Update #1 Preparing for 2009 – 25 Years

KJ Motorsports

Update #1

Race #: 

By Kenny Johnson
05 Feb 2009

Preparing for 2009 – 25 Years;

2009 will make my 25th year racing; wow that is hard to believe. It’s probably even harder to believe for Dad. Dad is the one that after driving for 10 years gave up his racing so that I could start mine. That is a very unselfish man and a terrific Dad. So when he complains about all the racing I do, he can know that it is all his fault. . . LOL

We have been out in the garage often preparing the car and the garage for this coming racing season. Jason took the car back to Hassy and set it on the jig and made some minor changes. Tim Cooper and Brian Dennewitz have been getting the garage in order and now Tim will be starting on the trailer. The Lemon family (Tom, Pam, Trey and Lane) have been out several times and have worked on stripping the old decals off the trailer and have helped with the car as well. I put a new body on the car and gave it a new look with silver aluminum. K-Graphics will soon being doing the decals. Hassy has renewed our parts for the season. Billy Lloyd has our engine ready and I also bought another engine so we should be good and ready for 2009.

We intend to update our web site soon to celebrate our 25th year. I’ll be working with Wayne Cornell to see what we can come up with. I also will be updating our links or sponsors page. Along with many of the sponsors that we had last year, I want to announce that we have picked up Wendy’s Restaurants for the 2009 season. I will provide location information at a later date, but definitely support your local Wendy’s. Also at a later date I will announce all of our sponsors for 2009.

Our schedule will be released soon for we are still waiting on area tracks to put out there schedule. It will be similar to last years schedule with us running locally and then out of town some at some money races.

Over the years I have experienced the loss of some close racing friends, such as Tom Willoughby, Bill Shortridge and Mike “Bubba” Whited. This past fall I lost 2 more friends. Jack Shutts, long time flagman/scorer who has been friend/enemy (LOL, sorry Jack, remember the false teeth story?) of the family for many years. Also, a real close friend, who just couldn’t be beat as a friend/brother; Greg Schilling. Greg will be thought of often when I am out on the track and I hope to obtain a lot of his abilities as a driver. Greg was always in control and I hope he can help me with that this year. This is kind of an early announcement, but Mike McPherson #22 has initiated the Greg Schilling Memorial Race at Skyline Speedway on July 3rd. This will be a special race to many people and Mike deserves a tremendous amount of credit for pulling it off.

That’s all for now and I will let you all know how things progress over the next month or so.

Remember! To make this work, support those that support us!

Thanks again for your support, KJ

Update #31 Race #:53

KJ Motorsports

Update #31

Race #:53

By Kenny Johnson
26 Oct 2008

Well this past weekend ended our 2008 season. We raced at K-C Speedway at the Dirt Track World Championship. I wish I could write that we ended on a good note, but I have to tell it like it is. . . . . They had 110 modifieds and we drew pills for group qualifying. We were in group #5 with names like Rick Aukland, Kenny Riddle, Shon Flannery & Keith Berner. I went out to hot lap and was trying to get a good lap in without the traffic. Going down the back chute the yellow comes out and I saw an open line on the top. I kept the car too high and get in the slime and from there it was over. I slammed into the yuke tires and rolled the car. Of course I made the mistake of undoing my seat belts and that made it worse on me. They ended up rolling me back on my wheels before I could get out. Once out, I looked things over and saw the damage. A track worker took me back to the pits and I began pulling parts out that would be needed. As I did that a large crowd gathered around to see what the car looked like. The next thing I knew there was a swarm of people gathering tools and parts and started putting the car back together so we could make qualifying. Well it worked and we qualified 2nd fast in our group and 8th fastest overall. They inverted the top 3 in the heat and this started us front row outside with Riddle on the pole. Riddle pulled me slightly on the start but I stuffed into turn one with little room on the high side and I smacked the wall. I gathered it up and took a charge down the back chute only to smack the wall again. Now I fell back to 4th but came racing back to 2nd and caught Riddle and was pressuring him for the lead but I went into turn #1 too hard and when I steered to the right the right front tire hit the frame rail and I spun out sending us to the tail in 18th. Not exactly sure how many laps were left, but we came from 18th to finish 9th. We were on the high side the entire time scraping the wall nearly every lap. We started 11th in the consi and took to the high side again and were passing for the lead near lap 8 or so. The car was very fast and I was lovin’ it. When passing for the lead, Rick Aukland did not know I was on the high side and he was coming up the track off of turn 2. So I let my car go up the track and I jumped the cushion and put the car up on the flat. The right rear loaded and unloaded the left rear and I was wide open and I spun it out, AGAIN! I went to the tail knowing I blew my chance again. We were making an attempt to pass some cars and a wreck happened in 3 and 4 about mid pack. I was committed to the outside and ended up getting wedged between a car and the wall. We climbed the wall and got on top of it and then came crashing down. At that point I figured the car was done. I got pushed into the infield and got out and looked at the car. Realized the car did not have any flat tires, nor did it have any broken parts. With 3 laps to go I decided what the heck, go back out and see if a miracle could happen. Well, in all honesty I knew better, but I gave it a try and we made it back to finish 7th. In the end I disappointed a lot of people including myself and my crew. I was in the show 2 different times and took myself out of it. We did get a lot of attention from numerous race fans though. Although that doesn’t pay the bills it does make me feel good knowing fans appreciate hard charging racing.

