NHRA Saturday: Warren Johnson Responds to the Challenge, Qualifies 12th in Seattle

Event: 16th annual Carquest Nationals
Location:  Pacific Raceways
       Kent, Washington
Day/Date: Saturday July 26, 2003 

The pressure was on Warren Johnson entering the final qualifying session for the Carquest Nationals in Seattle, Washington.  After opening with a solid 6.887-second effort on Friday, Johnson battled severe tire shake on his next two runs and entered his final attempt outside the top sixteen necessary to qualify.  Complicating Johnson's task even further was the fact that the temperatures during the final time trial at Pacific Raceways were much higher than the preferred session on Saturday morning. 

Undaunted, Johnson powered his GM Performance Parts Grand Am through the quarter-mile in 6.822 seconds with a top speed of 202.94 mph, the quickest elapsed time of the final session, and the only run in that round quick enough to qualify for Sunday's final eliminations.  This impressive effort placed "The Professor" in the 12th position, as he looks to repeat his winning performance from Denver a week ago.  

"This track threw us curves for the first three sessions.   After being a little light on the clutch on our first run, we shook on the next two.  Faced with the possibility of missing the race, we went back to our notes and came up with a workable solution.  Fortunately, our GM Performance Parts Grand Am responded, we made a representative run and got ourselves in the field.  After all, that is what matters.

"However, we've only passed the first test.  Tomorrow we start all over, without any room for error.  We take the information from tonight, assimilate it with our notes, and come up with a game plan for race day."