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MORRISON, CO 7/16/06 Pro Stock Motorcycle favorite Steve Johnson didn’t give his multitude of fans much to cheer about after a tough first round loss at the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals, particularly after speed rather than elapsed time determined his qualifying position. After matching fellow competitor Chris Rivas to the thousandth of a second with elapsed times of 7.521 seconds, Johnson made the show by virtue of having a slightly faster speed of 178.47 miles per hour.
“That was a close one,” admitted Johnson after qualifying ended on a Saturday afternoon that saw triple digit temperatures at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado. Downtown Denver is just minutes from the track, and is in plain view from the track, making it one of the most picturesque on the NHRA POWERade Series tour. “We struggled in the altitude,” Johnson went on to say, “but we weren’t alone. Every inline four cylinder Suzuki motorcycle out here was at a distinct disadvantage against the V-Twin Harleys and Buels, who ultimately had something like nine hundredths of a second edge over the rest of us. Remember, those V-Twins run 160 cubic inch engines while we’re limited to 101, and in this thin air that makes a tremendous difference.”
Crew Chief Mark Peiser made his second official outing with Johnson, with his input proving to be critically important to the Snap-on Tools/WyoTech Suzuki making the field. “We were trying to make consistent runs,” he said, “and while we managed to do that, we just weren’t quick enough to be a factor in this race. Every competitor on a Suzuki was at a disadvantage here, but when we make our next outing at a track closer to sea level things should be different.”
Johnson had another busy week, first reading to and explaining drag racing to 200 school age youngsters at a library in Irondale, Alabama on Wednesday, and then hosting students, faculty and administrators from the WyoTech school in Laramie, Wyoming over the weekend. “We had students and teachers from the WyoTech automotive, diesel and chassis fabrication classes here with us, and that’s always a lot of fun for me. While they were knowledgeable about pretty much everything related to the cars and motorcycles in competition, some of them had never been to a race before, and I think they came away with a very positive impression of professional drag racing, which is something I always want to try and accomplish.
“In our first round race against Chip Ellis we just wanted to go up to the starting line and make as good a run as we could. We knew we couldn’t match him in terms of power, but if we made a good run and he had a problem, or made an error, I thought we had a chance of advancing, but that didn’t happen.
“Naturally, I’m a little disappointed in the outcome, but at the same time I’m really stoked about how well the team is jelling with Mark calling the shots, and I’m confident we’ll play a more important role in the outcome of our next race, which is in Sonoma, California in a couple of weeks. At sea level our Suzuki ought to have more than enough power to make an impression on the field.”
Results:
Qualifying:
Round #1 0.059 R.T. 7.688/175.34 lost to Chip Ellis
0.038 R.T. 7.370/179.59
Next: Fram Autolite Nationals, Infineon Raceway. Sonoma, California July 28-30
Johnson Struggles To Find Power At Denver’s High Altitude Track
Speed Ultimately Determines Qualifying
MORRISON, CO 7/16/06 Pro Stock Motorcycle favorite Steve Johnson didn’t give his multitude of fans much to cheer about after a tough first round loss at the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals, particularly after speed rather than elapsed time determined his qualifying position. After matching fellow competitor Chris Rivas to the thousandth of a second with elapsed times of 7.521 seconds, Johnson made the show by virtue of having a slightly faster speed of 178.47 miles per hour.
“That was a close one,” admitted Johnson after qualifying ended on a Saturday afternoon that saw triple digit temperatures at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado. Downtown Denver is just minutes from the track, and is in plain view from the track, making it one of the most picturesque on the NHRA POWERade Series tour. “We struggled in the altitude,” Johnson went on to say, “but we weren’t alone. Every inline four cylinder Suzuki motorcycle out here was at a distinct disadvantage against the V-Twin Harleys and Buels, who ultimately had something like nine hundredths of a second edge over the rest of us. Remember, those V-Twins run 160 cubic inch engines while we’re limited to 101, and in this thin air that makes a tremendous difference.”
Crew Chief Mark Peiser made his second official outing with Johnson, with his input proving to be critically important to the Snap-on Tools/WyoTech Suzuki making the field. “We were trying to make consistent runs,” he said, “and while we managed to do that, we just weren’t quick enough to be a factor in this race. Every competitor on a Suzuki was at a disadvantage here, but when we make our next outing at a track closer to sea level things should be different.”
Johnson had another busy week, first reading to and explaining drag racing to 200 school age youngsters at a library in Irondale, Alabama on Wednesday, and then hosting students, faculty and administrators from the WyoTech school in Laramie, Wyoming over the weekend. “We had students and teachers from the WyoTech automotive, diesel and chassis fabrication classes here with us, and that’s always a lot of fun for me. While they were knowledgeable about pretty much everything related to the cars and motorcycles in competition, some of them had never been to a race before, and I think they came away with a very positive impression of professional drag racing, which is something I always want to try and accomplish.
“In our first round race against Chip Ellis we just wanted to go up to the starting line and make as good a run as we could. We knew we couldn’t match him in terms of power, but if we made a good run and he had a problem, or made an error, I thought we had a chance of advancing, but that didn’t happen.
“Naturally, I’m a little disappointed in the outcome, but at the same time I’m really stoked about how well the team is jelling with Mark calling the shots, and I’m confident we’ll play a more important role in the outcome of our next race, which is in Sonoma, California in a couple of weeks. At sea level our Suzuki ought to have more than enough power to make an impression on the field.”
Results:
Qualifying:
- Session #1: 7.534/178.42 #10 (7.640 Bump)
- Session #2: 7.521/178.47 #12 (7.572 Bump)
- Session #3: 7.565/177.70 #14 (7.526 Bump)
- Session #4: 7.522/178.40 #16 (7.521 Bump)
Round #1 0.059 R.T. 7.688/175.34 lost to Chip Ellis
0.038 R.T. 7.370/179.59
Next: Fram Autolite Nationals, Infineon Raceway. Sonoma, California July 28-30
