NHRA Warren Johnson Friday Update: WJ Sits Second Halfway through St. Louis Qualifying

Event:  Ninth Annual Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals 

Day/Date: Friday, June 24, 2005

Location:  Gateway International Raceway, Madison, IL

 

Although track temperatures at Gateway International Raceway soared to
as high as 140 degrees during Friday's first day of qualifying, Warren
Johnson and the GM Performance Parts Pontiac Racing Team never lost
their cool.  In each of their two attempts, they were among the top
performers in the Pro Stock category, culminating with a 6.758-second,
203.46 mph blast in the nighttime session to place themselves in the
second position heading into Saturday's action.

 

"We made two good, competitive runs today, with the second being a
little better than the first.  We've continued to work on this DRCE III,
and even though we're continuing to chase after it a little bit, we're
pretty close.   Our main objective right now is to improve the tune-up.


 

"Our test session earlier in the week helped us get an idea of what gear
ratio to use in this GM Performance Parts Pontiac, which is a key.  We
took a stab at it in the first run, made some adjustments based on what
we found, and it came right around.

 

"As for tomorrow, we'll play it by ear, simply because we're not sure
what the weather will be like, and there are so many variables, it's
hard to predict.  We'll see what we have and take it from there."