NHRA Satiurday: WJ Steps Up, Slots Fourth in Columbus

Contact: Jon G. Knapp
									TMG Sports Marketing
									Phone: (704) 662-3121
									jgknapp@tmgsports.net
										
Final Qualifying Results
					
WJ Steps Up, Slots Fourth in Columbus

Event: 39th annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals
Location:  National Trail Raceway
       Columbus, Ohio
Day/Date: Saturday June 14, 2003 

For the second day, rain wreaked havoc at the Pontiac Excitement Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, causing two lengthy delays.  As a result, the third and final qualifying session was held late on Saturday afternoon, offering some of the best conditions of the weekend.   Warren Johnson took advantage of the situation, covering the quarter-mile in 6.890 seconds, with a top speed of 199.70 mph, earning his GM Performance Parts Grand Am the fourth starting position for Sunday's final eliminations.  

"I think we've finally gotten on top of the problem that's been plaguing both our cars early on in the run, and hopefully that last run was indicative of our making the right changes.  If so, that should give our GM Performance Parts Grand Am a little more consistency.

"Tomorrow is going to give us a complete change in weather, with partly cloudy skies, some sunshine and temperatures in the high 80's, and it's got to be drier than it was today.  With the amount of water in the air, it felt like driving through a swamp, which hurts the performance in these naturally aspirated cars.  

"If you make the right adjustments as far as mixture, spark and gearing, you can get close on elapsed time, but the speed always suffers.  We'll all be dealing from the same deck, so our job will be to figure it out better than everyone else."



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