NHRA Saturday: KJ Survives Mad Dash to Start 15th in Joliet

KJ Survives Mad Dash to Start 15th in Joliet

Event: 6th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Route 66 Nationals
Location:  Route 66 Raceway
       Joliet, IL
Day/Date: Friday May 30, 2003 

The second day of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA Route 66 Nationals was held under markedly cooler temperatures.  As a result, Friday's numbers were virtually negated, with the low elapsed time from the first day not quick enough to secure a position in Sunday's final eliminations.

Faced with the challenge of improving or going home, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Racing team responded, lowering their best performance to 6.814 seconds with a top speed of 202.24 mph.  This placed the ACDelco Cavalier fifteenth, with Johnson looking for ways to further increase their performance for race day. 

"We're five hundredths and nearly two miles an hour off where we should be.  We had changed eingines at the start of the weekend, thinking there was something wrong with it.  We put in a motor that had run 6.806 seconds at 203.65 mph in 2100 feet of altitude in Altanta, so we knew it was a good piece, and we couldn't wait to get here and let the clutch out.  

"It ran fair on our first two runs yesterday, but when we came out in the better air today, it was definitely off.  There's something going on, because Dad's (Warren Johnson) car is off as well.  There's something wrong that we have to fix.

"In a way, we feel lucky to be in right now, but we'll work on it tonight, and there's no reason our ACDelco Cavalier can't win the race tomorrow."