Words by Jon G. Knapp
Photos courtesy Warren Johnson Racing
4/27/05

As Warren Johnson makes his last campaign this year as a Pro Stock driver, we will run a series of highlights, photos and memories from each racetrack prior to each NHRA event.

WJ’S FIRST NHRA BRISTOL RACE - 2001

Race Car: 2001 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Pontiac Grand Am
Performance: WJ Qualified Second, 6.904 seconds, 198.12 mph
Lost to Rickie Smith

In Warren’s Words:

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“I don’t remember that much about the weekend, other than people were having a lot of problems with the starting line. It was an all-new track surface, and they had ground it or something trying to prep it, and essentially ruined it. Unfortunately, the racetrack got progressively worse all weekend, but it was addressed immediately after the race, and was never a problem again.

“As for the rest of the facility, I recall I was always comparing it to what it was like before, and I was completely enthralled with it. Obviously, we couldn’t say the same about our performance in eliminations. We qualified well, but somehow lost to Rickie in the first round.”

Notes of the time:

* Despite the upset loss to Rickie Smith in the first round, WJ left Bristol in the NHRA Pro Stock championship points lead, a position he would hold through 20 of the 24 races on the 2001 schedule en route to his sixth NHRA Championship.

*Ironically, Johnson and Smith had squared off in three Bristol Dragway final rounds while competing in the IHRA in the late '70s and '80s, with WJ winning two of the three encounters.

* Smith was pulling “double duty” at the 2001 event, as he was also competing in the Pro Mod category.

* Bruce Allen was the No. 1 qualifier at this race with a 6.934-second elapsed time, with current Mopar runner V. Gaines in a Chevrolet on the bump at 6.992 seconds.

* 31 cars attempted to make the inaugural Mac Tools Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals

* The field consisted of Oldsmobile Cutlasses, Pontiac Grand Ams & Firebirds, Chevy Cavaliers and Camaros, Dodge Avengers and R/Ts and two Ford Mustangs.

* Greg Anderson won the event in Pro Stock, driving a Firebird co-owned by George Marnell. Anderson defeated Jim Yates in the final.

* Winners in other categories that day included Doug Kalitta in Top Fuel, who defeated Tony Schumacher in the final and Ron Capps over Al Hofmann in Funny Car.