The off season has come now. Time to get things ready for next season, and this season has come to a complete end for us. The wreck in the last race is now going to stop us from racing 2-3 events during our off season at Riverhead. So now we have plenty of time to rebuild the racecar better then ever and go kick some butt in 2009. The sponsorship hunt for the 2009 season will begin very soon, so we'll keep you up to date on everything that happens over the season!

Talk and hope to see you all soon!

- Bryan
 

Well the weekend started off great. I got married on Saturday evening to my wonderful Fiance Krystal. But then decided to head to Riverhead Raceway to finish the last race of the season on Sunday. We had our new motor in the car, and made a lot of setup changes, and they all seemed to have worked during practice... We got held up a bit in the heat race, but still qualified to get into the feature...

We started 17th of 20 (23 cars were at the track). We layed in the back for most of the event just to walk away without a scratch to give us a good jump on 2009. But with 2 or 4 laps to go, not sure which it was... I was passing the #74 car off of turn 2 down the back stretch when he lost control and slammed into the Right Rear of my car sending me spinning and hitting the back stretch wall twice. I was alright after the accident, took me a while to catch my breathe... But the car was destroyed. They had to use the dreaded "claw" to take the car off the track. We got the car back to the pits to survey the damage, and it wasn't good. The chassis is pretty torn up, and looks like we will need to get a new chassis for the 2009 season... But that's all up in the air right now. We have to strip the current car down, find out what we can salvage from it, and what it will cost to move all the old parts onto a new chassis...

The car is wrecked, the motor is still good and very strong. But we'll have to see what happens over the winter. We will put together our sponsorship proposals for 2009 and try to get a jump on the new up coming season. I'll keep you updated, and we'll let you know what happens for 2009... Thanks for checking this journal out during the season!

- Bryan
 

Well we came back, and didn't fare to well in the feature event... The track decided against having the heat races so we went to the feature on the positions we drew out of the hat. I started 15th... Let's say that I was running 8th on lap 4, then all hell broke loose. Not even sure what lap it was, but it seemed to be around half way... Going into turn 1 on a restart someone drilled my car from behind pushing me up the track and then someone else slammed me from behind launching the car about 4 foot in the air. All I remember is looking up and seeing John Rigney yelling and waving at me from his car, which I was plowed into the side of. I don't remember what happened from the point of impact forward, but all I knew was my back hurt really bad, and the Riverhead Raceway track crew refused to let me go to the ambulance until I took the racecar off the race track... So with a broken rear axle, and a number of other problems... I took the car off the track, got out and checked myself into the ambulance... The ambulance crew looked me over, and told me that I had compressed my spine about 8-10 inches of it. There was not much they could do but Ice it and let the swelling go down... So here I sit, typing to you...

The car is pretty wrecked, we now have engine problems which seem to have come from the accident. We are weighing in our choices to figure out what to do for the rest of the season. All I know is that Saturday I will be at the sponsorship appearances listed in the journal entry below!!

I'll keep everyone updated on how I feel, and how my car is doing after the big impact that it had sustained at the track this past weekend. See you all soon!

- Bryan
 

It's been a long time since the last race. But we worked on the racecar last night and its all ready to go for the August 10th race at Riverhead Raceway. I'll be heading to Lac Baker, Canada for a small vacation starting July 31st, and coming back on August 9th... Just in time to go racing!

Well we have some big news actually for once....
We will be at the Panera Bread of Riverhead (10 Commerce Drive, Riverhead, NY 11901) from 12 Noon 'til 4pm and then heading to Applebee's of Riverhead (1852 Old Country Road, Riverhead, NY 11901) from 5pm 'til 8pm. We'll be at both locations on Saturday, August 16th, 2008. The entire Bryan Johnson Motorsports team will be there. I'll be signing autographs and promoting two of the greatest sponsors. So if you have nothing to do, stop on down and say hello, check out the race car and show your support for the sponsors.

That's about it for now, but we'll be back soon for the next race... Hope everyone is well, see you all soon!

- Bryan
 

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since we last raced. Time flies for sure... And it was a well used 3 weeks too. We were able to take most of the car apart and inspect what had happened as a result of the wrecks and issues that went on during the heat race and during the feature event... We found the rear end in the car to be cracked in two spots, so the whole housing needed to come out to be welded up and fixed... We also replaced a bunch of parts in the rear of the car as well as a new running board, and also straightened the chassis in the front. So it was a busy 3 weeks off.

We went to the track Saturday to practice. Practice went pretty well, got a feel for the car, and loaded it up to come back Sunday for a fun filled event.

Well Sunday has come and went, and this is what went down... We got to the track early to get everything unloaded and checked out.. We had a 11:30am drivers meeting to "review" the "RESPECT" policy that some people have thrown out the window since the original drivers meeting. They decided to start only 18 cars in the feature, with 22 showing up on Sunday. Which meant we were going to actually race hard to make the feature. 2 cars from each heat were sent packing, and lucky us we finished 6th of 11 in the first heat...

Feature time... Started 11th, held my ground, gained two spots actually until the first caution at lap 10. I felt a very bad vibration in the rear end of the car, didn't know what it was, but I was determined to finish the event. Well at the finish we crossed the line 14th, lost a few spots, but the car came home in mostly one piece.... We are going to do some "experimental" stuff on the car this week to get it ready for the June 28th, Saturday evening race... I hope to see you all there! Enjoy the weather! Be safe!!

