NHRA Kurt Johnson Qualifying Wrap Up: KJ Moves Up, Will Start Fifth in Dallas

Contact:  Jon Knapp   

TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

 Ph: (704) 662-3121

jgknapp@tmgsports.net

 

 KJ Moves Up, Will Start Fifth in Dallas

 

Event:  21st Annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals

Day/Date: Saturday, September 23, 2006

Location:  Texas Motorplex, Ennis, TX

 

The second day of qualifying for the O'Reiily Fall Nationals proved to
be quite a challenge for both racers and fans.  For example, just as the
third qualifying session was about to get underway on Saturday
afternoon, a fast-moving storm drenched the Texas Motorplex.  This not
only delayed activities for over two hours, but also radically changed
the atmospheric conditions, sending teams scrambling to make wholesale
changes in their tune-ups.

 

The delay also impacted the final session, which was pushed back to the
early evening. As a result, conditions were the best of the weekend,
with the elapsed time required to qualify lowered by fifteen hundredths
of second from the previous round.  

 

Starting the day in the seventh position, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco
Cobalt Racing team responded to the challenge, bettering their time with
each pass.  After posting a 6.763-second time in his afternoon attempt,
the second-generation racer completed his qualifying effort in
impressive fashion, blasting through the quarter-mile in 6.724-seconds
at 204.91 mph to capture the fifth starting position.

 

 "We're happy to qualify - that is what it is all about.  It was a
pretty solid effort by the ACDelco Cobalt crew.  Everyone's playing
hardball right now, and we went through such a wide range of track, air
and power conditions that made it even tougher.  However, it's tough for
everybody, so we stayed focused, did what we needed to take our best
shot, and got ourselves in the five hole.  

 

"Naturally, we would have liked to be No. 1, but that didn't happen.
However, we made four decent runs compared to everyone else, and moved
up from tenth to seventh to fourth and then fifth.  We're going to try
and calm it down for tomorrow, because it's a little violent right now.
I really think we can go faster, but tomorrow, it will be a matter of
getting down the track four times, with everyone from the driver, the
car and the crew doing their jobs.  It's time to have a little fun."

 

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