NHRA Kurt Johnson Pre Race: KJ Works to Make Madison Race
the Gateway to His First 2005 Win
Contact:
Jon G. Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing
Ph: (704) 662-3121
jgknapp@tmgsports.net
KJ Works to Make Madison Race the Gateway to His First 2005 Win
Last-minute test has ACDelco Cobalt crew primed for Sears Craftsman
Nationals
Sugar Hill, Ga., June 22, 2005 - By all accounts, Kurt Johnson and the
ACDelco Racing team have had a solid start to the 2005 NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing season. In the first ten races, they have posted one No. 1
qualifying performance (in Englishtown, NJ one week ago) with six starts
in the Top 3 and a 5.27 average starting position. In addition, they
have been equally effective on race day, with one final round appearance
(in last month's Columbus race) and four semifinal finishes,
accomplishments that further enhanced by the fact that the team switched
to the completely new Cobalt after the first five races. This showing
has landed Johnson solidly in the fifth position in the championship
standings.
Although many in the highly competitive Pro Stock category would be more
than pleased with this performance, Johnson's standards are set higher
than most. Therefore, he added a last-minute test prior to this
weekend's Sears Craftsman Nationals, and arrives in Madison, IL
determined to put it all together and score his first win of the year.
"Overall, we've done a pretty good job this season, but in order to win
we need to get better on Sunday, because that is when it counts," said
Johnson. "Take last week for example. Our ACDelco Cobalt was fantastic
in qualifying, and we felt like we had found the car's sweet spot.
Unfortunately, it threw us a bit of a curve during eliminations,
spinning the tires, which wasn't good.
"We know we have the power to win, as shown by our qualifying
performances during the season. So if power isn't the issue, we know we
need to get a better handle on our race car. That's why we decided to
test before heading to St. Louis. We needed to be at a racetrack, so
that's where we went."
An added benefit from the Johnson team's impromptu test session is the
extra tuning data they will gather on their still-new race car. With
blistering temperatures forecast for this weekend, teams will encounter
conditions unlike any other they have faced in the first eleven races,
even with most of the on-track activity taking place in the late
afternoon and early evening. Therefore, any passes made under similar
conditions prior to their arrival at Gateway International Raceway will
serve to give them a direction for their baseline set-up at this
weekend's race.
"It was 90 degrees when we tested, which should be close to what we see
this weekend," said Johnson. "We're expecting the track to be extremely
slick, so we didn't even spray the racetrack in Atlanta, keeping it as
close to what we'll race on. In that fashion, we thought we would get a
pretty good idea of where we needed to go with the tune-up.
"If anything, this ACDelco Cobalt team is even more determined than it
was before. We had to pick up our performance to the sixty foot mark,
as well as to the 330, and from what we saw in testing, I'm confident
we've come close to accomplishing that goal. However, we still need to
translate that into four round wins on Sunday. Looking ahead to this
weekend, I like our chances."
Notes on Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team entering
the Sears Craftsman Nationals:
* KJ in Madison: This will be Kurt's ninth appearance at Gateway
International Raceway, where he has one win in 1998 and one No. 1
qualifying performance in 1999.
* One year ago: Kurt qualified thirteenth with an elapsed time
of 6.766 seconds and a top speed of 204.42 mph, but fell in the first
round.
* Career Best Elapsed Time: 6.671 sec., Gainesville, FL, 3/20/05
* Career best top speed: 207.13 mph, Gainesville, FL, 3/20/05
Event Schedule:
Friday, June 24 - Two qualifying
sessions at 5:00 & 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 25 - Two qualifying sessions
at 5:00 & 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 26 - Pre-race ceremonies
begin at 3:30 p.m. followed by
the first
round of eliminations at 4:30 p.m.
Television Schedule:
Qualifying: Sunday, June 26 -
12:00 - 1:00 a.m.
Eliminations: Sunday, June 26 -
9:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
NHRA2Day: Sunday, June 26 -
11:30 a.m. - 12 noon
(Please consult your local listings for exact times, as the schedule is
subject to change.)
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