NHRA Friday: WJ Flies to Fourth on Friday in Phoenix

Date: March 5, 2004
Event: 22nd Annual Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals
Location: Firebird Raceway, Chandler, AZ

During the first day of qualifying for the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals, Warren Johnson continue to display the performance that earned him a runner-up finish in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season-opener in Pomona a week ago.  On each of his two runs on Friday, Johnson posted times that were among the leaders in the 28-car Pro Stock field.  

Johnson's run of record came on in the evening session, when his GM Performance Parts Grand Am posted an elapsed time of 6.797 seconds with a top speed of 203.86 mph.  This placed "The Professor" in the fourth position heading into Saturday's final two attempts.

With weather predicted to be warmer, Johnson turned his attention to Sunday's final eliminations, as well as solving a minor discrepancy in his instrumentation.

"Our GM Performance Parts Grand Am made two fairly decent runs today, but our instrumentation is telling us the tune-up is off, which has us a little puzzled.  This is the first time we've monitored the engine in this fashion, and it confirmed what we thought was going on, but we didn't think it was quite as severe as it appears to be.  

"We simply have to do something about it to get with the program, including sacrificing a run tomorrow just to verify things, which is something I do not like to do.  It's not a problem, it's just that I hate melting things down.

"In either case, we are safely in the show, and with the temperature forecast to be 10 degrees warmer tomorrow and our two sessions at the most inopportune time of the day, I don't expect to see a lot of movement in the line-up.  We'll keep on working on it, getting it better and in good shape for race day."