W.J.'s Speedy Start Costs Him in Bristol Semi-Final Family Feud

Event:  Third Annual Mac Tools NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
Location:   Bristol Dragway
                   Bristol, TN
Day/Date:  Sunday April 27, 2003 

After claiming the No. 1 qualifying position for the129th time in his 
illustrious career, GM Performance Parts Grand Am pilot Warren Johnson looked 
to successfully defend his title at the Mac Tools NHRA Thunder Valley 
Nationals.    The challenge would be made tougher by the combination of 
another tightly packed Pro Stock field, and the sunny skies and warmer 
temperatures, which enveloped Bristol Dragway on Sunday and created a 
completely new set of tuning conditions.

However, the changes did little to affect Johnson's performance, as he posted 
two of the quickest elapsed times in the first two rounds.  After opening by 
defeating Troy Coughlin, Johnson posted a 6.902-second, 200.98 mph pass in an 
easy win over a red-lighting Ron Krisher, which set the stage for a 
semi-final tussle with his son Kurt Johnson, who has been hottest race car in 
this extremely competitive category.

Without the luxury of lane choice, and knowing the potential of his son's 
race car, Johnson knew he would need every advantage.  Unfortunately, he left 
the starting line seventh thousandths of a second early, giving the automatic 
win to the second-generation driver. 

It was Johnson's first red-light start in five years, dating back to a 1998 
semi-final encounter against Mike Edwards in Reading, PA.

"I was very close in the second round with an .010 reaction time, and I just 
pushed the tree a little too hard against Kurt," explained Johnson.  "The 
competition is so close that you can't leave anything to chance, so you have 
to push it as hard as you can, and I missed by seven thousandths.  That's 
racing.

"Actually, it was really a win-win situation for us, as one of our cars would 
be going to the final.  If Kurt won, as he did, he would add to his points 
lead.  If I had won, we would have continued to gain ground on second place, 
where we've made huge gains the last two races, to where I am less than a 
round away.  Given that, things really aren't that bad.

"The GM Performance Parts Grand Am is performing well.  It's not exactly 
where it needs to be, but it's competitive, and we have a new car on the way 
that I am optimistic will further help our performance.  If that's the case, 
it will really put us in the driver's seat."