San Clemente, Ca. (Jan. 21, 2010) – Billy Johnson makes his return to Roush Racing and is back again with co-driver Jack Roush Jr. in the #61 ROUSH/DIARKIS Ford Mustang FR500C.  After finishing the 2009 season with a strong three podiums - including one win - the duo is back together for an entire season and is aiming for the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Championship.

Over the past three years, Johnson has proved to be the most prolific and versatile driver in the Grand-Am Koni Challenge series.  In this time frame, his unsurpassed 14 podiums and 6 wins were produced with six different co-drivers, four different teams, four different cars, and in two different classes.

Johnson’s versatility is shown by his ability to jump in and win in front-engine front-wheel-drive Acuras, front-engine rear drive Mustangs, and rear engine rear drive Porsches; and his ability to give detailed feedback as a development driver.

Johnson helped Roush Racing to their first GS team victory as well as piloted the first and only GS class BMW Z4 M-Coupe (built by Motorsport Technology Group and Larry Hahn) to its first podium in only its second race.

Billy Johnson’s 2nd place in the drivers' championship with co-driver Karl Thomson and Compass360 Racing in 2007 was instrumental in bringing the manufacturers' championship to Acura in the ST class.  His contributions with Jack Roush also helped secure the manufacturers' championship for Ford in 2009.

“I am really excited to be back with Jack Roush Jr. to run the entire season with Roush Racing.” said Johnson.  “The team’s professionalism, determination, and history speaks for itself and I’m looking forward to representing them and being a part of the 2010 effort.”

Check out Billy Johnson's new feature article on:
 www.MotoIQ.com

"Fast Lap with Billy Johnson"
Willow Springs International Raceway Track Notes:

Billy Johnson and FX Motorsports Development Dominate the last few races of the 2009 Redline Time Attack Series and clinch the Unlimited RWD Championship.

With an Overall Victory and Track record in Round 8 at AutoClub Speedway and in Round 7 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park, Billy Johnson and FXMD clinch the 2009 Redline Time Attack Unlimited RWD Championship.

With these two overall victories added to the teams previous three overall victories this season, FXMD was undefeated in all five RTA races entered in the 2009 season.

FXMD Overcomes disaster to pull off last minute victory at Auto Club Speedway

Las Vegas, NV (Sunday November 15, 2009) FX Motorsports Development, Billy Johnson, and the Cricket/Yokohama Tire Unlimited NSX overcome disaster this weekend to take the Overall win at Auto Club Speedway and set another track record for a production-based car.

Coming from an Unlimited RWD class victory and record at the 2009 Super Lap Battle Time Attack event at Buttonwillow the previous Wednesday, FXMD came to the Redline Season Finale at Auto Club Speedway with high hopes. With new untested changes made to the FX750 NSX before Buttonwillow, FXMD was looking to further shake down the car on Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s Time Attack.
Saturday’s testing proved to be successful despite losing the right rear tire on the banking at 150mph. Driver Billy Johnson stated “I simply set the tire pressures too low for how cold the track conditions were and I didn’t let the tires get up to temp before the banking. It was not a tire failure by any means but rather a misjudgment in pressures. Thankfully I was able to keep the car off the wall and in one piece”. Unfortunately the down tire took out the canister of the KW 3-way motorsport dampers along with it. Thankfully KW North America was there and helped get the situation under control with a replacement.

As Sunday rolled around, testing couldn’t have gone better with the new Performance Friction “Z-Rated” Forged Monoblock Calipers with multi-pad technology (1 brake pad per piston) and 2pc floating rotors. “These brakes are amazing” Johnson said, “The pedal remained rock-solid and consistent lap after lap with zero signs of fade. The combined stiffness of the caliper and multiple pads per caliper make modulating the brakes almost telepathic, you have to truly experience it yourself to believe brakes can be this responsive and communicative”.

Despite the good start, the day was not going to be easy for the FXMD team. A snapped input shaft in the transmission looked to end their chances of competing and clinching the Unlimited RWD Championship. Crew Chief Radomir Banda said “Failures happen when making this kind of power. While we have made steps to increase the strength of the transmission, we have never seen a failure like this before. The fracture was so perfect it looked like it was cut on a lathe”. The team had three hours to swap transmissions before the last timed session of the day. “These guys are amazing” said Johnson, “Whenever we are thrown a curveball that would make other teams pack up and go home, the whole team comes together. Against overwhelming odds they put the car together in time to give me one last shot.”

For the final run, the team installed a bone stock transmission that had a less than ideal gear ratio and final drive, and no limited slip differential. They increased spring rates and raised the ride height to prevent the right front tire from bottoming out into the fender on the banking. They re-aligned the car, put on new tires, upped the boost, and fixed a cracked header. With all these changes and no practice time, the team wasn’t sure what the result was going to be.

As the sun started to set over the Southern California mountains, the last run group was the Unlimited class. With a best lap of 1:37.7 during testing, Billy had to shave off nearly 2 seconds to beat the current record set by the AMS EVO X which turned a 1:36.230 in the first timed session. On his second lap, Billy was able to edge AMS out with a record-setting lap of 1:36.103, just a tenth quicker than the EVO.

This result marks the 5th Overall Victory and 5th Track Record for the team out of 5 races attended this year. An undefeated record clinched the 2009 Unlimited RWD Championship for the FX Motorsports Development team. We would like to thank Redline for a great year and special thanks to Sierra Sierra Enterprises for welding our header back together, they are a class-act.
We would like to thank all of our sponsors for their superior track proven products and unwavering support throughout the entire year. Without their support this undefeated season would not have been possible. Special thanks to Sam Kwa from Yokohama Tire for providing us with valuable advice via phone throughout the entire weekend and Chris Marion from KW Automotive for the on-site product support.