FW: Kurt Johnson/ACDelco Racing/NHRA Pomona/Friday Qualifying

From: Jeff Romack
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 9:54 AM
To: Jeff Romack
Subject: Kurt Johnson/ACDelco Racing/NHRA Pomona/Friday Qualifying


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Romack
ACDelco Racing Communications
Office: 317.843.5447
Cell: 317.698.1016
jeff.romack@pmgincorporated.com
www.ACDelco.com

Kurt Johnson/ACDelco Racing
Friday Qualifying
Auto Club of Southern Calif. NHRA Finals
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona

POMONA, Calif., Nov. 13, 2009 - Kurt Johnson will try to take advantage of the final two Pro Stock qualifying sessions at the 45th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals to secure a solid starting position for Sunday's eliminator at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Johnson's run on Friday of 6.650 seconds at 208.88 mph was only good enough for the No. 13 spot, so his ACDelco Chevy race team will regroup and take its best shot when the cars roll to the staging lanes at 11 a.m. for the first of two Saturday sessions.

"Everybody ahead of us was spinning," Johnson said. "We detuned the car on the starting line and it didn't make the move we wanted in that first 30 feet - you could feel it in the car. It was a smooth run and conservative, but it wasn't fast. It didn't get the front end up and it spun, but it ran decent on the back half. We're pretty confident that if we can nail it on the front half we should have a top-four car. This was a wake-up call, though, that we need to go in the other direction.

"We'll regroup and come back tomorrow. I'm confident we can run a 6.60. We can't run a 6.57, but we can run a '60' and that's what we'll be shooting for."

The No. 1 qualifier is Mike Edwards in a Pontiac. Edwards took the provisional pole with a 6.575 e.t. at 210.31 mph. Edwards will clinch his first NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock championship by qualifying for this event.

The 45th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals on Nov. 12 - 15 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona closes out the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle season. ESPN2 will broadcast a two-hour qualifying show on Saturday, Nov. 14, beginning at 10:30 p.m. Eastern. Final eliminations coverage gets underway on Sunday, Nov. 15, with NHRA Race Day starting at 11 a.m., and a three-hour telecast of final eliminations kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern.

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