Bristol: Warren Johnson Friday notes

Following the complete repaving of the 700-foot concrete "launching pad" at Bristol Dragway, there were some questions going into the O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals as to the conditions racers would encounter, especially in light of the 90 degree temperatures and high humidity. However, any concerns were quickly erased during the opening qualifying sessions on Friday as 23 Pro Stock Cars made an attempt.

Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts Pontiac GTO Racing team had a solid opening day, making two quick runs, with their best effort of 6.805-seconds at 202.64 mph placing them in the fourth position midway through qualifying.

"They obviously got the concrete issue figured out -- now it's just a matter of manicuring it. In the first session, there wasn't a lot of rubber on the track, so most of us were moving around pretty good. Even so, we didn't make a bad run. In tonight's session, however, both lanes picked up, so I'd say the track is getting better. It will need to be ground with a laser for next year, which will then make this the premier surface on the circuit.

"We're relatively happy with where we are but we need to pick up the pace-- after all, there are four more spots we need to move up. Having banked that solid time, we'll keep any eye on the atmospheric conditions, and if it gets as hot as it has been forecast, we'll use tomorrow's attempts to work on a few things.

"However, if it looks as we could conceivably improve, we'll keep the changes to a minimum, trying to improve the performance and climb higher in the starting order. Our GM Performance Parts GTO is in good shape -- now it's just a matter of working on it."

-credit: j2r