WJ's Hopes of a Repeat are Shattered Early in Houston
Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.
Warren Johnson entered Sunday's final eliminations of the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals looking to defend his Pro Stock title from a year ago. After qualifying 11th, things seemed to be going as planned for the GM Performance Parts GTO Racing team in the early stages of the first round, as "The Professor" grabbed the advantage by nearly five hundredths at the starting line.
However, within moments, Johnson's charge was suddenly slowed to a crawl by an unusual mechanical failure, allowing his opponent to overcome his lead and drive on for the win.
"With the jump I had at the start, all I had to run was a 6.751 to win, which should have been easily attainable given the way our GM Performance Parts GTO had been running. It was going straight until it broke the rear end just as I was putting it into second gear. We haven't broken a rear end since 1987 in the first round at Atlanta. The unit we ran today only had ten or eleven runs on it, and looked fine when we checked it last night. I guess my X-Ray vision just wasn't working as well as it should.
"I tend to look at the big picture, so I guess our misfortune today balances out the good luck we had in Phoenix. We'll put a fresh ring and pinion in it and do a little testing to make sure everything else is working properly so we can get after it in Las Vegas next weekend."
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.
Warren Johnson entered Sunday's final eliminations of the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals looking to defend his Pro Stock title from a year ago. After qualifying 11th, things seemed to be going as planned for the GM Performance Parts GTO Racing team in the early stages of the first round, as "The Professor" grabbed the advantage by nearly five hundredths at the starting line.
However, within moments, Johnson's charge was suddenly slowed to a crawl by an unusual mechanical failure, allowing his opponent to overcome his lead and drive on for the win.
"With the jump I had at the start, all I had to run was a 6.751 to win, which should have been easily attainable given the way our GM Performance Parts GTO had been running. It was going straight until it broke the rear end just as I was putting it into second gear. We haven't broken a rear end since 1987 in the first round at Atlanta. The unit we ran today only had ten or eleven runs on it, and looked fine when we checked it last night. I guess my X-Ray vision just wasn't working as well as it should.
"I tend to look at the big picture, so I guess our misfortune today balances out the good luck we had in Phoenix. We'll put a fresh ring and pinion in it and do a little testing to make sure everything else is working properly so we can get after it in Las Vegas next weekend."
posted by David @ 5:02 PM
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