Wednesdays with Wayne – Battered, Bruised and Still Winning!
(Bill W) May 2, 2012 – Even a nose broken in seven places can’t keep Wayne Johnson down. Despite getting rocked in the helmet at the “Rock ‘N Roll 50” in West Memphis, Arkansas Saturday night, he finished the race with a fifth place finish. That gives him a perfect record in the top 5 for the season! Oh yeah, and he picked up yet another win in Lucas Oil ASCS National Series competition Friday night at the Salina (OK) High Banks vaulting himself into the series point lead.
Friday night at Salina, Wayne drove from fourth to second in his heat. “We were really good there,” he says. “Brian (Goscinski) from Super Shox showed up, and we tried a left rear shock that I’d never even run before. The car was amazing. We started fourth in the heat and ran second. Actually (Jack) Dover was more blocking us than racing us. But we ended up in the redraw anyway.”
It was all over when Wayne drew outside of row one for the main event. He won the last two times ASCS has visited the High Banks. “We just took off and led every lap,” he says. “We really didn’t have any challenges. I don’t know how many times we’ve won there, but I think it’s more than three. I like that place. It’s really fun.”
The Knoxville, Iowa driver had some close calls in traffic. “It was slick to a curb and really fast,” he says. “The average speed was around 117 m.p.h. The lapped traffic was pretty brutal. Some of them were quite a bit off the pace. It got ugly at times.”
Riverside International Speedway played host on its quarter-mile Saturday night. Wayne backed up to fourth in his heat. “It was still greasy,” he says. “The racetrack was really hard. The water sat on top of the track, and it took a long time to come in.”
The top five in ASCS points found themselves in one of the twin B mains. Wayne was running second, and inherited the lead late. “It was pretty loaded to only transfer three,” he says. “Brady (Bacon) was going to win it. He was a few car lengths out. I think we were going to finish second before his u-joint blew out.”
Starting 18th in the main event, it took awhile to work towards the front. “We took off and passed a few cars, but then we got to a traffic jam,” says Wayne. “There were five or six cars racing, and they had the track blocked. We just couldn’t get through there. Finally, a couple of them messed up a bit, and I was able to get by those guys. I followed that group for around 14 laps.”
Once by the jam, Wayne shot forward into the top five. Then he was hit hard in the face with a projectile that left him loopy. “We got to rolling after that, and got through there,” he says. “(Johnny) Herrera got by me there at one point, and then I got hit. I was dazed and confused. Honestly, for three laps, I couldn’t tell you how I got around there. The blood and the tears from getting hit in the nose, and getting the wind knocked out of me.”
Wayne just aimed his #77x around the track until mercifully, a stoppage occurred. “I was just trying to follow Herrera,” he says. “Just to make sure I wasn’t going to run into anything. Then I got my senses a bit. Five or six laps later, the red came out for Gary Wright. I rolled to the infield to get an official to come take a look.”
Wayne was not going to quit, and he finished fifth. “I jerked my helmet off, and he went and got the paramedics,” he says. “They came over and told me to get out of the car and in the ambulance. I wasn’t going to do that. I told them I have six laps to go. I told them not to do something, because I thought they may send me to the rear. Then Emmett (Hahn) showed up and told them to get me some gauze or whatever I need. Then he had them get me another helmet, because mine was cracked. That was kind of cool for him to do that. I thought I was restarting seventh, but I was actually fifth. There were two lapped cars, but I got to racing them pretty good.”
Wayne will have to undergo surgery on his nose, so racing plans for this weekend are up in the air right now.
Category: Driver Updates, News, Wayne Johnson
