NHRA PREVIEW
VOL. 51 ISSUE 10 MARCH 11, 2014 P81
gent, but argues that there is still
work to be done.
"It's about a $10,000 upgrade,
and we'll have one engine ready
for Gainesville," Johnson said.
"Doing both engines eats about
five-percent of our annual bud-
get, and that's money I'd rather
have spent refining our current
combination, but this is a move
we need to make. The other
thing is that when you make a big
change like this, we all go back-
wards first, because our tune-up
will have to be different. So much
of what we do revolves around
the first eighth of a mile; we'll for
sure pick up on the back end but
we have to learn how to manage
the front end all over again. I sup-
pose someone could throw the
kitchen sink at it and get lucky,
but that's not likely.
Johnson has been spending
as much time if not more work-
ing on funding, researching, writ-
ing letters, and traveling to pitch
deals. He's re-signed White-
Rodgers for a fourth straight year
and has three other sponsorship
replies pending.
"I'm not saying money helps
everything, but it's all about your
resources, most of which come
from money," he said. "I'm lucky
that I have some people in my
corner from successful engi-
neers, machine shop owners,
and an entrepreneur, each of
who is helping with everything
from hospitality to engine design
and manufacturing parts for my
motorcycle, there's a lot of value
in that."
Another team that figures to be
on the forefront of Suzuki devel-
opment is Jerry Savoie's White Al-
ligator Racing squad. After a quiet
start to the 2013 season, Savoie
was very competitive at the end of
the season including a runner-up
finish at the Fall Las Vegas race,
an event where he had arguably
the best bike in the field. Savoie
has already tested the new en-
gine combination with mixed re-
sults but plans to test again before
Veteran Steve Johnson will
begin his 28
th
season of NHRA
racing in 2014.
