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LAS VEGAS - Having entered 500 NHRA Pro Stock races throughout his illustrious career, GM Performance Parts GTO pilot Warren Johnson has faced every type of competitive pressure imaginable. Therefore, the second day of qualifying for the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals was simply another day at office for the six-time champion, who arrived at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday morning needing to pick up the pace in order to secure his spot in Sunday's starting field.
Running in the left hand lane in the early session, Johnson covered the quarter-mile in 6.769-seconds with a top speed of 203.09 mph to bump himself into the 16th and final starting position, as "The Professor" will look to win his first race in the Nevada desert.
"This morning's run was pretty decent, and although it got us into the field, we felt there was more left in our GM Performance Parts GTO, predicating several changes for the afternoon session. Unfortunately, we broke a rear end on that last run, which in itself is not an issue, as we have plenty of parts to fix it.
"However, we will have to determine exactly where the part broke, so we can hopefully judge how effective the changes were. It left the line nice and straight, picking up the front end and making what felt like a good move before getting lazy in the middle, where apparently the rear end broke, so hopefully we're heading in the right direction.
"Modern math being what it is today, we're hoping that 16 (his starting position) and 500 (the number of NHRA Pro Stock races in WJ's career) adds up to 97 (Warren currently has 96 career wins). Besides, we are in Las Vegas, the world's capital for long shots."
WJ Starts Sixteenth in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS - Having entered 500 NHRA Pro Stock races throughout his illustrious career, GM Performance Parts GTO pilot Warren Johnson has faced every type of competitive pressure imaginable. Therefore, the second day of qualifying for the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals was simply another day at office for the six-time champion, who arrived at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday morning needing to pick up the pace in order to secure his spot in Sunday's starting field.
Running in the left hand lane in the early session, Johnson covered the quarter-mile in 6.769-seconds with a top speed of 203.09 mph to bump himself into the 16th and final starting position, as "The Professor" will look to win his first race in the Nevada desert.
"This morning's run was pretty decent, and although it got us into the field, we felt there was more left in our GM Performance Parts GTO, predicating several changes for the afternoon session. Unfortunately, we broke a rear end on that last run, which in itself is not an issue, as we have plenty of parts to fix it.
"However, we will have to determine exactly where the part broke, so we can hopefully judge how effective the changes were. It left the line nice and straight, picking up the front end and making what felt like a good move before getting lazy in the middle, where apparently the rear end broke, so hopefully we're heading in the right direction.
"Modern math being what it is today, we're hoping that 16 (his starting position) and 500 (the number of NHRA Pro Stock races in WJ's career) adds up to 97 (Warren currently has 96 career wins). Besides, we are in Las Vegas, the world's capital for long shots."
