NHRA Warren Johnson Qualifying Wrap Up: WJ Qualifies 12th in Chicago

Contact:  Jon Knapp   

TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

 Ph: (704) 662-3121

jgknapp@tmgsports.net

 

 WJ Qualifies 12th in Chicago 

 

Event:  9th Annual Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals

Day/Date: Saturday, June 10, 2006

Location:  Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, IL

 

Sitting in the fourteenth position following the first day of qualifying
for the Carquest Auto Parts Nationals, Warren Johnson knew he would need
improvement in order to secure his position in Sunday's starting
line-up.  Complicating "The Professor's" assignment was the weather,
with intermittent rain changing both track and atmospheric conditions on
a continual basis, as well as reducing the number of professional
qualifying attempts to just three.

 

Even so, the GM Performance Parts GTO took full advantage of the
opportunity, posting the fourth quickest pass of the session at
6.685-seconds with a top speed of 206.89 mph to claim the 12th starting
position. 

 

 "We made a lot of changes to our GM Performance Parts GTO based on what
we saw from last night's attempt.  Although that run was good enough to
qualify, it wasn't at the level of performance where we're accustomed to
running.  We looked at what we did and did not accomplish, and adjusted
the car accordingly. As a result, we were only one of two cars to
improve their qualifying position.  All in all, we made some scholarly
choices, but we still have room for improvement.

 

"I can't say whether the loss of the final qualifying session had that
much of an effect, although we all certainly would have liked to have
another shot at the track.  The atmospheric conditions were a tad worse
than they were earlier today so the some of the teams who had the
misfortune to be outside of the field would have had their work cut out
for them, unless they made a gross error this morning.  Of course, I am
sure there are teams like us who had things they wanted to try in order
to have an additional tool to work with for race day.  

 

"We're in good shape heading into race day.  Kurt (WJ's son, who will
start sixth) qualified well, and we were the fourth quickest in this
morning's session, where conditions most closely resembled what we'll
run tomorrow, so all in all we're cautiously optimistic."
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