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(Savannah, GA) DeWayne
Johnson gambled at the midway point of Oglethorpe Speedway
Park’s Budweiser 150 Saturday night dropping to the pit area
to take on tires and fuel. Most of the front running cars
stayed on the track to secure their track position at the 8th
Annual Showdown on the Coast. His gamble proved to be the
perfect bet as Johnson methodically moved through the field
and overtook Patrick “Showtime” Sheltra on the last lap to
win the $10,000 top prize and add one of the most
prestigious wins to his career victory list. The victory
culminated a weekend that saw 284 race cars compete in
eleven divisions for a record $70,000 purse.
“We have
wanted to win this race so bad,” said Johnson afterwards.
“This is our series Daytona 500 and we have come close too
often. This is the best winning this one.”
Johnson
started the race in the second row inside while front row
sitters Chesley Dixon and Jimmy Sharpe set the pace early.
All three would lead the race at one time or another with
Sheltra inheriting the lead at lap 44. “Showtime” would
lead the field until the final lap when Johnson overtook him
as his right rear tire let loose.
Johnson made
the decision to head to the pit area around lap 75 to get a
new right rear tire and load up on fuel. The debate raged
all week long as teams prepared for the grueling 150 lap
race on the historic half mile speedway. Teams wondered if
they could make all 150 laps on the same tires. They went
back and forth over whether track position was going to be
more important than tires on the super fast half mile.
“It can be
difficult to pass at Oglethorpe,” said 2002 winner Ivedent
Lloyd. “The cars are so fast you really have to be
aggressive.”
The Phenix
City, Alabama hot shoe, Johnson, came back on the track in
the fifteenth position. He had 75 laps to fight his way
back towards the front and have a shot at the victory.
“We figured
there would be half of those guys dropping due to tires,”
said DeWayne’s father Winford Johnson. “We thought we could
get close and see what happened.”
Johnson took a
few laps to sneak past Joe Kump before working past Henry
Carter. Then he shot past Cecil Eunice and Mike Nasworthy.
Next it was Ben Faircloth. The fans began to take notice of
Johnson’s car moving quickly through the field. Next on his
hit list was the #22 of Brett Carlton. He blew a tire with
only eight laps remaining and then one final caution at lap
148 for a spun out Bob Robertson set up the dash for the
cash.
The crowd rose
to their feet as Johnson and Sheltra fired on the restart.
Johnson immediately tried the inside at turn one nudging the
#23 Chevrolet of Sheltra. The two raced on through the
turns three and four crossing the stripe with the white flag
high in the air. Johnson again charged to the inside and
this time made it past the door panel of Sheltra as the
young, hot shot slid up in the turns. Johnson shot past and
cruised through the final two turns to win the Budweiser 150
in front of a standing ovation. Sheltra had a tire go down
and faded back to finish thirteenth.
The crowd
flooded the front stretch victory lane anxiously looking to
shake hands with DeWayne Johnson or solicit an autograph.
The pandemonium went on for over thirty minutes as everyone
waited for the winning door panel to be removed from
Johnson’s car to be placed in the Finish Line Pub. Loud
cheers rang out as the door panel made it’s way from victory
lane to the Pub and it’s one year resting place.
“Now that’s
pretty cool,” said Johnson. “That’s what we wanted. To
hang this door panel in the Pub for a year.”
Following
Johnson across the finish line was Jeremy Faircloth, Henry
Carter, Shane Riner, Toby Justice, Brad Comer, Joe Kump,
Scott Thompson, Mike Nasworthy and Darrell Padgett. A total
of thirty-four cars competed in the National Late Model
Series over the three day race weekend.
The Mini Stock
Open also took place on the final night of the Showdown on
the Coast and for the third straight year Randy Galloway of
Rogers, Arkansas won going away. Guyton’s Daylon Barnard
gave it his all returning to the speedway after a two year
hiatus. But, the former OSP champion had nothing for the
Arkansas master finishing a distant second behind Galloway.
Adam Webb, Mark Driggers and former two-time OSP champion
Donnie Wegmann rounded out the top five while Carl Yeoman,
Jeffery Green, Travis Green, Jr., Frank Hickman and Randall
Wegmann completed the top ten.
“I love this
track,” said Galloway in victory lane. “This is one of the
best tracks in the country to race on. It’s smooth and I
love how fast it is. It is always worth the trip to
Savannah.”
Forty-four
cars showed up on Saturday night to compete in the final
round of the Super Street Stock. The caution plagued race
saw more cautions than green flag laps as many of the
drivers in the middle of the pack could not stay away from
each other.
“There were a
few drivers that looked to be intentionally spinning drivers
out to cause more cautions than necessary,” said OSP
promoter Ted Austad. “It was like they wanted to slow the
show down and cause the race to be shortened.”
The race was
cut short by five laps and Chris Litchfield was the winner.
Litchfield successfully defended his Showdown title from a
year ago by beating Wayne Page, Clint Sills, Gene Nasworthy
and David Huggins to finish line. Jottie Burgamy, Kyle
Livingood, Adam Chambers, Jamie Hopkins and “Psycho” Clay
Alexander completed the top ten.
