NHRA Warren Johnson Sunday Wrap Up: WJ Blasts to His Second Win in Bristol

Sunday, May 1, 2005, Bristol, TN -  Warren Johnson powered to his second
win of the 2005 season on Sunday, taking home the Pro Stock title at the
5th annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN.   It was
another impressive performance by "The Professor", as for the third
consecutive race, his GM Performance Parts Pontiac posted the quickest
elapsed time of the weekend with a dramatic 6.715-second pass in the
second round, setting the stage for the 94th win of his stellar career,
and second at Bristol Dragway in NHRA competition.  The win also allowed
Johnson to reclaim the lead in the POWERade championship standings.

 

"We had a good day at the office," said Johnson.  "The crew did
everything they needed to get our GM Performance Parts Pontiac ready to
race, I did what I needed to do, and we even got a break or two.
Overall, it was one of those wins that didn't go exactly as scripted,
but fortunately it came out in our favor.  

 

"The biggest thing is that we had a great turnout by the spectators
today, which, in light of the inclement weather of the past two days,
was tremendous.  Hopefully, we gave them a great show. It was pretty
good from where we were sitting."

 

Starting from the second position, Johnson quickly showed that he would
be a contender on race day, posting the second quickest elapsed time of
the first round in defeating Allen Johnson.  He followed this with an
impressive 6.715-second pass in eliminating Jason Line in the
quarter-finals, which was three hundredths of a second quicker than any
other Pro Stock car would run all weekend, and a new Bristol Dragway
track record.

 

"There was nothing left on that run," said Johnson.  "It quivered the
tires and was right at the point where it was as fast as it could go.  I
can't say we milked it, but we got everything out of it.  It proved that
if we could get on top of this just a little bit better, both Kurt and I
could step up our performance.  It also worked in our favor for the rest
of the day, because it was one of those ominous daggers that gets in
people's minds."

 

Advancing to the semi-finals for the fifth time in six races, Johnson
faced a familiar foe, his son Kurt Johnson, who made headlines of his
own during the weekend with the competitive debut of his new ACDelco
Chevrolet Cobalt.  Knowing the DRCE III under the hood of his son's race
car was equal in performance to his own, the senior Johnson knew he
would need a complete effort to move on to the 146th final round of his
career, and combined a .025 reaction time with a 6.757-second, 204.29
mph pass to claim the family bragging rights for the weekend.

 

"Winning over Kurt was a great thing, because it allowed me to advance
to the final," said Johnson.  "Naturally, going in to the semifinals, we
were in a win-win situation, because we knew one of our team cars was
going to go to the final.  Therefore, both teams did everything they
could to win.

 

"Kurt is obviously going to be in contention for the championship before
the year is out.    The season is still very early, and he has a new car
that is quite capable of performing at the head of the pack.  Today, we
were the ones to come out on top, but I'm confident he'll get his share
of wins."

 

The final obstacle between Johnson and the winner's circle was Richie
Stevens, who was making his first appearance in the championship round
in four years.  With Stevens having gained lane choice for the final by
one thousandth of a second, Johnson found himself relegated to the
less-preferred left-hand lane.  However, it did not matter, as Stevens
left the starting line almost five hundredths of a second early,
awarding the automatic win to Johnson, who punctuated the win with a
6.756 second, 203.89 mph pass.

 

"Richie's a good driver.  He just took at shot at the tree in the
final," said Johnson. "Maybe they were thinking of the 6.71 we ran in
the second round, or the fact that we ran a 6.75 in the semi-finals when
we shook the tires. Therefore, they may have been worried that we'd run
another good number, even though they ran well all day.   Fortunately,
we came away with the win.

 

"This was a tremendous performance for the entire team.  We're back in
the points lead, and even though it is very early in the season, it's
always better to be first than second.  It's not even a safety margin,
but it shows our entire team is competitive on a race to race basis.
Our goal continues to be winning the championship for GM Performance
Parts, Pontiac and all the other sponsors who have stuck with us.
Fortunately, it seems as if things are coming round.  We are not about
to bank on winning the title, but we're certainly going to keep working
at it."

 

Fast Facts Following WJ's Win in Bristol -

 

*	This was WJ's 94th career win, which is the most by any Pro
Stock driver in the history of the NHRA, and second only to John Force
among all professional drivers.
*	This was also WJ's 146th final round appearance, also the most
in Pro Stock history.
*	This was Johnson's second win at Bristol Dragway in NHRA
competition.
*	This was the 24th time that WJ has won from the second starting
position.
*	By winning the race, WJ scored his 800th career elimination
round win, which is second only to John Force for the most among all
professional drivers.                                   

 

NHRA POWERade Championship Points Standings (after 6 of 23 events)

 

1. Warren Johnson     536

2. David Connolly         486

3. Jason Line                379

4. Greg Anderson         365

5. Ron Krisher               316