NHRA Kurt Johnson Race Wrap Up: KJ Stays Hot, Scores a Runner-Up Finish in Memphis

Contact:  Jon Knapp   

TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

 Ph: (704) 662-3121

jgknapp@tmgsports.net

 

KJ Stays Hot, Scores a Runner-Up Finish in Memphis

 

Event:  18th Annual O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals 

Day/Date: Sunday, August 21, 2005

Location:  Memphis Motorsports Park, Memphis, TN

 

For the fifth time in the last six races, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco
Cobalt Racing team powered their way to the final round of an NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series event, overcoming scorching summer
temperatures and scoring a runner-up finish at today's O'Reilly
Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, TN.  

 

Starting from the No. 1 position, Johnson eliminated Kenny Koretsky,
Greg Stanfield and David Howard en route to his sixth final round
appearance of the season, 60th of his career, and second at Memphis
Motorsports Park.  

 

Facing rival Greg Anderson without the benefit of lane choice, he knew
he would need every advantage in order to score his fourth win of the
season, and used a stellar .029 reaction time to gain a one hundredth of
a second lead at the starting line.  Unfortunately, his 6.834-second,
201.88 mph pass fell just shy of holding off his opponent's 6.801-second
run.  

 

Despite the loss, Johnson was able to move into second place in the
POWERade points standings, keeping himself in the thick of the
championship chase. 

 

"We're still fine-tuning the set-up on this ACDelco Cobalt, and right
now, it's just not happy when we get on a rough race track, and this one
in Memphis is probably the roughest we race on.  

 

"In addition, this car has been so good lately that we thought we could
make other changes to compensate for it, and we just came up a bit
short.  When you run low elapsed time, you think you can just fine tune
it, and obviously today we should have made some other changes.

 

"Lane choice played a big role in the final.  We hadn't been over there
all day, and even though we were able to get down it in qualifying, it
was completely different tonight.  We spun the tires in second gear, and
then it started bouncing over the bumps, all of which cost us.  

 

"We're still pretty pleased with our performance this weekend, making it
to another final.  It's a great job by the entire ACDelco crew.  That
guy's (Anderson) been a pain in our side, and it would have been nice to
beat him and gain a few more points, but we still have six races left,
so we're still right in there with our eyes focused firmly on the
target.  

 

"As brutal as the conditions were out here this weekend, I'm just glad
this race is over.  Those fans hung in with us all weekend, and I know
I'm beat, so we have to thank them for their support.  I'm really
looking forward to getting back on a smooth racetrack like Indy, because
I'm pretty confident our car will be just fine.  We'll go back to
Georgia, go over everything from head to toe, and be ready to get after
them at IRP (Indianapolis Raceway Park, site of the U.S. Nationals, the
next race on the NHRA schedule)."

 

 

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