5/27/2015
ASCS
Wednesdays with Wayne – Eagle and Belleville up Next!
(Image Credit: Rob Kocak)
(Bill W) May 27, 2015 – Wayne Johnson will finish up the month of May with the ASCS National Series at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska on Saturday and at the Belleville Highbanks in Kansas on Sunday. Already, Friday’s event at the Salina Speedway in Kansas has been moved to June 19. Last weekend, the #77x team suffered some bad luck at Jackson Speedway in Minnesota with the NSL and checkered 15th at Knoxville in 410 action.
Jackson underwent a facelift before the Folkens Bros. Spring Nationals there last Friday. “It really races similar to how it did, but they’ve really spruced up the facility,” says Wayne. “It has a little more bank off of turn two, but it raced the same to me.”
Wayne would time in 17th quick in the 35-car field. “We tried some things qualifying that didn’t work as well as we wanted,” he says. “We had the new (Cool chassis) car with the 410. I ran the raceway wrong too. The bottom worked well for me in hot laps, so I tried it in qualifying too. That screwed us. I think we ended up 17th quick and we were behind the 8-ball.”
He would finish second in his heat, locking him into the main event. “We had a pretty good battle with (Danny) Lasoski there in the heat and ended up running second,” says Wayne. “The heat race was fine.”
Wayne would line up inside row eight for the feature. It would be a short race for him. “At the start of the feature, guys split, and I drove by them right through the middle of one and two,” he says. “I got to turn two and we were into the Dash cars. Unfortunately, Aaron Reutzel was trying to avoid Lasoski spinning, and came down the track. I didn’t get checked up, and he ran over the right front and ripped the front end out of it. My night was done.”
What he thought was just a broken front end turned into more on Saturday. “When we were doing maintenance Saturday morning for Knoxville, I found that the chassis was bent,” says Wayne. “I didn’t find it until about ten in the morning. We realized we had to pull the motor out of it. It’s crazy that it bent. He was on the gas when he ran into me, and it KOed it pretty good. We got it back as straight as we could.”
Saturday night at Knoxville started well. “We were in the last group to go out, and we were o.k. with 13th quick,” says Wayne of qualifying. “We had our little motor in…the 270 head. It doesn’t make big power. It’s more of a short track motor. I thought we’d be o.k.”
Wayne would finish one spot out of a heat transfer. “We just couldn’t get by (Bill) Balog,” he says. “Every time I made a different decision to get around him, (Brian) Brown got me and then (Kerry) Madsen got me and we were knocked out of a transfer spot.”
He would start fourth in the B. “We were able to get by Austin (McCarl) at the start,” says Wayne. “He got back by me, and we settled into third. We just weren’t very good. We thought we’d try something completely different for the feature.”
The third place finish meant Wayne would start the 20-lap main event 23rd. He would move up eight spots to finish 15th. “I think we were able to get up to twelfth at one point,” he says. “(Matt) Covington crashed in front of me, and I spun to miss him. We got our spot back, but I just wasn’t very good on the restart. There were a lot of things we tried, and it just didn’t work. I was way too tight.”
Follow Updates on Facebook!
Wayne will update as his race night commences at his Facebook page. Find it by searching for Wayne Johnson Racing or clicking the following link…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WayneJohnsonRacing
Outlaw Wings – “The Wing with an Attitude”
Check out the new “recessed rivet” design put out by Outlaw Wings. Talk to Wayne about purchasing Outlaw Wings for your car! Outlaw Wings – "The Wing with an Attitude"!
Wayne's Fast Facts
Wayne’s last trip to Eagle saw him finish fourth both nights in the 2012 Eagle Nationals. Brady Bacon won the finale over Johnny Herrera, Jason Johnson, Wayne and Brad Loyet.
Partner of the Week – The Oil Medics
Wayne says, “We had some problems with our hauler this week around Fort Worth, and Bill Jewell helped get us back on the road. He fixed it, and put some “air tabs” on our truck. It saves us about a mile per gallon with our fuel mileage.”
The Oil Medics provides truck service without the expense or wait of a dealer! Visit them online atwww.TheOilMedics.com!
"Wednesday's with Wayne"
"Wednesday's With Wayne" is an up close look at the past, present and future of colorful and talented sprint car driver Wayne Johnson. You'll never know what to expect next with Wayne, so don't miss us on Wednesdays!
To receive "Wednesday's with Wayne", send an e-mail to sprntcar@hotmail.com with"Wayne" in the subject line.
Wayne Johnson Racing would like to thank partners, Todd Carlile, Townline Variety, Outlaw Wings, City Vending, Stone Mountain Access Systems and product sponsors The Oil Medics, Sebastian Sandblasting & Powdercoating, Rod End Supply, Astro Titanium, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson, Butlerbuilt, Xtreme Accu-Tach, Weld Wheels, Slade Shocks, Kustom Sprint Car, Fisher Racing Engines, Team Achieve and Canyon Apparel.
Submitted By: Bryan Hulbert