NHRA Kurt Johnson Sunday Update: Kurt Johnson Sweeps His Way to the Win in St. Louis

Team Scores Historic First Win for New Cobalt at 

Sears Craftsman Nationals

 

Sugar Hill, Ga., June 26, 2005 -  Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt
Racing team recorded their first win of the 2005 POWERade Drag Racing
season in impressive fashion, sweeping their way to the winner's circle
at today's Sears Craftsman Nationals.  Starting from the No. 1 position,
Johnson posted the quickest elapsed time in each of the four elimination
rounds, culminating with a 6.729-second, 205.19 mph blast in the final
round over a red-lighting Greg Anderson.  This was the 29th NHRA
national event win of Johnson's illustrious career, second at Gateway
International Raceway, and first for the new Chevrolet Cobalt.

 

"We had a strong car all weekend, and our ACDelco Cobalt made a great
run in the final," said Johnson.  "Even though the outcome had already
been determined by Greg's red light, it was gratifying to be able to run
as well as we did under the conditions.  I didn't know he had red lit
until I put it in third gear and I looked up and saw the win light on my
side.  They're a tough team, and we knew we needed to run well in order
to beat them.  

 

"We had made some changes before the final, and obviously they were the
right ones.  I wasn't expecting to go as quick as that 6.72, but we'll
certainly take it.  It's been a while since we've won, and it certainly
feels great any time you make it to the winner's circle, but I would
still have to classify this as one of our better wins, especially since
we got the first one for the Cobalt."

 

After taking the pole with a 6.750-second, 204.14 mph run, Johnson
quickly established himself as the car to beat on race day, overcoming
the high heat and humidity to post a 6.748-second, 204.76 mph pass in
his first-round defeat of Kenny Koretsky.   In the next round, he
elevated his performance even further, covering the quarter-mile in
6.738 seconds to edge Allen Johnson.  In the semifinals, Johnson was the
beneficiary of a red-light start by Jason Line, and posted a
6.754-second elapsed time to gain lane choice for the final.

 

The last obstacle between Johnson and a potentially historic win was
defending Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson, who entered the contest with
a perfect championship-round record against the second-generation racer.
However, the race was over before it even began, as Anderson left the
starting line almost four hundredths of a second early, handing the
automatic win to Johnson, who punctuated his winning performance with
the quickest and fastest pass of the weekend, completing the sweep
(i.e., Kurt was the No. 1 qualifier, won the race, and set low elapsed
time and top speed of the event).

 

"I'm sure some people will say this win was expected since we had the
dominant car all weekend, but you still have to make everything add up,"
stated Johnson.  "For example, we've had a car capable of winning the
race on several occasions this year, but for one reason or another, just
didn't get the job done. Today, it all fell in place.  We had a fast
race car, a little bit of luck went our way, and I drove well enough to
get the trophy.  

 

"This ACDelco Cobalt is really coming around.  We made some changes in
testing Tuesday, and I think they really paid off.  However, all that
mattered was that we turned on the win light four times today.

 

"We are fortunate to have the support of some great sponsors like
ACDelco and Chevrolet, who allows us to do what we need to win, which is
work hard, spending long hours on the dyno and at the shop, making sure
we put the absolute best car we can on the racetrack.   This win is for
them, as well as my crew and everyone back at the shop in Sugar Hill,
who has put in the long hours to help make this happen.  It may only be
one win, but we're going to enjoy this for just a little while before
getting back to working on the getting the next one."