NHRA Warren Johnson Friday Columbus Update: WJ Rolls to the No. 1 Position on Friday in Columbus

 

Event:  41st Annual Pontiac Performance Nationals 

Day/Date: Friday, May 20, 2005

Location:  National Trail Raceway, Hebron, Ohio

 

On paper, the first day of qualifying at the Pontiac Performance
Nationals seemed to be a routine affair for Warren Johnson and the GM
Performance Parts Pontiac Racing Team.  Their 6.749-second, 204.48 mph
pass in the evening session placed them atop the 26-car Pro Stock field.
However, making this accomplishment even more impressive were the trials
and tribulations the veteran crew had to overcome in order to determine
the set-up that allowed them to make that particular run.

 

"We had a few problems on our first run that could have had an adverse
effect on the evening session.  We had a malfunction with the throttle
linkage which prevented the second carburetor from fully opening, which
was compounded by our not getting any computer data from the run.
Therefore, we pretty much had to wing it for our second attempt.

 

"We actually made a significant amount of changes based on something
Kurt (Johnson's son and driver of the ACDelco Cobalt) had done with his
car in testing.  Considering our predicament, we felt it was a good time
to try it, and fortunately, it seems to have worked well enough to place
us in the No. 1 position at the moment.  Overall, I was pleased.  It was
a good, straight run, and our sixty foot time was back in the hunt, so I
think we're getting this GM Performance Parts Pontiac to where it needs
to be."