Kurt Chronicles: Gatornationals Edition

For Release: March 13, 2002
Contact: Rick Voegelin
rickvoegelin@compuserve.com
831-761-2201


THE KURT CHRONICLES: Kurt Johnson ACDelco News & Notes for the Mac Tools
NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla., March 15-17, 2002


KURT JOHNSON TESTS FOR SUCCESS

    These are the times that try men's souls -- and the time when Pro
Stock teams test relentlessly to find a competitive advantage. Kurt Johnson
and his ACDelco teammates filled the three-week break in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series schedule with a nonstop testing regimen. Kurt's ACDelco
Cavalier is now a finely tuned machine for this weekend's Mac Tools NHRA
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

    "We made 14 runs in two days at Atlanta Dragway," Johnson said. "The
first time I let out the clutch, the car ran 6.82 at 202.73 mph. When it's
that fast right off the bat, it's tempting to put the car back in the box
and go home!

    "But I thought the car should have gone 6.80, so we went to work,"
he laughed. "We redistributed the weight, tried different suspension
springs and tested two motors. By the time we finished, the car ran 6.82 at
202 mph again -- but the humidity had increased 30 percent, so the effort
was worthwhile."

    Johnson has a fleet of Cavaliers and an arsenal of engines in his
Pro Stock armada, but he currently favors the stiff double-rail
chassis constructed by Don Ness that carried him to semifinal round
finishes in Pomona and Phoenix.

    "The more time you spend on one car figuring out what it needs
for different conditions, the better off you are -- as long as the car
is working," K.J. cautioned. "We have seven engines that will run within
a hundredth of a second of each other. Of course, you never have
enough horsepower."

    While Warren Johnson has been virtually unbeatable at the
Gatornationals, Kurt's results have been eminently forgettable. He has only
a single final-round appearance in nine starts at Gainesville Raceway -- a
runner-up finish to his father in 1999.

    "You want to win everywhere, but the Gatornationals is a race I
really need to win," he concedes. "If the track gets hot and slick, we have
a few tricks in the trailer that might be just what we need."

    Would he care to elaborate on this secret weapon?

    "No thanks. Everyone will know it when they see it."

    And with that, Kurt Johnson departed for Atlanta Dragway for one
final test session to prepare for the drag race he has to win.

KURT JOHNSON'S GATORNATIONALS RESULTS

Year  Qual.  Result
1993    3    Second Round
1994    8    First Round
1995    8    Semifinal
1996    4    First Round
1997    2    Semifinal
1998    2    Semifinal
1999    2    Runner-up (to W. Johnson)
2000   12    Second Round
2001    6    Semifinal

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  E-mail from: Rick Voegelin, 13-Mar-2002