NHRA Saturday: W.J.'s Pursuit of a Vegas Jackpot Starts from the Fourth Spot

W.J.'s Pursuit of a Vegas Jackpot Starts from 
the Fourth Spot

Event:  4th Annual Summitracing.com Nationals
Location:  The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
        Las Vegas, NV
Day/Date:  Saturday April 5, 2003 

On the strength of a 6.900-second elapsed time recorded on his second attempt on Friday evening, Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts Racing team qualified fourth for Sunday's final eliminations of the Summitracing.com Nationals in Las Vegas, NV.  

Although Saturday's conditions were not quite up to the record-producing levels encountered on Friday, the "factory hot rods" were still able to produce some impressive runs, resulting in some minor shuffling in the sixteen-car field.   W.J. showed the consistency many will be looking for on race day with his 6.909-second, 199.08 mph effort in the third qualifying session, and was on another strong run in the afternoon before he was slowed by a mechanical failure.

"We were on a pretty decent run tonight before we broke but that's racing.  If you look at the bright side of it, by breaking today, we can go in and put some fresh parts in it and be in good shape, which is a luxury we wouldn't have tomorrow.

"Our GM Performance Parts Grand Am has been pretty good all weekend. We haven't run this particular engine here before, although it performed well in testing last week.  We're just trying to hone in on the right tune-up.  Once we do that, we'll be fine."