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Wednesdays with Wayne – Main's Man!
(Bill W) March 18, 2009 – Wayne Johnson steered the Harold Main #35A to a solid 11th place finish in the Mini-Gold Cup at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California last weekend. The positive finish came Saturday night, following a disappointing qualifying effort on Friday night that set the team behind the 8-ball. Next, the World of Outlaws will head to the Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare Friday and Saturday.
Saturday's night started well with the 8th quick time of the night amongst the 50+ competitors. Things started well enough as he pushed off third in his heat, but the car began to smoke. "It was an oil leak," Wayne relates. "I thought a line had come off, but it was just too much oil put in the car. It was a brand new motor, so I didn't want to take a chance on hurting it. They just got it. I was concentrating on the gauges, and not on driving the car."
The drop-off resulted in a sixth place heat finish, but a second place run in the B lined Wayne up inside row eight for the 40-lap main event. He quickly surged up to ninth, despite a one-groove racing surface around the bottom of the ¼ mile oval. "I was stuck behind Kerry (Madsen) there (in ninth), and I just got a little too anxious," he says. "I just hit the high side and said, 'I'm going by him!' Then I spun the tires and said, 'No, I'm not.' It was frustrating."
Wayne slipped a couple of spots, but still ended up with a solid 11th place finish for his car owner. "We put a 15 (right rear tire compound) on it, but it was done at the end," he says. "This team hadn't finished that well at an Outlaw show, so they were happy."
The Friday prelim started badly, and it was an uphill battle from there. Wayne qualified 41st in the 54-car field. It was his first 410 start at the Silver Dollar Speedway. "The car was just pushing badly," he says. "Anytime I picked up the throttle, it shoved the nose out. I just couldn't give it the throttle."
Still Wayne charged forward in every event he competed in. He went from 11th to 7th (two spots out of a transfer) in his heat, then grabbed the final transfer out of the C (going from 5th to 2nd), and finally ran from 18th to 8th in the B. "We really raced well that first night, but we qualified so bad, it really took us out of it," says Wayne. "The car was good and racy, but the qualifying just killed us.
Wayne is appreciative of the opportunity Harold Main has given him. "I want to thank Harold and everyone here with the team," he says. "We're planning on hooking up later in the year and putting a schedule together. We'll try to run some more stuff out here."
Wayne was planning on doing some sight-seeing around San Francisco today with guide and historian, Kevin Eckert. Friday and Saturday will bring Tulare, a track he has never competed at. "I don't know too much about it really," he admits. "These guys haven't been there too much. I'm not really sure what to expect."
Chico Interview
Check out this short interview with Wayne at Chico on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOS3lKu5xSs
Wayne's Website
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne's World
Tex asks: Question#1: Your name appears along with T-MAC's (note: McCarl does not plan to run every Saturday at Knoxville) to run 410's weekly - true or false? Question#2: Will you also sneak off to run some ASCS shows?
Wayne answers: Right now, Knoxville is the plan unless something else comes up where I can race for more money. I don't have a 360 motor, but we plan to run a few. Mostly, the big shows like the 360 Nationals. I guess the short answer is, I'd be open to run about anything.
Wayne's Tech Tips
Cubicdollars: My question is what is the LEAST motor you could get by with and still set fast time at the 2009 Knoxville Nationals if you had the car perfect. Horsepower, rpm, head and injection size, assembly weight, and approximate cost. Inquiring minds want to know.
Wayne: It's tough for me to say, because I haven't set quick time at the Nationals, and you're always trying to get the most out of the motor. As far as horsepower, right now, it's at 900 or so. You have to be right there at Knoxville, because you're not lifting. At Knoxville, you don't want to go much beyond 8000 rpm because you'll start losing power. As far as assembly weight, you're looking as light as possible with the motor. You don't want to go to a gun fight with a knife. I didn't want to go to the Nationals with "Old Lucy" (Wayne's six year old motor) last year, but she was the best we had available, and that worked for us to get in the show. As far as head and injection size, Schatz won on 2 13/16, and Lucy was the same. Really the preference there is on the motor builder and the cam that runs the best. All the new stuff is going to 2 and 9 hundredths.
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 [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!
"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 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 ButlerBuiltfor all their help!
Wayne racing the Harold Main #35A at Chico (www.PushinTheCushin.com Photo)
Bill W MediaMonroe, IA USA[email protected]
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