Danny Howk photo
By Bill W
June 7, 2017 – Wayne Johnson and the Two-C Racing team turned a miserable weekend around when they won the 360 feature Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. The Oklahoma City driver struggled at the Jackson Nationals in Minnesota Thursday and Friday before deciding to head for Knoxville. The Lucas Oil ASCS National series starts their Speedweek this weekend at West Texas Raceway in Lubbock Friday and Route 66 Motor Speedway in Amarillo Saturday. Tuesday, the series hits Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas.
Wayne struggled at Jackson Motorplex with the 410 on Thursday and Friday. “We were just bad up there,” he says. “We’ve been learning things in the 360. We’ve just been trying to translate that to the 410. I think we just need to go back to our notes. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel with the 410. Where we were in points there, it made sense for us to go to Knoxville and get the 360 tuned in.”
Things have been turning around lately in the 360 program. “I think we’re on the right track,” says Wayne. “We’ve learned some things lately. Still, we need to run a few more races to be sure. It’s a good time to hit our stride.”
Wayne started out well in qualifying at Knoxville Saturday. “We were third quick, but only turned 7900 r.p.m.’s,” he says. “I couldn’t believe we were third quick. We just had too much fuel going into the motor. We were being conservative.”
He drove from sixth to third in his heat. “We were really good in the heat race,” says Wayne.
“On a hard to pass racetrack, we were running by those guys. I knew we had a fast car at that point. We had figured on a drier track with USAC there, but we were able to adjust.”
Wayne would start the main event outside row two behind Tayler Malsam and Terry McCarl, but took the lead right away. “The first start got called back,” he says. “I chose the wrong lane on that one. On the second start, I knew I needed to crowd Clint Garner a little bit on the bottom. We were able to get a good start and get by him to the bottom. Malsem missed the bottom and Terry was on top. I knew the bottom was going to be good in one and two; we just needed to get to it.”
He would maintain his lead throughout. “I never really tried the bottom of three and four,” says Wayne. “We stayed on the top down there other than lapped traffic. But the car was super-good on the bottom of one and two. On the last restart with about five to go, I felt like we were slipping off of two. So I moved to the top. It felt like I was just as fast up there, but looking back at Race Monitor, it slowed me down about two-tenths. We were the same speed as everyone else, so that was o.k.”
Wayne’s youngest daughter was able to share in the win as well. “It was good to have Paige there in the pits with me,” he says. “It’s the first time she’s been down there with me during the races. So we did the wing dance together.”
Follow Updates on Facebook!
Wayne will update as his race night commences at his Facebook page. Find it by searching for
Wayne Johnson Racing or clicking the following link…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WayneJohnsonRacing
Outlaw Wings – “The Wing with an Attitude”
Check out the new “recessed rivet” design put out by Outlaw Wings. Talk to Wayne about purchasing Outlaw Wings for your car! Outlaw Wings – “The Wing with an Attitude”!
Wayne’s Fast Facts
Wayne won at Lawton Speedway in Oklahoma in ASCS Speedweek competition in 2012. Seth Bergman was second, followed by Jason Johnson, Tony Bruce Jr. and Brad Loyet.
Partner of the Week – Xtreme Accu-tach
Know how your engine is performing with Xtreme Accu-tach!
When the display button is pushed after your last race, the Accu-Tach will display four numbers:
- 1st number is the highest RPM turned in the last race
- 2nd number is the low average RPM turned in the last race
- 3rd number is the high average RPM turned in the last race
- 4th number is the time in seconds your engine took to rev from your low average RPM to your high average RPM
The display button has three different functions:
- Starts the display cycle of highest RPM, average low RPM, average high RPM and ramp time
- Resets any stored information if held for more than five seconds
- Displays the engine’s current RPM for fifteen seconds while engine is running
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“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@hotmail.com with”Wayne” in the subject line.
Wayne Johnson Racing would like to thank partners, Todd Carlile, Outlaw Wings, City Vending and product sponsors The Oil Medics, Sebastian Sandblasting & Powdercoating, Rod End Supply, Astro Titanium, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson, Butlerbuilt, Xtreme Accu-Tach, Weld Wheels, Slade Shocks, Kustom Sprint Car Supplies, Fisher Racing Engines, Speedway Graphics and Canyon Apparel.