NHRA Sunday: Kurt Johnson Drives to the Semifinals of the Mile-High Nationals

Event: 25th Annual NHRA Mile-High Nationals
Location:  Bandimere Speedway
       Morrison, Colorado
Day/Date: Sunday July 18, 2004

After qualifying fourteenth, Kurt Johnson knew he would have his work cut out for him during Sunday's final eliminations of the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, CO.  However, the ACDelco crew quickly showed they were up to the challenge at Bandimere Speedway, as Johnson combined a lightning-fast .021 reaction time with a 7.224-second, 191.21 mph pass to upset No. 3 qualifier Kenny Koretsky in the opening round.

Johnson continued his great driving in the second round, as he left the starting line over seven hundredths of a second ahead of local favorite V. Gaines, and powered through the quarter-mile in 7.246 seconds to overcome his opponent's quicker 7.221-second effort and score the holeshot win.  

The final barrier between Johnson and his fifth final round of the season was veteran Larry Morgan.  Despite being relegated to the less-preferred lane, Johnson again responded, making his best run of the day at 7.217-seconds with a top speed of 191.48 mph.  However, it was not enough to hold off his rival's 7.203-second run, cutting short KJ's pursuit of a third win at Bandimere Speedway.

"We made a pretty marginal run in the second round, with the car chattering throughout second gear, which slowed us to that 7.24, so we made a series of adjustments for the semis.   Unfortunately, within 10-15 minutes of our pulling into the staging lanes, the skies clouded up and the track temperature went down twenty degrees.  I guess Mother Nature lost my cell phone number, because she never called to warn me not to set up for a hot race track.

"Even so, it wasn't a bad day for the ACDelco crew, especially when you consider we came out of the fourteenth spot.  I drove well, and the car was competitive.  It probably would have helped to have tested here before the race, but we concentrated instead on our engine program, where I believe we made some gains.  The loss of the two qualifying sessions also didn't help. 

"But, all in all, we learned a lot, which will allow us to come back here next year even better prepared than we were this year.  Any way you look at it, we had a decent day.  We'll take this on to Seattle and see if we can complete the deal."