NHRA Warren Johnson Friday Update: WJ Opens Reading Qualifying in Third

 

Event:  21st Annual Toyo Tires Nationals 

Day/Date: Friday, September 16, 2005

Location:  Maple Grove Raceway, Reading, PA

 

Warren Johnson has never been one to back away from a challenge, and he
was presented with one during the first day of qualifying at the Toyo
Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, PA.  An issue with his race car slowed
him on his first qualifying attempt, putting him in the less-desirable
early part of the nighttime session, when the track temperatures would
be slightly higher.  

 

However, Johnson and his GM Performance Parts Racing team responded by
recording the third quickest pass of the day at 6.750-seconds with a top
speed of 203.80 mph to place them third halfway through the qualifying
procedure at Maple Grove Raceway.  Heading into Saturday's final two
attempts in a solid position, "The Professor" faces yet another test of
his tuning abilities, as his data acquisition system did not operate
properly, forcing him to rely on his vast experience to adjust for
tomorrow's run.  As always, the pragmatic Johnson was more than ready to
deal with it

 

"Our first run was nothing too spectacular, as we were just a little shy
on gear.  We came back and made the necessary adjustments for the second
session, and, according to the incremental numbers on the time sheets,
our GM Performance Parts GTO made a pretty good run, although I did feel
it labor a bit in third gear.  

 

"Unfortunately, we don't know exactly how good it was because our
computer didn't work and we have no data to tune from.   Therefore,
we'll have to wing it for tomorrow morning's session.  However, based on
the experience we have on this team, as well as the strength of that
run, we should be fine, and at the very least, that time should be good
enough to keep us in the show.  This is nothing more than an
inconvenience.  We're in good shape."