October 5, 2002

Miami Qualifying Cancelled. Drivers Will Start By Points.

Due to severe rain and an unsteady surface, qualifying for the Trans-Am series was cancelled today. While three cars did take to the track, all three simply cruised around at a modest speed.

Johnny will begin in the 4th position. This is due to the Trans-Am court reducing the penality assessed to Butch Leitzinger for using a modified unapproved ignition box. The court gave him 23 of the original 28 penalty points back. The ruling moved Leitzinger back into 3rd place in points, ahead of Johnny.

The morning Trans-Am practice session, scheduled for 8:00am, was also cancelled today. Overnight, street crews patched various areas of the track with concrete. The concrete did not cure completely and was still wet and soupy this morning.

On the cancellation of the qualifying session and the morning practice session, Johnny says… “Oh, well. We know we can go faster than our previous practice sessions. We’ve made some pretty significant changes to the car based how our car was handling and Paul’s set-up. We haven’t been able to see if we guessed right on the change given the cancellation of both sessions, but we’ll have a session tomorrow morning before the race. But based on what we know, we’re confident we did the right thing.

If it rains during the race tomorrow… (Laughs) “If we race in the rain, it will be a “He who finishes” festival. Let’s hope for sunshine.”