NHRA Warren Johnson Race Wrap Up: WJ Drives to the Englishtown Quarterfinals

Contact:  Jon Knapp   

TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

 Ph: (704) 662-3121

jgknapp@tmgsports.net

 

 WJ Drives to the Englishtown Quarterfinals 

 

Event:  37th Annual NHRA Supernationals

Day/Date: Sunday, June 18, 2006

Location:  Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ

 

After qualifying 15th for Sunday's final eliminations of the NHRA
Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ,  Warren Johnson and the GM
Performance Parts Racing team faced a tall order heading into the first
round.  Not only would they square off against former crew member and
No. 2 qualifier Greg Anderson, but they would have to do it without lane
choice.  In addition, their assignment was further complicated by the
dramatic change in the weather, with the temperatures soaring well above
90 degrees, which, combined with a significant rise in humidity,
required a completely different tune-up for the naturally-aspirated Pro
Stock cars.

 

However, Johnson and his crew were up to the task, as The Professor used
a strong .037 reaction time to gain the advantage at the start and never
looked back, riding a solid 6.727-second, 205.94 mph to score the
holeshot victory over Anderson, who recorded a quicker 6.718-second
elapsed time in the losing effort.

 

Although Johnson came back in the second round with another .035
reaction time and covered the quarter-mile in 6.734-seconds at 205.98
mph, it was not enough to hold off Dave Connolly's 6.724-second, 206.54
mph pass.  Despite having the day end prematurely, Johnson was
encouraged by the progress his team made over the weekend.  

 

 "Although we're never happy if we don't win, we made some significant
strides this weekend in getting our engine program put together.  We
basically took (son) Kurt's tune-up and adjusted it for our car using
data we had gathered over the last week, producing the results you saw
during the second day of qualifying and today's eliminations.

 

"After making that 6.68-second run on Saturday morning to get ourselves
in the show, we came back in the heat of the afternoon with another 6.68
run, which was fourth quickest for the session.  

 

"Our GM Performance Parts GTO was also competitive in the first round
today, and, based on atmospheric conditions, actually picked up two
hundredths for the second round, coming within a hundredth of our
competitor's time even without lane choice.   Unfortunately, Connolly
had his best light of the weekend against us, and even though I had a
respectable .035 light, the combination just wasn't enough.  However,
the important part is that we made progress.  Looking at the big
picture, I believe what we are doing is setting both Kurt and myself for
an interesting second half of the season."

 

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