The legend of Rockingham Speedway continues to grow as new drivers find out the myth is true.

Brandon Johnson, from Tampa, Fla., heard how tough it can be for a driver at “The Rock” before joining eight other drivers Monday for a practice session for the Cherry Bomb 200 on July 4.

“It’s like Bristol (Motor Speedway) on steroids,” Johnson said. “At Bristol, the corners are smoother. Here, it’s really tough. With the (shocks) package we run here, you get beat up, it’s really rough.”

Despite Johnson’s comments about the track, he was able to post the fastest time in either the morning or afternoon sessions at 25.170 seconds or 147.604 miles per hour. In the earlier session, Johnson had a speed of 135.507 MPH.

“The main thing is we changed the gears,” Johnson said. “We are using a new motor this week. In the first session, we were just trying to shake the car down.”

AJ Frank was the second fastest at 147.458, Scott Lagasse was third at 147.399, Brian Blum was fourth at 146.533, while Gene Kirila was fifth with a speed of 145.472.

Drew Brannon had the sixth-best speed at 145.114, Kyle Sirizzotti clocked in with a speed of 142.744, Stephen Leicht was eighth at 142.388 and Dave Rigan finished with a speed of 138.782. Leicht’s time came in the morning before he blew his engine just before the end of session.

The Cheerwine Cherry Bomb 200 is a special double header race featuring the Kimmel Street Stock Series and the ASA Late Model Series.

The ASA portion of the 200 will include 100 laps of racing for “America’s Premier Short Track Series.” The ASA Late Model Series uses a crate engine, coil over shocks with a fiberglass body on the 2,700 pounds cars.