Annette Hadden
also successfully defended her title from a year ago winning
the hard fought Lady Pure Stock feature race on Saturday
night.
Oglethorpe
Speedway Park now prepares for the beginning of the 5th
Annual Go Kart Winter Shoot-Out Series. The next stock car
race takes place the first weekend of February with the
running of the Winternationals and Young Guns Shoot-Out.
For more information on OSP, contact the speedway at
912-964-8200 or visit
www.ospracing.net.
Official Results from
Saturday, October 22, 2005 (Showdown on the Coast)
National Late Models
“Budweiser 150”: 1-DeWayne Johnson, Phenix City, AL
2-Jeremy Faircloth, Swainsboro 3-Henry Carter, Kite
4-Shane Riner, Guyton 5-Toby Justice, Waycross 6-Brad
Comer, Gray 7-Joe Kump, Hollywood, FL 8-Scott Thompson,
Vidalia 9-Mike Nasworthy, Macon 10-Daryl Padgett,
Jacksonville, FL 11-Lonnie Roberts, Sparks 12-Brett
Carlton, Loxahatchee, FL 13-Patrick Sheltra, Indiantown,
FL 14-Bob Robertson, Evans 15-Billy Lyles, Cochran
16-Cecil Eunice, Blackshear 17-Jason Lyles, Cochran
18-Ivedent Lloyd, Ocala, FL 19-Ben Faircloth, Swainsboro
20-Robbie Cowart, Savannah 21-Terry Lumley, Swainsboro
22-Branden Yawn, Springfield 23-Chesley Dixon, Swainsboro
24-Bobby Oglesby, Bloomingdale 25-Jimmy Sharpe, Vidalia
26-Jordy Nipper, Cochran 27-Gary Spivey, Jacksonville, FL
28-Randall Byrd, Savannah 29-Jake Roveda, Paris, New
Jersey 30-Steven Howard, Bloomingdale 31-Michael Lloyd,
Jacksonville 32-Jeff Fortner, Cochran 33-Alex Vickers,
Gray
Mini Stock Open (Feature):
1-Randy Galloway, Rogers, AR 2-Daylon Barnard, Guyton
3-Adam Webb, Midway 4-Mark Driggers, Swainsboro 5-Donnie
Wegmann, Port Wentwqorth 6-Carl Yeoman, Spring Lake, NC
7-Jeffrey Green, Fayetteville, NC 8-Travis Green, Jr.,
Lexington, SC 9-Brad McKenzie, Swainsboro 10-Randall
Wegmann, Guyton 11-Lonnie Muhlbauer, Ozark, MO 12-Kelly
Neace, Isom, KY 13-Bill O’Cain, Leesville, SC 14-Frank
Hickkan, Guyton 15-Alan Burnsed, Guyton 16-Larry Lee,
Hardeeville, SC 17-Paul Green, Fayetteville, NC 18-Shawn
Heaney, Edgewater, FL 19-Travis Green, Lexington, SC
20-Steve Cruse, Jackson, OH 21-Tom Balance, Bunn, NC
22-Don Lacey, Ozark, MO 23-Charles Swann, Garden City
24-Ed Jarvis, Anderson, SC 25-Charles Smith, Statesboro
26-Rocky Ballard 27-Mark Eldridge, Daytona Beach, FL
Super Street Stock “Round
2”: 1-Chris Litchfield, Rincon 2-Wayne Page, Savannah
3-Clint Sills, Rincon 4-Gene Nasworthy, Macon 5-David
Huggins, Guyton 6-Jottie Burgamy, Wrightsville 7-Kyle
Livingood, Bristol 8-Adam Chambers, Richmond Hill 9-Jamie
Hopkins, Guyton 10-Clay Alexander, Waynesboro 11-Billy
Hopkins, Guyton 12-Gary Hardee, Baxley 13-Jud Ziegler,
Cochran 14-Anthony Parker, Guyton 15-Arlene Pittman,
Lyons 16-Doc Leggett, Bloomingdale 17-Chris Johnson,
Rincon 18- John Strickland, Blacshear 19-Brian Barnes,
Bloomingdale 20-Robert Hicks 21-Dustin Sanders 22-Arty
Bird, Midway 23-Phil Pittman, Lyons 24-Donald Roberson,
Savannah 25-Bill Stevenson, Savannah 26-Albert Cosnahan,
Guyton 27-Richard Young, Waycross 28-Donnie Johnson
29-Andy Stallings, Pembroke 30-Nick Hardee, Baxley
31-Dwayne Sharpe, Swainsboro 32-Buster Kleckley, Ridgeland,
SC 33-David Smith, Guyton 34-Kenny Drew, Meldrim 35-Karl
Willard, Cochran 36-Rodney Marcus, Kite 37-Scott Fogle,
Waycross 38-Doug Morris, Pooler 39-Robbie Allan 40-Walter
Sills 41-Donald Norby 42-John McCosker, Richmond Hill
43-Daron Bailey, Waynesville
Lady Pure Stock (Feature): 1-Annette Hadden, Rincon
2-Holly McSpadden, Savannah 3-Karen Cooper, Sumter, SC
4-Cari Howze, Rincon
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