NHRA Sunday: KJ's Route 66 Run ends in the Carquest Nationals Quarterfinals

Event: Third annual Carquest Auto Parts Nationals 
Location:  Route 66 Raceway
       Joliet, IL
Day/Date: Sunday September 28, 2003

After winning the spring race in Joliet earlier this year, Kurt Johnson entered Sunday's final eliminations of the Carquest Auto Parts Nationals looking to sweep both events at Route 66 Raceway.  However, after qualifying 10th, Johnson and the ACDelco Pro Stock Cavalier racing team knew that to return to the winner's circle, they would need a nearly perfect effort.

Things went according to plan in the first round.  Despite running in the less-preferred right lane, Johnson bettered his elapsed time from qualifying, using a 6.769-second, 204.17 mph run to defeat Troy Coughlin.  However, things would not get any easier in the second round, as Johnson would face Jeg Coughlin, the defending Pro Stock champion, again without the benefit of lane choice.  

The two cars left the starting line as if tied together, with Johnson making a representative pass at 6.796 seconds with a top speed of 204.01 mph.  However, it was not enough to prevent his opponent, who posted a 6.748-second elapsed time, from gaining the round win.

"We burned the clutch out of it again.  We had done the same thing during our second qualifying run, so we stacked it up this morning, putting five grams and 40 pounds on it, which should have made a significant difference, but it didn't, so for the second round we put a more aggressive disc in it, and still there was not a discernible change.

"In Memphis, we had a killer racetrack, and had more clutch than what we should have needed and we slipped the clutch.  Next, we came here with another awesome racing surface, and ran through the clutch.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but I do know we need more clutch pressure, so we can hook it up in low gear, because we're three hundredths off where we need to be.
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"We'll work on it this week, including making a few test runs, to make sure our ACDelco Cavalier is back at 100 per cent when we get to Reading."