NHRA Kurt Johnson Wrap Up: KJ takes his new ACDelco Cobalt to the Bristol Semifinals

Event:  5th Annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals

Day/Date: Sunday, May 1, 2005

Location:  Bristol Dragway, Bristol, TN

 

Kurt Johnson gave his new ACDelco Cobalt a successful debut on Sunday,
powering to the semifinals of the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in
Bristol, TN.  Despite having to deal with completely different weather
conditions and a virtually untested race car, Johnson's close-knit crew
made the right calls on race day, recording the quickest pass of the
opening round at 6.747 seconds in defeating Ben Watson.

 

In the second round, Johnson combined a lightning-fast .019 reaction
time and a consistent 6.745-second pass to eliminate veteran Rickie
Smith.  This set the stage for a semi-final match-up with his father,
six-time Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson.  Despite running in the less
preferred left-hand lane, KJ posted a solid 6.759-second elapsed time.
However, it was not enough to hold off the senior Johnson's
6.757-second, 204.29 mph pass.  

 

Even so, Kurt realized it had been a great start for his new race car.

 

"We certainly would have liked to have taken our ACDelco Cobalt to the
winner's circle in its first race, but it didn't happen.  We felt we
made some good runs today, but the last one was sub-par compared to the
others.  Even so, we were one of the better cars on race day, which,
considering just how little time we have had with this car, has us
excited moving forward.

 

"I was also happy with my driving this weekend.  I had my best light of
the season in the second round, and hopefully, it should get better as I
get more comfortable in the car, getting the clutch pedal and everything
else just right. 

 

"We'll take what we learned today, evaluate it and make the necessary
changes.  We also plan to test in Atlanta over the next two days and get
ready for our home race in a couple weeks."