WJ Taking Pro Stock to NASCAR Level?

By Dan Bennett. Photos by Jeff Burk.

Even though drag racing technology seems to advance at a clip similar to a top fueler, taking a wider view it doesn't seem to progress nearly fast enough. We've become accustomed to a hundredth of a second here and a half a mile per hour there. But looking at the world as a whole, the state of the art advances much more quickly than drag racers can even identify, let alone adopt.

However, if Warren Johnson has his way Pro Stock is going to take a huge leap -- one that no doubt will have his detractors muttering that he's ruining the sport. Those of us who are techno-wanks can't wait for WJ to pull the trigger.

Think of the specialization of a purpose built drag car. It won't turn corners worth a damn, the engine has little low-end power, there are no creature comforts, and carbon fiber doesn't stand up to rock chips very well. It's easy to believe that these race cars are optimized for what we use them for. After all, that's why they're built the way they are.

Johnson thinks the above description is wrong. According to the Professor, the present cars are just rough attempts at achieving maximum efficiency. And since he's always been the mad scientist of the class, look for him to do something about it.

Johnson is particularly critical of what we're asking a current Pro Stock car to do. He's already broken new ground at the Columbus race this year, when he introduced his "hot weather" car. It's a Jerry Haas ride that looks identical to any of the rest of the cars in the Johnson racing stable.

But this one was constructed a bit differently. Using a lot of input from Warren, the Haas shop tweaked here and there. They left certain areas semi-finished (could it have been the four link attachment areas?) so that WJ's crew could finish the work in the secrecy of their Georgia shop.

All those changes worked towards a car that is intended to be a step forward in racing on hot, not-so-sticky tracks. The chassis flex, amount of bite, and adjustment points are modified to work under nasty, but real world, conditions.

As if that wasn't enough, WJ evidently intends to take the process not one, but many steps further. During an interview in St. Louis, he was asked if the success of his hot weather car meant that this type of equipment would be a standard part of his program from now on. The answer was bit surprising.

"I can foresee the need for four to five different cars", Johnson replied. "There is absolutely no way for a car that's efficient in 'mine shaft' conditions to be efficient in these (hot, humid, slick track at St.Louis) conditions. It just can't be physically done."

Fans of WJ's sense of humor truly enjoyed that last sentence. It's a play on words with "physically" meaning existing in the physical world and "physically" meaning according to the science of Physics. The guy's a laff riot sometimes.

At first glance, it seems to be simply one of the outrageous statements that Warren Johnson loves to make solely to shake up the troops, but after some thought, it makes a lot of sense.

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