KJ Resets Personal Top Speed Record in Advancing to Pomona Quarter-Finals

February 9, 2003
Event: 43rd Annual NHRA Winternationals
Location: Pomona Raceway, Pomona, CA

After qualifying tenth for the 43rd annual Winternationals, ACDelco Cavalier pilot Kurt Johnson knew he had his work cut out for him.  Not only would he be facing a tough opponent in Mark Osborne in the first round, but he would also be doing so without the benefit of lane choice, which had played a significant role in qualifying.

Undaunted, KJ responded to the challenge by posting his best elapsed time of the weekend at 6.783 seconds with an impressive top speed of 204.57 mph to easily advance to the second round.  Incidentally, Johnson's speed was the quickest ever recorded in Pro Stock, and gave him the national top speed record.  However, this honor was short-lived, as his father, Warren Johnson would eclipse this mark with a 204.91 blast of his own.

Ironically, the second round would match the two fastest cars in the history of the Pro Stock division against each other, with the two Johnsons squaring off for the right to advance to the semi-finals.  Once again, Kurt found himself relegated to the less-preferred right lane.  Although he was able to make a competitive 6.812-second, 204.01 mph run, it was not enough to hold off the elder Johnson.

"I was confident going into the second round.  We got our ACDelco Cavalier straightened out and ran that 6.78 against Osborne.  In hindsight, we should have made some adjustments, but when you make your smoothest run of the weekend, you really don't want to mess with it a whole lot. Even though it was better than it had been the last few days, it shook about two or three hundredths out of it against Dad. 

"We'll take what we learned here and go to Phoenix.  We took the conservative approach this weekend, preferring not to throw the moon at it and end up not in the show.  Although you're only satisfied when you win, we went down the track on every run, and that's how you gather valuable information.  We'll get this ironed out and find the consistent performance we're looking for."