By Bill W
February 24, 2010 – Wayne Johnson was fourth in his latest race driving for the Glenn Styres #0 team, but his ride search for 2010 is still ongoing. The Knoxville, Iowa driver’s run came at the Hendry County Motorsports Park in Clewiston, Florida on Saturday. This weekend, he will aim for the $10,000 Ronald Laney Memorial “King of the 360’s” at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa.
The 3/8 mile oval in Clewiston was new to Wayne, and attracted sixteen competitors. “You want to do well whenever you hit a new track, and I feel a little extra pressure to do well right now with no ride lined up,” he says. “You want to compare new tracks to a track you’ve run at before. We timed in third quick, which was o.k.”
Wayne started and finished in the show position in the dash. “Instead of a heat, we were locked into a dash,” he says. “We maintained. That’s about all I can say. We struggled with the car and the track all night it seemed.”
After dropping back a bit from his starting spot inside row two, Wayne came along late in the feature to finish fourth. “At one time, we were way back in fifth or sixth,” he says. “We broke a left front shock and that set us back a ways. The racetrack was unbelievably hard to pass on. A 305 had the same chance as the 360’s. There was just no grip in it. It was really sandy, and just tough to get a hold of.”
The ride back to the hotel in Tampa was not smooth either. “There was excitement on the way back to Tampa,” says Wayne. “The truck broke down. We had to wait hours for a tow truck.”
Wayne returns to East Bay, where he was running second with the All Stars two weeks ago, but got tangled up due to lapped traffic. “We start on Thursday, and Glenn and I will both be running at East Bay (through Saturday),” he says. “I think the car will be good there, and I really like that track.”
The schedule is bare for Wayne after the “King of the 360’s”. “After this weekend, I’d really like to put something together with someone for the (ASCS) Gulf South races around Houston (March 5 and 6),” he adds. “Right now, I don’t have anything after East Bay.”
The feeling of not having anything lined up for 2010 is new to the talented veteran. “It’s frustrating, because this is what I’ve done for years,” says Wayne. “I definitely feel I can bring a winner to a quality team looking for a quality driver. We really bounced around in a lot of cars last year, and that may have worked against us a little bit in the results department, though we did get some wins. You need the consistency.”
Wayne finished 2009 on a high note, with two wins in his last six feature starts. The competition was fierce, with one of the wins a prelim victory at the Short Track Nationals in Little Rock. “I was really happy with the way we finished the season,” he says. “I feel like we were as good as anyone at the end of last year. That’s what makes not having a ride lined up even harder.”
Wayne can be reached by e-mailing WayneJohnsonRacing@yahoo.com.
Buy Your ARP Wings from Wayne
Wayne is an ARP Wings dealer located in the Knoxville, Iowa area. Wayne credits the new ARP top wing for his wins at Little Rock and Cowtown. Contact Wayne for your ARP Wing, as he has some special Holiday deals going! ARP Wings – “When Downforce Matters”!
Wayne’s Website
To learn more about Wayne and the team, log on to www.WayneJohnsonRacing.com!
Wayne’s World
Jake Steffen asks: What is your ultimate song when you are out on the road just tooling along?
Wayne answers: I really don’t have that “go to” song. I like to listen to everything. Whatever is on the radio is good. There’s no ultimate “road song”.
Wayne’s Fast Facts
In 30 career feature starts at East Bay, Wayne has 18 career top tens. In addition to his win at the Winternationals prelim last year, he has a 2007 runner-up finish in the prelim for the “King of the 360’s”, and four fourth place finishes. One came in the 2001 “King of the 360’s” won by Jeff Shepard.
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!
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