(Dusty Wiegert Photo)
Bryan Hulbert - MESQUITE, Texas (June 13, 2018) Speedweek has not gone the way Wayne Johnson had hoped so far, but things are starting to turn around for the Outlaw Wings No. 2c as the team heads for Oklahoma and Kansas.
Starting off at West Texas Raceway on Friday, June 8, the team fought an ill-handling race car the whole night. Despite the challenges, Wayne was still able to advance from 19th to 14th.
"The car just wasn't working at all. No matter what we did, it was just all over the place like it was bound up and that ended up being what was going on," explained Wayne.
Checking the car, the crew found the torque ball and bell had seized up and had the car in a bind.
"We check, clean, and grease that thing after almost every race, so it wasn't for lack of maintenance. The only thing I can figure is we had to replace the torque-tube and I was out of the brand I normally run, so we just got one that would work and it's almost like they were off just enough, or a different style of aluminum, to where it just got bound up."
Not able to do much the following night at Route 66 Motor Speedway after waiting out the rain, Wayne had other problems with the right-front radius rod bolt snapped during his Heat Race.
"That just made an already bad weekend worse. At that point, I knew we were starting in the back and it was just staying upright and finishing at that point, but the good part of it is the car was free so we got our binding issue figured out."
Despite everything, Wayne was able to climb through the field from 22nd to 12th.
Going over the car again before the Devil's Bowl on Tuesday night, all was good to go, and the car reacted and drove as the crew intended with the only hold up on the night being traffic.
"We had a mishap in the Heat Race where we got over the front of another car that turned down the track, but luckily neither of us went over. I never mean to run over anyone, but that deal happened so fast, I couldn't avoid him. We got through that and made the redraw and ended up starting seventh. The track was a little narrow to start with, but it finally did start to widen out, but it typical Devil's Bowl where you cannot miss your marks at all. A few times I had a run on Roger [Crockett] but just couldn't get him without moving him and I didn't want to do that and risk crashing half the field, so we'll just keep on moving and see what we can do."
Up next for Wayne is Lawton Speedway on Wednesday, June 13, followed by Creek County Speedway on Thursday, June 14 and Salina Speedway on Saturday, June 16.
"Going to Lawton and Creek, I've won a lot of races at those tracks so hopefully we can get this thing back on track and we've run pretty good at Salina. It's a tricky track the way you have to run it, but I'm looking forward to getting through this week and heading to Dirt Cup."
For continued updates on Wayne Johnson and TwoC Racing, you can follow them on Facebook (http://bit.ly/2o5zneX and http://bit.ly/2BsrIja) and Twitter (@wjr77x).
Recent Results:
6/8/2018 - West Texas Raceway (Lubbock, Texas)
Heat: 7th [7th]
A-Feature: 14th [19th]
6/9/2018 - Route 66 Motor Speedway (Amarillo, Texas)
Heat: 7th [2nd]
A-Feature: 12th [22nd]
6/12/2018 - Devil's Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, Texas)
Heat: 4th [8th]
A-Feature: 7th [8th]
Season To Date:
Races: 31; Wins: 3; Top-5: 14; Top-10: 21; Top-20: 28;
Up Next: ASCS National Speedweek
June 13 at Lawton Speedway (Lawton, Okla.)
June 14 at Creek County Speedway (Sapulpa, Okla.)
June 16 at Salina Speedway (Salina, Kan.)
Follow Wayne Johnson and TwoC Racing
Facebook (Wayne): http://bit.ly/2o5zneX
Facebook (TwoC Racing): http://bit.ly/2BsrIja
Twitter (Wayne): @wjr77x
Twitter (TwoC Racing): @TwoCRacing
Online: https://www.myracepass.com/profile/?r=15868&rt=driver
Sponsors:
Wayne would like to give special thanks to his sponsors who have helped keep him behind the wheel and on the road: Todd Carlile, Outlaw Wings, The Oil Medics, Sebastian Sandblasting & Powder Coating, DHR Suspension, Chalk Stix, Rod End Supply, Astro Titanium, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson, ButlerBuilt, Xtreme Accu-Tach, Weld Wheels, Kustom Sprint Car Supplies, Fisher Racing Engines, Speedway Graphics and Canyon Apparel.