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(Bill W) June 10, 2009 – On a fast track at Knoxville Raceway, Wayne Johnson was one of the fastest. The Knoxville, Iowa driver piloted Marty Johnson’s #81 to a third place finish in Saturday’s feature event on Pella Corporation Night. Wayne heads out today for the West Coast where he will drive Harold Main’s #35A sprinter in Oregon and Washington over the next couple of weeks. Knoxville received a half-inch of rain Saturday morning, and muggy conditions persisted throughout the day. With the air extremely unstable, it was a guessing game with setup on a heavy track. “When we went out to hot lap, the air was so bad, it would only turn 7200 rpm’s with a 5.04 gear in it,” says Wayne. “We put a 5.14 in, and we ended up qualifying tenth. It was amazing to me, that with the air at 3200 feet, that anyone could go 14.7 (quick time).” Lining up third in his heat race, Wayne maintained his spot in the running order. It was a big improvement over last week’s heat, when the rear axle broke. “It was nice not to have any dramas in the heat race this week,” says the Oklahoma native. “The rear axle stayed intact. We just kind of fell in there, and with the racetrack so good, we just wanted to make sure we transferred. Being tenth quick, and with the invert of eight, you knew you’d have a good chance at the front row in the feature, and I didn’t want to screw that up.” Lining up outside row one for the 20-lap main event beside Brian Brown, Wayne trailed the pole-sitter closely the first few laps. On lap eight, Brown entered traffic and slipped up a bit, but Wayne was not close enough to take advantage. The leader pulled away and left the field behind. “I don’t think we had much for Brown,” Wayne says. “We were trying to hang on for a decent finish there. With Marty’s stuff, we needed the track to slow down for us, and it was just too fast for what we needed to do and be a factor. It was definitely a motor track.” Kerry Madsen ran Wayne down in traffic and the two battled for the runner-up spot the rest of the way through heavy traffic. When Madsen cut Wayne off on the bottom side of two with about five laps to go, it relegated the #81 to third place at the checkers. “The ‘Mad Man’ and I are pretty good buddies, so there was a bit of bragging rights there too,” says Wayne of the battle. “It was a fun race. He’s always a tough competitor. At the end, second was worth $500 more compared to third, so I’ll have to have a talk with him about that. Neither of us has had a great year.” Wayne flies to Sacramento, California today to spend a couple of days getting reacquainted with Harold Main’s #35A. The team plans on running with the Golden State Challenge series Saturday at the Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Oregon, and Monday at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Oregon. From there they head to the 38th Annual Jim Raper Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway in Washington, June 18-20. “I’m really looking forward to going out,” says Wayne of his trip. “Harold and Janet are super-nice people, and Kyle, Adam and Dan work hard with the car. I’ve been home for three weeks, so it will be hard to leave the family for a couple more, that’s for sure.” Wayne Appearing on Knoxville Raceway Weekly! Wayne is appearing on this week’s edition of Knoxville Raceway Weekly. The broadcast should be online Thursday night. To access it, go to www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com, and click on the “Videos” section. 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 Dean Howard asks: As you have more and more years under your belt, has safety become more of a priority for you?
Wayne answers: I wouldn’t say it’s more of a priority, it’s always been important to me. Year after year, they come out with more and more safety equipment, but us old guys sometimes get stuck in what we’ve always done. I try to keep up as best as I can with what’s new, what works for me, and what I like.
Wayne’s Tech Tips
Why do there seem to be more motor problems when it gets humid?
Wayne: When the weather starts to get hot, and the altitude gets high, some guys really want to lean down the fuel to make them run better. Some motors like that, but mine don’t. We just give them fuel.
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!
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