Words by Jon G. Knapp
Photos courtesy Warren Johnson Racing
4/5/05

As Warren Johnson makes his last campaign this year as a Pro Stock driver, we will run a series of highlights, photos and memories from each racetrack prior to each NHRA event.

WJ'S FIRST HOUSTON RACE - 1988

Race Car: 1988 ACDelco Oldsmobile Cutlass
Performance: WJ Qualified Second, 7.282 seconds, 189.91 mph
Defeated Morris Johnson Jr., Joe Lepone and Tony Christian
Lost to Bob Glidden

In Warren's Words:

"We were only five thousandths off of Glidden's performance, so we must have been pretty competitive. We obviously had to be pleased making it to the final with a new car, and, even though we didn't win, it was a step in the right direction.

"If I recall correctly, the track was new, but still fairly bumpy, simply because it was built on a swamp. At the time, they had yet to install adequate drainage, so about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, you could actually have little water geysers spurting out of pores in the track. It was a bizarre sight to say the least.

"When they repaved it a few years later, they did it right, putting a layer of rock, a layer of petromat and a layer of asphalt, followed by another layer of petromat, topped off by asphalt. Since then, other than an occasional bump, it's been pretty decent."

Notes of the time:

* This was the 30th final round appearance of WJ's career.

* This marked the sixth time in his career that Warren had advanced to the final round in his first race at a particular track. (The others were Gainesville, FL, Fremont and Irvine, CA, Reading, PA and Dallas, TX.)

* WJ drove a Cutlass in this race, but had actually started the year in an Olds Ciera GT. Ironically, his opponent in the final, Bob Glidden, was also driving a new car, with his Probe replacing the Thunderbird he had campaigned prior to that race.

* The field consisted of an Oldsmobile Cutlass and Ciera, Pontiac Trans Ams, Chevy Berettas and Camaros, a Dodge Avenger and Glidden's Ford Probe.

* The field was the quickest in Pro Stock history, starting with Glidden's national record 7.277-seconds and ending with Frank Iaconio's 7.374-second run, breaking the mark set in Reading, PA only three weeks before.