NHRA Sunday: Warren Johnson's Strong 2003 Season ends in Pomona Quarter-Finals

Event: 39th annual Auto Club of Southern California Finals 
Location:  Pomona Raceway
       Pomona, California
Day/Date: Sunday November 9, 2003

Entering Sunday's final eliminations of the Auto Club of Southern California Finals in the eighth position, GM Performance Parts Grand Am pilot Warren Johnson knew he had a tough road ahead if he was to sweep both Pomona events in 2003.

Opening against No. 9 qualifier Gene Wilson in the first round, Johnson used a strong 6.786-second, 204.05 mph pass to advance to the quarterfinals.  However, his task would not get any easier, as he would face 2003 Pro Stock champion and No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson in the second round.  Complicating matters even further was that Johnson would be running in the less preferred right lane, which saw few wins in the Pro Stock category throughout the day.  

Although Johnson posted a solid 6.819-second elapsed time with a top speed of 204.35 mph, Anderson used one of the quickest passes of the day at 6.756 seconds to put a premature end to WJ's weekend.

"We pulled it down a little too much at the starting line, and that killed us.  Other than that, it was a decent run, and was actually faster in the back half.  I can't really attribute that to the lane.  In fact, the car in front of us ran a 6.78.  We just needed to do a little better job getting off the line.

"However, when you look at it overall, it was a pretty decent season.  Only three guys finished ahead of me, and a lot more than that were behind me, so it really wasn't too bad.  Of course, we're not really happy unless either Kurt or I are on top, so we'll head back to the shop and get to work on making our GM Performance Parts Grand Am even stronger for 2004."

Warren Johnson's 2003 Highlights:

	-	Finished fourth in the 2003 NHRA POWERade championship standings, his third consecutive fourth place finish, fifth time in his career, and 22nd consecutive Top Five finish.
	-	Scored four national event wins (Pomona, Atlanta, Denver and Reading) to raise his Pro Stock leading total to 92.
	-	Was the No. 1 qualifier three times (Houston, Bristol and St. Louis) to raise his NHRA leading total to 130.
	-	Extended his streak of winning at least one race a year to 22 years, which is the longest in NHRA history.

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