year we just ran a handful of races there before Nationals. To be able to go there and run back to back races for several weeks will be huge for us. We struggled a little bit there last year, just from a lack of laps. Hopefully, that's going to be the factor in getting back towards the front of the show (Knoxville Nationals) again."
His 11th place finish in the Knoxville Nationals finale was a bit of a disappointment for him, and Wayne is looking to aim a little higher this August. Wayne qualified for his fifth consecutive Nationals Championship main event in 2007. Only Donny Schatz, Steve Kinser, Terry McCarl, Danny Lasoski and Shane Stewart can say the same. The next step is climbing to the top of the podium!
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 Website
Wayne's preliminary 2008 racing "Schedule" is up!
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Bob in Knoxville, IA asks: Recently in the grocery store I happened to pick a cart that had a bad push. Any ways to correct that besides putting a twelve pack on the left side?
Wayne answers: Bob, you shouldn't be drinking in the first place. Instead of a 12-pack of beer, you should have some bottled water. You should put some stagger in it. That will definitely eliminate your push.
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
Wayne was consistent in 2001 at East Bay. He was fourth in the two preliminaries, as well as the $12,500 to win finale in Fred and Jo Threatt's #29. Jeff Shepard won the big cash ahead of Jason Sides, Kenny Adams and Wayne.
"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, Stone Mountain Access, Cerma Technology (www.cermatechnology.com), www.RacingThreads.com, CnB Mushroom Farms, Maxim Chassis, ARP Wings, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld and ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
The #94 looks something like this!
Bill W MediaMonroe, IAUSA[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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