NHRA Sunday: WJ is bitten by the Red Light Bug in Englishtown

Contact: Jon G. Knapp
									TMG Sports Marketing
									Phone: (704) 662-3121
									jgknapp@tmgsports.net
										
Final Results					

 WJ is bitten by the Red Light Bug in Englishtown

Event: 34th NHRA SuperNationals
Location:  Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
       Englishtown, NJ
Day/Date: Sunday May 18, 2003 

After qualifying 10th for Sunday's eliminations of the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ, Warren Johnson knew he faced a tough challenge as he looked to score back-to-back national event wins.   Although his opening race was determined by Ron Krisher's red light, Johnson served notice of his intentions, as his GM Performance Parts Grand Am powered down the quarter-mile in 6.715 seconds with a top speed of 205.32 mph, which was the quickest pass of Johnson's illustrious career.

Johnson's assignment did not get any easier, however, as he would next face 2002 Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin, whose 6.713-second run in the first round gave him lane choice over Johnson.  With the two cars so evenly matched, Johnson tried to gain the advantage at the starting line.  Unfortunately, W.J. left the line five thousandths of a second too early, handing the automatic win to his opponent.

"We are currently in the situation on the starting line where we can actually shave it too close as we did today.  However, that is still preferable to leaving a whole bunch on the tree.  When you have as good a starting line as we do here, the car reacts quicker, and you can make additional adjustments to move even further in that direction.  Consequently, if you let the clutch out at the same time as at other tracks, there's a good chance you're going to red light.

"However, our problems this weekend stemmed from not running as we should be.  In looking at all the corrected numbers, considering the atmospheric and track conditions, we were about six hundredths off where we should be.  We should have been able to go between 6.65 and 6.67 with ease, and we didn't, so our tune-up was not compatible with these conditions.  We'll have to go to Alaska and work on it

"We have a new GM Performance Parts Grand Am that will be at Jerry Haas' shop on Monday for some final work, and we'll be at the St. Louis track on Wednesday testing to see if it's better than our current car.  If so, we will race it next week in Topeka.  Either way, we'll head to Kansas looking to get back in the winner's circle."

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