From Bill Wright
Knoxville, IA — (April 15, 2015) — Wayne Johnson has had a knack for making history on the racetrack in the past, and he struck in again in big fashion last Saturday night at the inaugural FVP National Sprint League event at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. This weekend, the Knoxville, Iowa driver plans to drop the 360 in and compete at the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Missouri with the ASCS series.
With a stout field of 40 competitors pitside, Wayne cruised to third quick in qualifying. “I think we were ninth quick or something there with the Outlaws last year,” he says. “That’s one of my favorite racetracks. I really like racing there. It fits what I do. You have to get up on the wheel and race there. We were sixth or seventh overall in hot laps. I knew the first lap was decent, because I was on the board…so I pushed the issue on the second one and made it quicker.”
That put him outside of row three for a heat race that took the top five to the feature. “Charlie (Fisher) has really changed this motor around and it drives nice,” says Wayne. “It was the first time I’d run it since he did that. We got to fourth in the heat and just kind of rode there. The way the format is, if you’re third quick, you just need to get through the heat. We were able to finish fourth there. Actually, the car was way too tight.”
The redraw saw Wayne line up outside row one for the feature. “We actually freed the car up for the feature,” he says. “At first, I thought we were going to be way too free. I knew it was going to be treacherous on the curb. At the start, I knew I needed to get to the lead. The second lap, I ran the bottom of three and four, because the cushion was so treacherous. That’s when Terry (McCarl) blew our doors off.”
That put him in second. “I got to racing with (Bryan) Clauson a little bit there, and that let Terry get away,” says Wayne. “He had a way superior car to us. I think looking at Race Monitor later that he was ahead of us by three seconds at one time. That caution came out, and that put us on his bumper. I was able to stay with him and pressure there for a few laps. I tried the bottom in four, and lost about ten car lengths on him. I knew I had to get back on the top.”
He did that, and disaster would strike McCarl on lap 18 when he did a 360 spin. “I saw him looping it in turn two,” says Wayne. “We were able to get the lead back at that point. I saw Clauson underneath me a couple of times, but I knew the top was the place for me to be anyway. I wasn’t going to move from up there. When we had the restart with seven to go, I saw Terry was back in third. I knew I needed to step it up at that point. Actually, I think the 21st lap was our fastest of the race.”
Wayne was able to lead the last seven laps and put his name in the history books. “It just worked out,” he says. “It’s better to be lucky than good every day of the week, and that was really a big win for us. Terry definitely had a better car. There in the middle after the restart, I thought we were close. I was stuck to the curb though, and he could search and move around in traffic.”
Wayne is looking forward to the entertaining Moberly oval. “We ran there for the first time there last August,” he says. “I really like the track. It fits my style. I think we ran second both nights.”