NHRA Warren Johnson Saturday Update: WJ Powers to No. 1 Starting Spot in Atlanta

Event:  25th Annual Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals 

Day/Date: Saturday, May 14, 2005

Location:  Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA

 

Warren Johnson put together four extremely quick and consistent runs at
Atlanta Dragway to place his GM Performance Parts Pontiac in the No. 1
qualifying position at the 25th annual Summit Racing Equipment Southern
Nationals.    It was the 133rd “pole” position for the six-time NHRA Pro
Stock champion, third of 2005 and tenth in twenty-five starts at the Georgia
quarter-mile.

 

Starting with a class-leading 6.778-second pass on Friday, WJ was out of the
top position only once throughout qualifying, when Ron Krisher’s
6.757-second attempt on Friday evening edged the Sugar Hill, GA resident by
one thousandth of a second.  However, “The Professor” came back on Saturday
morning to blast through the quarter-mile in 6.749-seconds at 204.54 mph to
reset both ends of the track record and cement his place atop the Pro Stock
field.

 

“We have quite a few people in the stands cheering for us with the shop
being only a half hour away, so we didn’t want to disappoint them.  You
always want to run faster, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a
bad effort by the entire GM Performance Parts Pontiac team.  We made four
solid runs, one of which was good enough to make us the No. 1 qualifier.  

 

“Of course, there is always room for improvement, so we’ll keep pecking
away, but we’re obviously getting better at it.  But we’re certainly pleased
with our performance so far.”

 

“The forecast is calling for cooler temperatures tomorrow, which will make
the conditions closer to those we tested under last week, when I ran 6.68,
so we would certainly be comfortable in that situation.  In any case, we’ll
make the best of what is given to us and see if we can take the trophy home
tomorrow night.”

 

Some quick facts on Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts Racing team
following their No. 1 qualifying performance in Atlanta:

 

*	This is the 133rd No. 1 qualifying performance of WJ’s career, which
is the most by any professional driver in NHRA history (John Force is second
with 124). 
*	This is WJ’s tenth No. 1 qualifying performance at Atlanta Dragway. 
*	WJ’s most recent No. 1 qualifying position came last month at the
SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas, NV.
*	46 of WJ’s 93 national event wins have come from the No. 1 starting
position, including last month in Houston, TX. 
*	This is the third No. 1 qualifying performance for the DRCE III, the
third generation General Motors Drag Racing Competition Engine.  Warren and
his son Kurt are the only competitors in Pro Stock currently running this
engine.        

 

 

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