NHRA Saturday: A Consistent & Fast Kurt Johnson Sits Second on Saturday in Indy

Event: 48th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
Location: Indianapolis Raceway Park
      Clermont, IN
Day/Date: Saturday August 30, 2003 

After a one-day delay caused by persistent rain showers, qualifying got underway on Saturday at the 49th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN.  Kurt Johnson continued his string of strong performances in the ACDelco Cavalier, posting two of the quickest times in the Pro Stock category.  His run of record came on his second attempt, as he blasted down the quarter-mile in 6.800 seconds with a top speed of 202.30 mph, placing K.J. second heading into the final day of qualifying at Indianapolis Raceway Park.  Despite this outstanding effort, the ultra competitive Johnson was already contemplating ways to make up the one thousandth of a second difference between himself and the No. 1 qualifying position.

"Certainly we'd like to have the low elapsed time, but right now it's more important to be making nice, clean straight run, which we haven't quite done yet.  That's what it's all about.  Since we didn't test here last week, we see today's sessions as our first test runs.

"We're just happy to be solidly in the field.  That's always your concern coming into this race, because something freaky can happen, and you easily can find yourself watching the U.S. Nationals.  

"We're pretty pleased with our efforts, and we're just one thousandth out of the top spot.  We'll juts have to switch it over to the full run mode tomorrow, and do what we can to run a 6.798 and place our ACDelco Cavalier at the top of the charts, earn all the qualifying points we can and go from there."