NHRA Warren Johnson Houston Race Wrap Up: WJ Makes Progress, Advances to Houston Quarterfinals

Throughout the course of the first three races of the 2007 POWERade Drag
Racing season, Warren Johnson and his GM Performance Parts GTO have been
working on their race car trying to improve its overall performance, and
these tireless efforts started to pay off during Sunday's rain-delayed
final eliminations of the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston, TX.    

Starting from the fifth position (his third straight Top Five qualifying
performance of the season), Johnson combined a strong .035 reaction time
with a solid 6.708-second, 206.13 mph to defeat Tom Hammonds in the
opening round and score his first elimination round win of the season.
Although he was slowed by severe tire shake in the second round against
Jason Line, putting a premature end to his day, Johnson will still leave
Houston Raceway Park pleased with his team's continued progress. 

"You're only truly happy when you win, but I'd have to say we're pretty
satisfied with our performance this weekend.  The tire shake in the
second round wasn't the car's fault, and although the lane may not have
been as good as it could have been, people were also shaking the tires
in the good lane, indicating there were several of us who were slightly
off in the tune-up.  

"However, it was still a good weekend in that we're moving up the food
chain.  This makes three races that we've qualified in the Top Five, we
were finally able to get out of the first round, and we're starting to
get lights that we can work with.  Our program is coming along nicely,
and the little bit that we need to run right up front is there in our GM
Performance Parts GTO, and it's up to us to find it in testing, which is
what we are planning to do between now and Las Vegas."