I’d like to thank and acknowledge those that helped put the car back together after I rolled it. Tim Cooper, Jason Canepari, Dad, Chad Nelson, Harley Hall, Howard Santee, AJ Huber, Mike McPherson, Jeremy Berwanger, Todd Gorrell, Kenny Riddle, Alf Litman, Tod Frye, Allan Hamrick, Dustin Sprouse, Ryan Stoops, Kenny Lilly, Tom Lemon, Trey Lemon, Layne Lemon. I hope that I have not forgotten anyone. There were also several teams that came over to offer up help and/or parts. It was a time of need and everyone came to the rescue.

I am officially calling it a season and what a season it was. We had 9 wins, 9 seconds & 6 thirds which are some pretty respectable stats. We also achieved winning both the AMRA National and Road Warrior Tour Points Championships. That makes us a 3 time Road Warrior Tour Champion and a 2 time National Champion. As I have mentioned before, there have been several people that have played a role in helping to obtain this championship winning season. Tod Buckhalter of Hassy Chassis has put his faith in me; Tim Cooper and Jason Canepari to represent Hassy Chassis by letting us run the Hassy Chassis House car. Tim Cooper has been there all summer long and keeps things in order and tries to keep me in line as well when I am on the track. Jason Canepari who has provided us some good set ups and knows what changes to make at the track. Sponsorship wise we have had help from the following: Hassy Chassis, Racersmate, K-Graphics, Dickson Racing Shocks, Laurita Excavating, Zemba Bros. Construction, Billy Lloyd Racing Engines, H&S Construction, Balderson Construction, Wrisco Aluminum, Billy Joe and Wanda Hammett & Gene’s Trailer Sales. I also need to thank Wayne Cornell for his effort in keeping our web site maintained and user friendly.

My plans are to have a special edition car next year for it will be my 25th year racing. I also plan to get T-shirts made this winter to celebrate 25 years and celebrate our AMRA Championships. I will be working with Tom & Pam Lemon in getting these shirts and they will be selling them.

I want to take this time to mention 3 friends and to keep them in your prayers for they are all having health issues; Greg Schilling, Jack Shutts and Steve Armentrout.

I will send out another update once I have something to inform you all about. Until then have a good winter and drop me a line when you can!

Remember! To make this work, support those that support us!

Thanks again for your support, KJ

Update #30 Race #52

KJ Motorsports

Update #30

Race #52

By Kenny Johnson
14 Oct 2008

This past weekend was the $5,000 to win show at Midway and they had 48 modifieds on hand. We were in group #5 and set fast time in our group. We started on the pole along side Dave Groves. Dave took the early lead on the high side and we were able to run with him by running the middle. On the 2nd lap he got a push and we were able to make the pass and go on to get the win. This put us 5th in the dash and we finished 5th. In the feature we started 5th and maintained 5th for a good little while racing on the bottom. I realized of a change that I considered making, but chose not to. I wish I had put more gear in the car to run the bottom, but I didn’t and I think it hurt our run. I did run the top, the middle and the bottom in an attempt to try and advance. In the end we wound up finishing 10th. I wasn’t real satisfied with the finish, but the car was in one piece and we’ll take notes on what to do for next year.

This weekend we will be going to K-C Speedway for the Dirt Track world Championship which pays the modifieds $3,000 to win. We qualify, run our heat races and consolation races on Thursday night. Then our feature is Saturday night before the big late model race. I love K-C and have high hopes for a really good run! Hope to see you there!

