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Wednesdays with Wayne – Left Coast Review and Knoxville Thoughts!

(Bill W) March 25 – Wayne Johnson ended a two week run for California sprint car owner Harold Main in good fashion last weekend.  The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway hosted the World of Outlaws for a two-night show, and Wayne qualified for both features despite the tough field assembled.  Wayne is working on some things so he can run the ASCS show this weekend in Oklahoma City, but that is up in the air right now.

Wayne’s best run at Tulare came on Friday night.  After missing the heat invert with an 18^th quick time in qualifying, he went on to finish fourth after starting in his heat’s third row.  That set him up outside row nine for the feature event.  He immediately started picking cars off on his way forward.  “At one time in that feature, we passed (Donny) Schatz and (Joey) Saldana,” he says.  “We were into the top ten there for awhile.  We were rolling around there pretty good.”

Wayne challenged the top ten, but problems were soon evident that caused severe handling problems in the #35A, and he dropped out with a DNF.  “Everyone thought I hit the wall, but I didn’t,” Wayne relates.  “The right rear shock came apart on the inside.  The track was really rough.  One of the rougher I’ve been on, definitely the roughest since Chico last fall.”

The Knoxville, Iowa driver had his work cut out for him after timing in 21^st quick on a quickly drying surface Saturday.  He was able to hold off Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Lucas Wolfe for the final transfer (5^th) in his heat race, and would line up inside row ten for the finale.  “It (the groove) was around the cushion next to the wall…a hard to pass deal,” says Wayne.  “I don’t think anyone passed a whole lot.  We kind of treaded water and finished (18^th) around where we started.  I passed a few and a few passed me.”

Wayne thoroughly enjoyed the 1/3 mile bullring.  Adding to the enjoyment was Main and the rest of the team.  “Tulare is a very fun racetrack,” he says.  “It was really a good time.  Harold Main and everyone out there were very nice.  They treated me like family.  It was a really good deal.  I’ll be back out there to race for them again.”

The Oklahoma transplant is modest about things, but when prodded, he admitted that the team did well at Tulare.  “Considering we had never been to the track, I think we did as well as could be expected there,” he relates.  “We made both shows, and there were some good cars that didn’t.  We definitely could have been a little better, but when you’re working with a team for the first time, you have things to work out.”

Wayne came home to some disappointment.  Based on Knoxville’s decision to run a number of draw shows for its 410 class, the FattFro Racing Team that had planned on running all season at Knoxville, made the decision not to run there weekly.  Wayne hopes to run in his hometown of Oklahoma City this weekend with the ASCS, but nothing has been solidified for that either.

New 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

Patrick Wendt asks: How will the new Knoxville weekly (draw) format for 410s change things? 

Wayne answers: It’s a sore subject with me right now, because it looks like FattFro won’t field a weekly car this year at Knoxville.  I’m disappointed Knoxville didn’t bring drivers and owners in on the decision making.  I would think that would be a common sense approach.  I think they’ve seen what can happen when a car starts on the front row that doesn’t belong there.  Kerry Madsen is just one guy that can tell them.  Qualifying is a fair and safer way to go.  It’s (draw) just a chance of tearing up equipment, and I think they may lose more drivers than me if they don’t change it.  Like my car owner said, “If I wanted to go 360 racing, I would have bought a 360 team,” and I feel the same way.  I’ve talked to these guys about the rise of 360 racing, and evidently they are just following suit.  I don’t want to say too much right now, because I’m emotional about losing my weekly ride at Knoxville.

Wayne’s Tech Tips

How do you determine when a track is going to take rubber, and how does that affect your tire choice?

Wayne: When the race track slicks off it starts to have a shiny black to it.  When it starts to lay rubber, the track turns a more dull color.  The more rubber there is, the harder the tire you use.  As far as tire choice, you watch the races in front of you and check tires for wear as they come in.  If a tire is really chewed off, then you have to go harder.  If a race is 12 laps and half the tire is gone, and you’re heading out for 25 laps, you may want to make it a step harder because you know there will be more rubber as you go.  You may go a little softer if you’re up front than in back, because you won’t have to use the tire as much as you would if you had to put a charge on.

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!