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Johnson Stopped by Mechanical Problem during Debut at Santa Maria

(Photo by Collin Markle Photography)

Inside Line Promotions – SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Sept. 28, 2015) – Chase Johnson should make friends with the monkey on his back because it is firmly attached.

Johnson was derailed by a mechanical problem while in contention for at least a top 10 during last Friday’s King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series event at Santa Maria Raceway.

“We’ve still got that monkey on our back,” he said. “The weekend started off pretty good. We had great speed and it was looking good. We put together a great lap in qualifying and the car was really good.”

Johnson, who was making his debut at the bullring, timed in 11th quickest during qualifying in the Shawn and Cyndi Thomas owned sprint car. He then advanced from sixth to fourth place in a heat race.

“The heat race went well,” he said. “We didn’t do anything too extreme. There was an early crash and I ended up getting around another guy to get up to fourth. We were just trying to keep our nose clean because everybody was headed to the A Main. We were trying to get a feel for the track.”

That lined him up on the inside of the sixth row for the main event.

“It started out well,” he said. “We rolled around in 11th for a couple of laps and I felt like we had a car that wanted to go to the front in a hurry. We got around Bobby McMahan and Tyler Walker. We were very fast, but the motor shut off on Lap 8. It sounded like an electrical issue to me.”

Johnson was running ninth when he slowed on the track.

“We didn’t have too much time in the work area,” he said. “We didn’t have a wire come off. Everything looked good, but when we went to push off it was doing the same thing so we pulled it back into the pits. We thought it ended up being a mag issue so we were done for the night.”

Johnson was credited with a 16th-place result. The team replaced the mag the following day prior to Saturday’s King of the West event at Ventura Raceway in Ventura, Calif.

“We fired the car off before the race and unfortunately it was a bigger problem than the mag,” he said. “It actually hurt the cam shaft. It was a weird problem. It rarely gets the cam shaft. In our case it did and we ended up sitting in the stands for the rest of the night.”

Johnson will return to competition in his family sprint car this weekend during the Fall Nationals at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., on Saturday.

QUICK RESULTS –

Sept. 25 – Santa Maria Raceway in Santa Maria, Calif. – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 4 (6); Feature: 16 (11).

SEASON STATS –

31 races, 0 wins, 3 top fives, 6 top 10s, 10 top 15s, 16 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., for the Fall Nationals

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.ChaseJohnsonRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChaseJohnson24

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chase.Johnson.Racing1

APPAREL –

Johnson has new red, black or gray t-shirts and hoodies for sale at his race trailer at every race he competes in this season. T-shirts are $20 each and hoodies are $35 apiece.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Shifty Illusions

Shifty Illusions is a custom paint business based in Bakersfield, Calif. Shifty Illusions specializes in helmets and goalie masks. For more information, visit http://www.ShiftyIll.com.

“I can’t thank Shifty Illusions enough for giving me a great looking helmet that is a tribute to Marcus Johnson and Dale Wondergem,” Johnson said. “I’m really thankful for all that he’s helped us with. Shifty Illusions isn’t expensive and makes everything look great. He’s very talented.”

Johnson would also like to thank Johnny Franklin’s Mufflers, Newman Freeman Racing, PitStopUSA.com, Napa Auto Parts, Flowmaster, Don’s Truck Repair, VSR, Fast Lube Plus, K&N Filters, Oroville Cycle, I-Wear Graphix, Driven Raceway, Nor-Cal Transmission, Justin Henry Racing and Chevron Pro-Gas for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

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