This message was edited on
March 20, 2008 at
09:45:22 AM by Bill W
Wednesdays with Wayne – Mesquite Master!
(Bill W) March 19, 2008 – Sprint car driver Wayne Johnson continued his assault on the 2008 American Sprint Cars on Tour championship with another solid showing at the Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas last weekend. A pair of fourth place finishes has moved him up to second in the ASCoT point standings as the series heads into his hometown of Oklahoma City this weekend.
Drawing the pole of your heat is a good way to start, and that's just what Wayne did in the Friday prelim by drawing the pole. With a stout field of 52 cars assembled, a good draw was essential and Wayne drove away from his heat competitors to start things off and earn a front row starting spot in the 20-lap main event. That's when the good luck ended!
Wayne failed to start when pushed off for the feature, and quickly detected the problem when en route to the work area. "The coupler wasn't totally fastened on the pill box," he says. "It was my fault, because I'm the one who changed the pill. That's the way it goes sometimes." The mishap with the fuel line cost him his prime real estate, and he was forced to start at the rear of the 22-car main event.
Passing six cars in the first lap, was indicative of what was to follow. "I prefer the bottom here at Devil's Bowl," he says. "It's not easy to run down there; you have to be set up to do it. We were running well, and we were able to move up through there pretty quickly."
The stop and start feature suffered from several cautions, but that was o.k. with Wayne, who used every restart to climb forward. On a lap seven restart, he was already up to eighth. He passed Nick Smith for fourth on a lap 16 restart, securing the final automatic transfer to Saturday's Spring Nationals final. He relates, "Obviously, I really think we would have made hay starting up front, but I redeemed myself, I think!"
Being locked in to the finale is definitely a blessing, and Wayne drew outside row two for the 25-lap finale on Saturday night. "We were a little tight early on," he says. "As the fuel load burnt off, the car freed up nicely. We had kind of fallen back a bit, and we started picking our way back forward." Gary Wright and Kevin Ramey had moved by him relegating the Knoxville, Iowa resident to fifth before his resurgence.
He moved by Ramey for fourth with five to go until debris got in the way of his progress.
"Something broke the left front break line off, and the ARP wing took a hard hit at the same time. There were probably five or six laps to go at that point. That was when we were really starting to move forward. It was about the time I got by (Kevin) Ramey (for fourth)."
Wayne made a final run at World of Outlaws regular Jason Sides for third in the final stage of the race. "I got a big run on him off the bottom of four, and moved up under him," says Wayne. "He ran me down the racetrack and pinched me going into turn one. It was nothing I wouldn't have done to him, but he didn't know I had no brakes! He better thank his lucky stars I have awesome reflexes (laughs)!"
The fourth place effort marked the eighth straight race at the historic Texas facility that he has finished in the top four. The solid weekend moved him from outside the top five in ASCoT standings to second, just 28 points behind Gary Wright. This weekend, the series tackles the State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City. Wayne misses the old ½ mile configuration he grew up racing on, but the new 3/8 mile was kind to him one year ago, when he was victorious in the spring finale at the State Fair Speedway. He led that race from start to finish. "That may have been the only time I started on the front row last year!" he says. "We just couldn't get any luck with the draw in 2007.
Alltel Voting Comes to an End
The Alltel All Star driver voting came to an end. Unfortunately, Wayne fell a few votes short of Dave Hess Jr., who won the $12,000 prize. Wayne is thankful for all the fans who took time out of their busy days to vote. "We did our best," he says. "I want to thank everyone, and there were thousands of people who voted. We just fell a little bit short."
Get Well Soon!
We'd like to send a special "Get Well Soon" message to Wayne's mother-in-law, Barb Berkenpas.
Up Next
The team will be off a few weeks after Oklahoma City, unless they change their mind. Wayne and Erin are moving into a new house in Knoxville, so they need some time to get settled. Racing will resume in April.
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
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Bob in Albia, IA asks: Wayne, as a long-time race fan at Knoxville Raceway, I really appreciate you bringing your talent to central Iowa. You are putting your name in the record books at this track and I believe that someday you will become a part of the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame. Do you ever think of such matters or is it strictly a night by night, season by season thing?
Wayne answers: I think anyone would want an honor like that. Right now, you want to win races. I think everyone goes out to win them, and put food on the table. It would be big for me to have my kids…when they grow up to go to the Hall of Fame and see me in there. I definitely think about it sometimes, I don't know any racer who wouldn't see that as a big privilege.
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 has made a deal with the Devil's Bowl. His finishes last weekend have given him eight top fours in a row, and 13 top seven finishes in a row. In all, he has finished in the top seven in 19 out of the last 20 races there. He has finished in the top ten at the State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City in the last seven of eleven features there, so he looks to continue that run this weekend.
"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!
Wayne at Devil's Bowl (Allan Holland)
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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