see the full Grand Prix weekend schedule here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\u201cMost drivers have a simulator at home, or with the team, and we do a lot of work on it,\u201d Johnson reports. \u201cUnfortunately, we don\u2019t really have St. Pete model there, because it changes every year, slightly, with the walls, so we have to use a Sim for other racetracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, on a regular road, bumps get worse over time. Some of the bumps continue to get worse with the traffic; it\u2019s just a natural thing. And then the walls are moved in or out, depending on how they laid it, could be the same as last year, could be four or five inches difference. And when you\u2019re talking that in racing, that\u2019s quite a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first order of business is walking the track. \u201cYou go to get a general idea of what\u2019s changed. Even though it\u2019s pretty minor, most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time drivers arrive for the first practice, he adds, \u201cyou have to just go feel everything out. Because obviously nobody\u2019s driven there in a year. There\u2019s no practice in the off-season there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auto racing requires both physical and mental preparation. And focus. \u201cYou have a checklist from your notes and onboards: \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to break at the 300 board; at Turn One, I\u2019m gonna turn at the 100, gonna carry this amount of speed in there; I\u2019m going to pick up throttle at this point in the curbing \u2026 you have four or five bullet points, for every single turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you have a lot of reference points on the buildings, poles and stuff like that, and cracks in the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you go into first practice with all of this different data that you\u2019ve collected in the past few years, and weeks of building up to the race. And you just have to execute it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Feb. 20 and 21: Two days of testing the car at Sebring International Raceway.<\/p>\n
His obsession with racing began with karts, at Anderson Sports Park (now T4 Kartplex) in Manatee County. \u201cWe went down there one day, I hopped in one,\u201d Johnson recalls. \u201cIt was pretty fast for not having driven before. I liked the speed and I stuck with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried a lot of other sports, but I guess you could say I didn\u2019t get the thrill through it. I still have hobbies \u2013 other sports \u2013 to this day, but I knew from a young age I wanted to stay racing and make a career out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family regularly took weekend trips to watch auto racing. \u201cWhen I was a little kid, I went to Sebring, Daytona, St. Pete, and a few other races,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd at that point I was already racing in the junior categories of karting. I went to them as a spectator, and fell in love with it even more.\u201d He was 13 when he competed in his first St. Petersburg Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Johnson graduated from online high school last May (his education has been both online and through homeschooling).<\/p>\n
Friends, family and community remain top of mind, wherever he happens to be. He hosts the official Grand Prix kickoff party Wednesday, 5-11 p.m., at O\u2019Maddy\u2019s, 5405 Shore Blvd. South in Gulfport.<\/p>\n
Greg Billings & the Stay Up Lates will be the band onstage, but Johnson fully expects to be called up to sing \u201cSweet Caroline.\u201d It\u2019s become something of a tradition.<\/p>\n
Next, he\u2019ll be at the INDYCAR Party in the Park, 4-7 p.m. Thursday in North Straub Park.<\/p>\n
Friday brings Day One of the 22nd Annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Nikita Johnson\u2019s hometown race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps getting better every single year,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cIt\u2019s already awesome, and it\u2019s becoming one of the best races in the U.S. Fans can watch anywhere on the track pretty much, up close.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful place. I don\u2019t want to ever move. It\u2019s my favorite place that I\u2019ve been to in the whole world. I\u2019ve been so many different places, and there\u2019s just no place like home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Find all weekend tickets and information at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Johnson, who\u2019ll be behind the wheel just about every weekend between now and October, always looks forward to the St. Petersburg race. Not just because it\u2019s the first in the season, but because he and his family reside in Gulfport. He was born in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n