Inside Line Promotions – BRANDON, S.D. (May 9, 2022) – Perseverance was the key word to describe last weekend for Kaleb Johnson.
Johnson qualified eighth quickest and charged from fourth to win a heat race on Saturday at Knoxville Raceway. The feature inversion lined him up on the inside of the third row for the 360ci winged sprint car A Main at the half-mile oval in Knoxville, Iowa.
“I was passing for third and got too anxious and drove it in too hard into turn one,” he said. “I barely missed the bottom with my left rear and it snapped free on me. I spun out. I was pretty upset with myself, but it’s one of those deals where you live and learn. We had a really good car. We made some changes in the right direction and I felt like if I had stayed patient I could have potentially had something for the leaders. It’s easy to say that now, but our speed is there. If we can put it all together we’ll be able to contend.”
Johnson rebounded from the spin approximately a third of the way through the main event by rallying from the back of the field to a 13th -place result.
“The cushion got pretty treacherous with a thick curb,” he said. “A lot of people were on the bottom so I used the top to my advantage to gain as many positions as I could.”
The team ventured to Huset’s Speedway on Sunday for the Cressman Sanitation Shootout.
“It came out of gear in hot laps,” he said. “We fixed that and went out for qualifying. It was blowing oil like crazy. At first we were going to be done for the night. I was thinking that if we’re going to race for points we needed to find a way to race. We had our other 410 engine in another car. We sent guys to our shop to pull it while me and another guy pulled the motor at the track. Luckily there was no B Main so we were able to tag the back of the feature.”
The team changed engines in time for Johnson to line up 26th in the 25-lap A Main.
“We really didn’t know what to do setup-wise,” he said. “We had made two laps all night, but they weren’t at full speed either. It was a guessing game on setup. I knew I’d be in dirty air the whole time and I’d get lapped early. When you start 26th with a field like that they’ll catch you in a hurry. I had some restarts where I could use the middle to my advantage and luckily we were able to get up to 14th.
“The cool part to me was how hard the four guys in the pits worked to get us out there. They knew how important it was for us to race the feature and make as many points as we could.”
Johnson’s run from 26th to 14th earned the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
The team plans to return to Knoxville Raceway this Saturday and Huset’s Speedway on Sunday.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 7 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 8; Heat race: 1 (4); Feature: 13 (5).
May 8 – Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. – Qualifying: 20; Heat race: DNS (7); Feature: 14 (26).
SEASON STATS –
5 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 1 top 10, 4 top 15s, 5 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, and Sunday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Innovative Design/Sletten Properties
Innovative Design is an architectural firm owned by Lanny Auringer and Sletten Properties is a property owner and management company owned by Lanny and wife, Tammy. Together, they design, develop and manage the commercial and retail workspaces they lease in Sioux Falls, S.D.
“Lanny is a big-time fan and supporter of racing,” Johnson said. “We really appreciate him letting us use one of his shops. I feel extremely fortunate to have him on our team and I’m grateful for what he’s done to help us.”
Johnson would also like to thank Merle Johnson Farm Toys, Oddson Underground, Inc., JF Capital, Cressman Sanitation, GRP Motorsports, State Bank of Fairmont, Sea Foam, Guaranteed Rate-Mike Brudigan Home Loans, David Kramer Drywall, Snyder Tree Service, The Ron Weber Team, AB Custom Construction, Big Al’s Diecast, HRP Wings, Dave’s Lawn Care & Landscaping, Triple M Trucking, Last Deck, Howe Motorsports and Moyle Racing Engines for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com . For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.
*PHOTO BY ASCENT MEDIA* 