- Bryan
 

Happy Memorial Day. It is now Monday, very tired after a long weekend at the track. Went to Riverhead Raceway on Saturday to do some testing during their practice sessions. Learned a bunch of stuff and we ran some of our best laps yet. We had hoped the adjustments we made on Saturday would transpire to help us on Sunday but that was NOT the case at all...

Sunday started off as a beautiful calm day until practice number one. Passing a car in turn 3 and he decided to come down into my right rear tire causing my car to go launching over him... Not fun, but we continued on and ran some more decent laps... Car was feeling good and was hooked up. During the heat race we started 9th of the 12 cars in the heat, and was doing pretty well until there was a spin in turns 1 and 2. I got plowed from behind, launched over top of two cars, was airborne, and landed the car... We had to bring the car to the pits with a bumper dragging, changed it, and barely made it back onto the track. We had our fingers crossed that the bumper was the only damage to the car... but later on we find out that there was a lot worse damage. Well we went back onto the track not loosing any laps and restarted 9th once again. We ended up a mangled racecar to finish 5th in the heat race, one of the best finishes I have had yet. But once the car came back to the pits we found out the damage was pretty serious. We had bent a right rear shock, plus did some heavy damage to the rear end housing in the car, along with some minor body damage as well... But we prepared the car for the feature HOPING to make just a few laps to gain points...

We made it out for the feature, but the feature was a wreck fest disaster. We ran 4 laps before the race was called off. In that four laps, we had I'd say about 6 cautions. Well it was a good thing for us. The right front wheel was knocked way out, so the car was becoming undriveable. We finished 11th, held on, and now sit 10th in points with 4 races to go. We now have a 3 week break, so we have plenty of time to fix the car and get going fast again... Well time to celebrate Memorial Day, and Michaels Birthday... So see you all soon!!

- Bryan
 

Well it's Sunday, May 18th... So that would make Race #3 Complete. After a long night in the shop on Thursday night, the car felt better on track then it ever did before. My whole deal was to stay out of trouble, and keep the wheels clean. Which is what we did. With a minor scuffle at the start of the feature, rubbing bumpers, that was the extent of the damage sustained in the feature event. Started 14th... Finished 10th. A bunch of good cars were wrecked and you just have to avoid the mess and keep the nose clean. Not much to write about, but we had a very good race. I feel more comfortable with the car and hopefully we can progress further along this season...

See you next week...

- Bryan
 

Race #2 down. Finished 14th, stayed out of trouble. Played with a new setup in the car, worked better then the past week.. but we just have to refine it again for this coming Saturday. Keeping the nose clean, and steering clear of the accidents is a "Win" in my book for Riverhead Raceway. Cars go home destroyed, and that's something that I don't ever want to encounter...

We missed missed a bunch of spinning cars in the feature. 20 laps, started 19th out of the 20 cars. Finished 14th just trying to gain valuable seat time. Starting in the rear each week as a rookie hasn't helped me much with dealing with traffic and having a complete side-by-side race with anyone. After next weekends event, I will have the oppourtunity to start up front (or wherever I pick out of the hat) and work my way forward. It should make for an interesting season. Yesterday with 1 caution flag for a lone spin, was pretty good for our division especially after last weekends mess.

Well it's Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day Mom. Thanks for all the help, and we all love you!

That's all for now, not much to talk about... Lets keep it clean and have fun this season!! See ya at the track!

- Bryan
 

No update until today. Been pretty busy working on the car getting in shape to go racing. We practiced Saturday afternoon at the track to try a new setup, which seemed to work a bit better... The weather didn't look like it was going to be good for Sunday, so it was going to be a test and tune... But after it all, we raced today, and the weather couldn't have been better. We had about a 35 minute "HOT" practice, got a few rounds out there before it was all over. The car felt pretty good, and only minor adjustments had to be made. We picked #5 out of the can, starting us first of all the rookies in the heat race #1... Started us 8th on the outside, race went smooth finished 8th after loosing a spot early, and then gaining it back at the end. This finish started us 16th in the feature...

Well... The feature was interesting. Started 16th, ended up 8th after a wreck on I believe lap 9. Got going again and then was dumped by a certain someone and was forced to start at the rear of the field for bringing the caution out. To sum the race up, it was out of control... I finished 11th after it all. I believe there were 5-6 cautions, and the race took about 45 minutes. After it all, I NEEDED a drink... of Gatorade! That's all for now, going to rest up... Lots of work to do this week to get back in shape for next Saturday's feature event. See ya there!

- Bryan
 

Practice yesterday went well for the team. I was able to shake the car down and somewhat get used to driving it. We noticed after spinning in the first round, and being extremely loose in the second that the rear end breather was blowing rear end fluid all over the right rear tire. So we got that problem fixed, knocked some tenths off our times... But after the third time on the track, I decided to let Howie Brode take the car out and let him shake it down to see if he sees or feels anything that I didn't. He noticed that the clutch was slipping worse then it was earlier in the day, making it very hard to put the car in gear, and to the get car rolling along. As a team we decided to park the car for the rest of the day, which meant only missing the last and final practice for the division of the day... So that leaves us with changing the discs in the clutch during the week to get the car ready for the track again next weekend, not such a big problem. Next week we'll try a new set of tires out, and play with some more adjustments to hopefully get the handling squared away... For now, that's enough. See ya'll at the track

- Bryan