The 200-mph excitement of Pro Stock Motorcycles will return to action this weekend at the NHRA 4-WIDE Nationals at spectacular zMAX Dragway. Steve Johnson will be competing in the second of 14 races for the two-wheeled contingent on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the first of back-to-back race weekends for the class.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The veteran Suzuki Hayabusa pilot began his historic 40th season with a pair of holeshot victories in Gainesville last month to earn the 51st semifinal finish of his lengthy career. Reaching the final four at the Gatornationals also earned Johnson a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge during qualifying on Saturday at the zMAX Dragway. The Alabama-based racer will have an opportunity to earn some cash, along with valuable bonus points towards his championship quest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same routine after every race,\u201d offered Johnson during preparation for Charlotte. \u201cWe go over the \u2018to do\u2019 from the last race and it\u2019s all hands-on deck to get it finished. When racing throws you an opportunity, you better cash in on it, and that\u2019s what we did in Gainesville. Opportunities are what we encourage young people to look for when I present information about BATman scholarships.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 40 years of racing the outcome of the first race can be a jinx or a confidence booster,\u201d said Johnson with a laugh. \u201cWe\u2019ve won and we\u2019ve also been disqualified and then reinstated. I can promise you I remember them both vividly and I\u2019d much rather start the season out like we did this year because of the confidence it gives you going into the next race. At this point in my career, I feel like I can do well at any racetrack, it just comes down to the proper preparation, and that\u2019s the part I find difficult at times. Ordering and receiving parts from the manufacturer and then making the required changes, all of those things are so important because our resources are so limited. What really gives you confidence, is when the motorcycle\u2019s prepared and ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are coming off one of the biggest breaks of the year, so I feel like we\u2019re prepared enough by the end of this week to go racing, a week ahead of time, and that\u2019s not always the case,\u201d explained Johnson. \u201cSometimes we\u2019re taking the bike off the dyno less than 48 hours before a race start.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson has enjoyed plenty of success at zMax Dragway during his 40 years of competition on the NHRA tour. He rode his Suzuki\u00a0Hayabusa to back-to-back 4-Wide national event victories in 2021 and 2022 and scored a runner-up finish at the Fall event in 2014. Johnson has also qualified No.1 twice at zMAX, in 2019 and 2021. During Saturday\u2019s qualifying he could also add a Mission #2Fast2Tasty title to his winning Charlotte r\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u201cIt is always awesome to race at a Bruton Smith family facility because you know the fans are being treated great. It would be nice to win the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThe points are great, but especially for the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post Preparation the Key for Steve Johnson Racing Headed Into NHRA 4-Wide Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 200-mph excitement of Pro Stock Motorcycles will return to action this weekend at the NHRA 4-WIDE Nationals at spectacular zMAX Dragway. Steve Johnson will be competing in the second of 14 races for the two-wheeled contingent on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the first of back-to-back race weekends for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}