NHRA Sunday: Kurt Johnson's day ends early in Denver

Event: 24th annual Mile High Nationals
Location:  Bandimere Speedway
       Morrison, CO
Day/Date: Sunday July 20, 2003 

Kurt Johnson entered Sunday's final eliminations of the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, CO, as one of the favorites to take home the win.  Throughout, Johnson's ACDelco Cavalier was consistently among the quickest cars at Bandimere Speedway, posting the second quickest time in each of the four qualifying sessions.

Starting from the second position, Johnson's strong performance continued in the first round, as he posted a 7.238-second elapsed time (second quickest of the round) with a top speed of 190.38 mph to eliminate Taylor Lastor.

This set the stage for a second round match-up with Jeg Coughlin.  Although Johnson recorded the quickest time of the round at 7.242 seconds with a top speed of 190.24 mph, it was not enough to overcome his opponent's starting line advantage, prematurely ending Johnson's day.

Fortunately, Johnson's championship hopes were not seriously affected, as his father, Warren Johnson, also defeated current POWERade points leader Greg Anderson in the second round.

"I knew I was late when I let the clutch out.  The tree happened to be on the quick side of the tumbler, and it seemed to go green as soon as I turned on the bottom bulb.   Our ACDelco Cavalier made another fantastic run, nice, smooth and straight, but it was just an unfortunate situation that we weren't able to gain any points.  

"Dad certainly saved us by beating Greg, but you hate to miss any opportunity.  Fortunately, it's easier to fix the driver than the race car.  My lights were good in qualifying and in the first round, but I was just off on that run, and it cost us.  

"However, we're happy with how the car's performing.  It's extremely consistent, and I'm looking forward to running it at sea level to see what it can do.  We'll head on to Seattle, where we've done well in the past, and see what we can do there.   We're excited at the potential."