Remember! To make this work, support those that support us!

Thanks again for your support,

KJ

Update #29 Race #51

KJ Motorsports

Update #29

Race #51

By Kenny Johnson
07 Oct 2008

We went to Eldora this past weekend for the UMP Nationals. They had 122 modifieds and we qualified 9th fastest overall and 2nd fast in our group. They invert the top 4 in each heat, so we started 3rd. The outside pole sitter and the 4th place car took off and were 1st and 2nd, the pole sitter was 3rd and we were 4th. In turn 3 and 4 the pole sitter got a little sideways and I ramped over his right rear and we each lost a position. I finally got past him and chased down the 3rd place car and was about to make a pass on him when the yellow came out. When we went back racing and went down the back chute, the 3rd place car chose the low line, the 1st and 2nd place car chose the high line and I chose an even higher line. I blasted around the 2nd place car only to find the leader blew up and he went high. I had no where to go and blasted him hard. It tore up my left front shock, lower control arm, upper control arm and the tire and wheel was just dangling on the car. I fell back to 8th coming off of turn 4 and stood on the gas drove it down into turn one and hesitated and hit the wall. Drove it down into turn 3 and hesitated and hit the wall. I apparently wasn’t getting the point that the car was broke, cause when I went into turn one I didn’t hesitate and made it thru without hitting the wall and I continued to do this thru the end of the race and made it back to 5th and almost passed for 4th. Once I slowed down it was difficult getting the car back to the pits. Now this driving got us some new fans, but unfortunately none of them had any money. It was said over the weekend that the people with money are probably sitting back saying I’m glad he don’t drive for me cause I couldn’t afford him. LOL! Oh well, we got it fixed and was ready for the consolation race on Saturday in which we were starting 6th and they were taking the top 2. As it turns out the 2 cars in front of me scratched and did not start the race which moved us up to the outside pole. We took the lead and went on to win by 4 car lengths or so. This started us 19th in the feature and I immediately went to the high side and was passing cars left and right and made it up to 7th. I got behind #135 and could not get by him. I tried low, middle and just could not make the pass. After several cars went back by us I decided to go even higher and it bit me. I got tied up in the cushion of turn 4 and several more cars got by us. I went back to passing cars and made it back up to the #135 and was finally able to pass him on the last lap. They wound up scoring us in 15th place. We thought it should have been 11th or 12th and thought they may have had a few lap cars out of place in the finishing order. But all in all, I love racing at Eldora and am somewhat pleased with our results.

This weekend we go to Midway for $5,000 to win show. This should be a jammed pack field of modifieds also. Hope to see you there!

Remember! To make this work, support those that support us!

Thanks again for your support,

KJ

Update #28 Race #50

KJ Motorsports

Update #28

Race #50

By Kenny Johnson
28 Sep 2008

Saturday we went to the Finale at the Valley and they had 30 modifieds. We drew pill #2 in which I thought was a good pill draw but they decided to qualify. We still went out and set fast time with a 16.89. We started the pole of the 1st heat along side Joe Cox. Joe got the win but not without being pressured the entire time by us. We had to do another pill draw for the line up of the feature and we were to start 4th. During the late model feature the rain started and they had to send the cars off the track. We waited around for the rain to let up, and then several cars went out to get the track ran in and we were one of them. Needless to say we couldn’t see much of the car for it was covered in mud. Since the delay lasted quite a while, there were some cars that chose to go home. One of them was an outside pole sitter Jeff Woods. This moved us up to that spot. The 1st 2 starts we took the lead but a caution would line us up double file. The 3rd time we had to go single file and this put the pole sitter Darrin McDonald in the lead. We pressured him for the 1st 2 laps, but I hit a hole in turn 3 & 4 that allowed Darrin to pull away. We chased him down and caught back up to him, but were unable to pressure him for the pass. We got ourselves another 2nd place finish.

It is confirmed that we got both Championships in AMRA and Team #23 produced a proper big league celebration by dumping a cooler full of ice water on me after the feature! That’s some good friend’s right there and I sure appreciated the gesture. Although I some how think they got some enjoyment out of it! LOL

This weekend, we plan to go to Eldora for the UMP Nationals. Last years race had like 112 cars and we set 6th fastest time. Hopefully we’ll improve on that this year.

Hope to see you there! Remember! To make this work, support those that support us!

Thanks again for your support,

KJ