Words by Jon G. Knapp
Photos courtesy Warren Johnson Racing
7/14/05

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 BANDIMERE RACE – 1983

Race Car: 1983 Hurst/Olds Oldsmobile Cutlass
Performance: WJ Qualified Third, 8.227 seconds, 171.10 mph
Defeated Bubba Corzine
Lost to Bob Glidden

In Warren's Words:

"I had raced in Denver and Pueblo back in the late 70's, so racing at altitude was really nothing new. My career was still in its embryonic stages, so I had very little in the way of instrumentation. In fact, about the only tuning tool I had was a spark plug light, so we may have been a little crude, but we still got the job done. If I remember correctly, there were quite a few cars trying to make the eight-car field, so to qualify third and make it to the semifinals was quite an accomplishment."

Notes of the time:

* This was the 53rd NHRA Pro Stock national event of WJ's career, and seventh of the 1983 season.

* This was the first year that WJ campaigned the larger bodied Oldsmobile Cutlass, which he nicknamed the "Flying Boxcar".

* Bob Glidden was the No. 1 qualifier with an 8.149-second elapsed time, while Bob Ingles anchored the eight-car Pro Stock field with an 8.394-second time.

* The field consisted of WJ's Oldsmobile Cutlass, Pontiac Firebirds and Trans Ams, Chevy Camaros, a Dodge Charger and Glidden's Ford Thunderbird.

* In the Pro Stock final, Glidden defeated veteran Lee Shepherd in the Reher-Morrison Camaro.

* Winners in the other professional categories that weekend included Jody Smart over Danny Dannell in Top Fuel and Frank Hawley over current IHRA crew chief Tom Anderson in Funny Car.