TodayJohnson takes home $56,000 at Williams Grove
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Jason Johnson celebrates his win at Williams Grove on Tuesday.
Can you say $56,000?
That’s all Jason Johnson could think about all week long as he prepared for Tuesday night’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlets Kasey Kahne Foundation 360 Sprint Challenge at Williams Grove Speedway.
Johnson was the only driver on hand for the event eligible for the $56,000 bonus.
And now he’s counting it all the way to the bank.
The Eunice, Louisiana driver took the lead on Lap 14 of the 30-lap 360 Challenge and rim-rode his way around Williams Grove to bank the biggest payday of the season at the Mechanicsburg track.
Johnson was eligible for the Ollie’s bonus because he won the Challenge event at Eldora back in July. Donny Schatz was also eligible but was not in attendance.
“Man, my first year of racing we didn’t even bring in $56,000,” said an excited Johnson after his big win for the Lanny Row owned, The Shop Motorsports sprint car team. “So to win it in one night at Williams Grove Speedway with the Kasey Kahne Foundation, I’m just estatic. “I’m very excited.”
After winning the first heat race, Johnson finished second in the dash but was penalized two spots for jumping the start. He lined up fourth for the feature event as NASCAR star Tony Stewart and URC points leader Curt Michael sat on the front row.
Stewart led early as Stevie Smith moved into second place with three laps complete.
Williams Grove 410 Sprint points leader Fred Rahmer moved into the top five by lap four as Jason fell back to fifth during the early laps.
Johnson blew by Rahmer and Pat Cannon for the third spot on lap nine as Smith made a move to get around Stewart for the lead on Lap 12 bringing Johnson with him into second spot.
Brian Montieth, piloting the Nathan Berwarger No. 4U 358 sprinter stopped on Lap 12 to bring out a yellow and Cannon gave up a fifth place spot with a right rear flat tire.
Johnson made the race-winning move on Smith on Lap 14 exiting the second turn and narrowly escaped disaster when Robbie Stillwaggon flipped directly in front on him on Lap 18.
Johnson also moved his line on the speedway down a little bit because he was getting close to the wall and was able to keep Rahmer at bay during the final 12 laps.
Rahmer got around Smith on Lap 20 for the second spot.
“It was building up a little bit of a rut getting into one and I jumped it and it actually heightened the left rear and I almost got it in the wall,” he added. “After that I got down just a little bit to make it wasn’t laying rubber or anything like that.”
Johnson’s team parked away from the rest of the field in the pit area.
“I thought about this all week and when we got here today, my guys wanted to park out where we didn’t have to worry about anybody else and concentrate on this thing,” he added. “I owe this to my crew and to Lanny Row for providing this equipment for us to race. We’re making a decent living and we’re out there racing and having a good time.”
Johnson also thanked Jim and Sandy Kline for providing him with an opportunity to drive their sprint car at Williams Grove during the 2005 season.
Rahmer was a distant second with Smith third, Aaron Ott fourth and Tony Stewart fifth.
Chad Layton finished sixth over Michael, Cory Haas, Kasey Kahne and Dave Ely.
Trevor Lewis set fast time over the 51-car field with a time trial lap of 17.982 seconds.
Heat races were won by Johnson, Smith, Cannon and Ely while Rahmer won the B-Main and Kevin Nagy topped the C-Main.
All proceeds from the night went to the Kasey Kahne Foundation, which raises and donates funds to benefit special charitable organizations that care for chronically ill children.
