NHRA Friday: Kurt Johnson Sets Career Bests, Breaks National Speed Record, and sits 2nd Midway through Houston Qualifying

Friday Qualifying Results					

Kurt Johnson Sets Career Bests, Breaks National Speed Record, and sits 2nd Midway through Houston Qualifying

Event: 16th Annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals
Location:  Houston Raceway Park
       Baytown, TX 
Day/Date: Friday April 11, 2003 

The combination of cool spring temperatures and a lightning-fast racing surface produced ideal conditions for Pro Stock race cars during the first day of qualifying for the O'Reilly Spring Nationals, and Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Racing team were among those taking full advantage.  On his second attempt on Friday evening, KJ blasted through the Houston Raceway Park finish-line lights in 6.726 seconds with a top speed of 205.57 mph.  This represented the second quickest pass in the history of Pro Stock (behind his father Warren Johnson, who posted a 6.720-second elapsed time shortly after Kurt's run), and established a new national top speed record.

This impressive effort placed the younger member of the Johnson family second midway through qualifying, with two more attempts scheduled for Saturday.  

"We made some major adjustments to our ACDelco Cavalier for tonight's session, and they paid off.  We had never run under these conditions with this set-up, and we were close, but needed to fine-tune it.  We checked our notes, set the car up similar to what we use for Atlanta Dragway, and it shot right down there, so we're very pleased.

"We now have a combination that will run under ideal conditions as we had tonight, as well as at altitude, similar to what we encountered in Las Vegas. Most importantly, however, we are solidly in the show for Sunday."