JOHNSON RACING FOR MINNESOTA VICTIMS
Thu, 2007-08-09 10:09
There are incidents that tug at the heart strings of the most seasoned
individuals. For Steve Johnson, witnessing the most recent tragedy in
Minnesota hit him hard, especially headed into
this weekend's NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota.
“When the NHRA POWERade Series travels the nation we’re all
very interested to see how much publicity the series and the competitors
generate,” he said from his race shop in Alabama. “But, as anxious as all of us are with
producing positive results for our sponsors and the series, when you see
something like the news that came out of Minneapolis last week about the bridge
collapse on I-35, it puts everything into sharper focus, into a different
perspective.
“When that news broke
it stunned everyone on our race team. Our first thoughts were, Have we lost anyone
we know? Anyone who’s part of the drag
racing family? But, we quickly realized
that this was about much more than drag racing. Reading the newspaper stories, and watching
the coverage on television, you couldn’t help but notice how all of Minnesota
had suddenly become one big family, and we realized that a whole state had
become the same kind of close-knit family that all of us in drag racing feel
we’re a part of.
“Everyone knows that
we’re in the fight of our lives to be among the Top 8 points earners when the
U.S. Nationals begins in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend. That will mean we’re going to be contenders
for the first POWERade championship contested under the new Countdown points
system, and we’re really excited about that.
“But, as much as
we’re going to concentrate on making the Countdown – we have just two races left
in which to qualify, but we’re right in the thick of things right now – we’re
going in to the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd with the people of Minnesota on
our minds. We’re dedicating our efforts
in their names because of the courage and class they’ve consistently shown since
this tragedy took place.
“It may sound kind of
corny, but we’re going to try and win one for Minnesota!”
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