Wayne in action at Lucas Oil Speedway (John Lee – High Fly’N Photos)
(Bill W) June 21, 2017 – Wayne Johnson and the Two-C Racing #2c team have had a rough couple of days in Montana. Following a grueling seven-race ASCS Speedweek, the team’s rig broke down in Montana while heading for this weekend’s Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway near Alger, Washington. With a rented truck pulling their trailer, they have finally made their destination.
Speedweek started a week ago Friday with a top five at West Texas Raceway in Lubbock. “We didn’t think we had a good car at Lubbock at all,” says Wayne. “So for us to go from tenth to fifth was good. The track wasn’t very conducive of passing either, and to get a top five in that situation was good for us.”
At Route 66 Motor Speedway in Amarillo the next night, Wayne drove from sixth to second in his heat. “It ended up being a rubber-down racetrack,” he says. “We started the feature fifth and ended up fourth. So to start Speedweek with two top fives was good.”
The draw did not go well a week ago Tuesday at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas. “We drew dead last in the heat race, and got up to fifth,” says Wayne. “We started 13th, and lined up behind a slower car. He didn’t get going and we were way back in 18th. We got going again and got back up to tenth. We just weren’t the best there. We’ve struggled at Devil’s Bowl lately, and we don’t know why.”
Last Wednesday the series moved to Oklahoma’s Lawton Speedway. “We drew the eight to start the feature, and we were up to fourth the first couple of laps,” says Wayne. “A spring broke on my ratchet seat belt. I stopped on the frontstretch, thinking an official may be able to help me. We had to take it into the work area and fix it there. We got back out there at the tail and couldn’t move forward (finishing 17th). It was a bad break, because we’d been good at the start of the race.”
At Creek County Speedway near Sapulpa Thursday, Wayne had to work to get to the feature after another bad heat draw. “We didn’t run well in the heat (fifth) and had to get through the B,” he says. “We started 18th and ran up to eighth. We were pretty good really. We were better than some of the cars in front of us. Everyone was on the bottom, and there was just nowhere to pass them. We just ran out of time.”
The team made a change before visiting Randolph County Raceway near Moberly, Missouri Friday. “We had been running a motor that hasn’t been giving us a whole lot of power,” says Wayne. “We thought running it for Speedweek would solve that, but it hadn’t. So we changed it before Moberly, and we were a lot faster. We were able to win our heat race pretty convincingly. We redrew the six for the feature, and got up to third behind Sam (Hafertepe) and Aaron (Reutzel). The curb got bigger and we got tighter. We ended up backing up to fifth, and Reutzel fell out. So we finished fourth there.”
The Speedweek finale was Saturday at Lucas Oil Speedway near Wheatland, Missouri. “We were really good in hot laps,” says Wayne. “The car was a little tight in the heat. On the start, I tried to anticipate it and ran over the back of Reutzel. I fell back to sixth and ended up fifth. That put us starting 15th in the feature, and we drove up to eighth again. The car was pretty good, we just need a little luck.”
That luck did not come on the highways in Montana heading for Washington state. “We got to the scale house in Montana and they said we were overweight, which hasn’t happened in any other state,” says Wayne. “We had to move things around in the trailer to situate it right. Five hours down the road, the motor in the semi blew up around Butte. So we had to stay the night there, make sure the motor was blown, rent a car to go to Missoula where we could rent a truck. We brought the truck and car back to Butte (125 miles), hooked up and finally got headed west. We were ready to get out of Montana!”
Follow Updates on Facebook!
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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 won the ASCS Speedweek championship for the second time in 2012. He also won the title in 2000 when he was also ASCS National champion. In 2012, he grabbed wins at both Devil’s Bowl and Lawton.
Partner of the Week – Weld Wheels
Weld ®. The word is virtually synonymous with racing wheels. Their heritage is unmatched; their product is the choice of champions in most forms of motorsports. Founded in 1968 by Greg Weld out of the pure love of racing, the company has undergone many changes over the last forty years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is that the product is still designed and manufactured in Kansas City, USA. In November 2008, the heritage and future became one, as Weld Racing, LLC was formed by current Weld management and Granite Creek Partners, LLC, to place ownership and leadership of the company back in the hands of racers. Visit them at www.WeldRacing.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!
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Wayne Johnson Racing would like to thank partners, Todd Carlile, Outlaw Wings, City Vending 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 Supplies, Fisher Racing Engines, Speedway Graphics and Canyon Apparel.
Photo: Wayne in action at Lucas Oil Speedway (John Lee – High Fly’N Photos)
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