NHRA Friday: WJ Starts Strong in Sonoma, Sits Third on Friday

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

WJ Starts Strong in Sonoma, Sits Third on Friday 

Event: 16th annual NHRA Nationals
Location:  Infineon Raceway
       Sonoma, CA
Day/Date: Friday August 7, 2003 

Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts Grand Am Racing team came into Infineon Raceway on a winning note, having captured the traditional Pro Stock event in Woodburn, Oregon on Tuesday night.  Johnson continued this strong performance during Friday's opening day of qualifying.

After posting a second-best time of 6.835-seconds on his first attempt, Johnson took advantage of the improved conditions in the evening session to log a 6.795-second, 202.88 mph pass, placing him third entering Saturday's final time trials. 

"Basically, we took what we learned in Seattle and Woodburn and applied it here.  We opted to be a little cautious on the first run, and then got after it tonight.  Even so, I believe there are a couple of hundredths left in it.  The important part is that our GM Performance Parts Grand Am is making runs that are more consistent.  

"The conditions for tomorrow morning's session could be even better that they were tonight, because we shouldn't be fighting a headwind as we did today.  We'll go over the data from the first two runs, make a few adjustments, and see what we can do."

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