Columbus: Warren Johnson Saturday summary

WJ Will Start 10th in Columbus

On the strength of a 6.706-second, 205.88 mph pass recorded on Saturday's afternoon, Warren Johnson qualified his GM Performance Parts GTO in the 10th position for Sunday's final eliminations of the Pontiac Performance Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.

Although Johnson bettered his time in each of the first three qualifying sessions, issues with the track's timing system, which resulted in one competitor's time being disallowed and reinstated as well as several others being scrutinized, placed some question in his mind as to the validity of the tuning data.

"Unfortunately, it's difficult to discuss performance due to the repeated issues we saw with the timing system. We'd like to say we improved on every run, but we really have nothing to measure it by. This extra variable presents additional challenges as we head into eliminations, as there is also a distinct difference between the lanes, with the one side looking more like a Tic-Tac-Toe board than a race track.

"In any case, our preparations for race day will remain the same. Hopefully, the NHRA officials will work on the timing system tonight to resolve whatever problems it has, and we will do whatever we can to overcome the lack of lane choice in the first round. We believe our GM Performance Parts GTO is headed in the right direction, and we'll fight to overcome whatever they throw at us."

-j2r-