Pomona: Warren Johnson Thursday summary

WJ Opens Pomona Qualifying in Eighth

The 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season got underway on Thursday with a single qualifying session at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts GTO Racing team looking to get the year off to a fast start. Running in the left hand lane, WJ opened with a solid 6.767-second, 204.88 mph pass, good enough for the eighth position. With three attempts remaining over the next two days, "The Professor" was confident of improving his starting spot for Sunday's final eliminations.

"Although right now we're in the middle of the pack, I'm not really that disappointed with how we ran. I adjusted the carburetors based on what it did in the burnout last week in Vegas, and they obviously didn't like it, because when I hit the throttle on the starting line the engine actually sneezed, pulling the engine down 1,000 rpm in low gear, which kills the elapsed time. Without that, we probably could have gone 6.74 or even a 6.73.

"It's all part of the learning process. Fortunately, we know what adjustments we need to make to fix that problem, and it's only Thursday, so we'll be good to go. I guess I'll give this GM Performance Parts GTO a couple of aspirin to cure its cold, and it will be fine in the morning."

-j2r-