Sugar Hill, Ga.– Thirty-seven years ago, Warren Johnson came to Indianapolis as a rookie driver racing in his first NHRA Pro Stock event. Still a relative unknown, he drove a production-based Chevrolet Camaro he had built in the shop behind his house in Fridley, MN, qualifying 28th and falling to Don Grotheer in the first round. It was an inauspicious debut for a man who would play a key role in the evolution of the “factory hot rods”, and make the record books almost his personal diary.
“That race was my first exposure to the big stage,” recalled Johnson. “I had raced in a lot of smaller series prior to that, but nothing that had the crowds or level of competition I experienced at that race in Indianapolis. Although I don’t remember a lot of specifics from that weekend, I do remember leaving there feeling that the big names of time put their pants on the same way I did, and that I was fully capable of racing for a living.”
“Of course, the cars we raced backed then were completely unlike our current GM Performance Parts GXP. For example, I drove the Camaro I raced in Indy home from the dealership in Minnesota, stripped it down and turned it into a race car, selling the extra parts to help pay for the build. We’ve certainly come a long way since then.”
As he returns to O’Reilly Raceway Park for this weekend’s Mac Tools U. S. Nationals, his 33rd appearance at drag racing’s biggest race, the initials WJ are now synonymous with the category, with virtually every car in competition reflecting one or more of his innovations. His 96 national event wins, 150 final rounds and 138 No. 1 qualifying performances are the standards by which all others are measured. However, as the six-time champion dons his helmet and straps into his state-of-the-art, purpose-built GM Performance Parts GXP, there is one aspect of the competition which remains unchanged from that inaugural race – Johnson’s unrelenting pursuit of victory.
“We’re going to Indianapolis this weekend with the same objective as we had back in 1971, and that is to win the race,” said Johnson. “Back then, I was coming off successes in the UDRA and such, and believed I could run competitively in the NHRA, so we went to Indiana with the mindset of going to work and finishing the job, and lo and behold, a few years later we were able to get it done.”
“It’s no different this year. Our GM Performance Parts GXP has shown the ability to run with the very best in our category, and as long as we can minimize any errors, we should be in good shape. For example, in 12 of our last 20 runs, our data acquisition system failed, crippling our ability to dial in the set-up. Since the last race, we scrapped it, replacing it with a entirely new system. We also found other issues that prevented us from properly adjusting to the conditions that we have since addressed. If Hurricane Fay ever leaves, we’ll try to make a couple test runs to make sure everything is working properly before heading to ORP. Other than that, we should be in excellent shape.”
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