KJ TESTING FOR RESULTS
Wed, 2009-03-25 21:35
ACDelco Driver Tests In Atlanta Headed for Houston …
What do you expect from a driver whose father is a 96-time national event winner and he himself is a 39-time race winner?
In just a little more than a week since losing in the second round of his sponsor's ACDelco event in Gainesville, Fla., Kurt Johnson and his team have gone through his Chevrolet Cobalt with a fine-tooth comb working feverishly to improve his competitive level and used to a mid-week test session at Atlanta Dragway to judge whether their efforts produced results or were in vain.
ACDelco Driver Tests In Atlanta Headed for Houston …
What do you expect from a driver whose father is a 96-time national event winner and he himself is a 39-time race winner?
In just a little more than a week since losing in the second round of his sponsor's ACDelco event in Gainesville, Fla., Kurt Johnson and his team have gone through his Chevrolet Cobalt with a fine-tooth comb working feverishly to improve his competitive level and used to a mid-week test session at Atlanta Dragway to judge whether their efforts produced results or were in vain.
NHRA Pro Stock is not a class that respects past accomplishments, such as his Phoenix runner-up effort; it’s one that only deals with the present. Johnson believes the team is headed in the right direction now.
"We made seven runs on the ACDelco Chevrolet and it ran really well," Johnson said. "The track was good enough that we could learn some stuff. Our 60-foot times were incredible, our 330-foot times were good, and we were fast to the eighth-mile. This is probably the most upbeat we've been since the beginning of the year, but considering we have three engines to build between now and Wednesday, we still have plenty to do."
Qualifying for KJ has been a steadily improving process as Gainesville produced his best effort thus far at No. 4. Because he qualified well early, he was able to use some of the runs to experiment with new combinations.
"At the Gatornationals, we tried some different things with the car and learned quite a bit," said Johnson, who ran one of the quickest 60-foot times during Saturday's first round of time trials at Gainesville Raceway. "We had some fresh parts in the car that we know helped us improve during a key qualifying session. When you consider the rain, weather and bad luck we had at the Winternationals, it's really only been two races for us. We ran good on Saturday at Gainesville and we ran even better during testing last week.”
KJ believes he has a team to beat and the test session at his home track backed up that thought process.
"We're getting closer to where we need to be and it's demonstrated by the way we're qualifying. We're picking up. Now it's a matter of getting a solid mile in on Sunday."
Johnson is a two-time winner at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals posting victories at HRP in 1999 and 2003 to go along with runner-up performances in 2002 and at last year's contest. Johnson has also been No. 1 qualifier at HRP three times (including last year's race), and he set a national speed record at this venue in 2003 when he ran 205.57 mph. Johnson currently holds the HRP track elapsed-time record at 6.638 seconds, also set at last year's race. He is sixth in the Pro Stock points standings heading into this weekend's contest.
"You work your butt off, you sweat and you turn wrenches,” Johnson explained. “You try and make more horsepower and you try to make better runs than everybody else. But there are a lot of good teams out here you're competing against and anytime you can win one of these races, it's a huge accomplishment."
What do you expect from a driver whose father is a 96-time national event winner and he himself is a 39-time race winner?
In just a little more than a week since losing in the second round of his sponsor's ACDelco event in Gainesville, Fla., Kurt Johnson and his team have gone through his Chevrolet Cobalt with a fine-tooth comb working feverishly to improve his competitive level and used to a mid-week test session at Atlanta Dragway to judge whether their efforts produced results or were in vain.
ACDelco Driver Tests In Atlanta Headed for Houston …
What do you expect from a driver whose father is a 96-time national event winner and he himself is a 39-time race winner?In just a little more than a week since losing in the second round of his sponsor's ACDelco event in Gainesville, Fla., Kurt Johnson and his team have gone through his Chevrolet Cobalt with a fine-tooth comb working feverishly to improve his competitive level and used to a mid-week test session at Atlanta Dragway to judge whether their efforts produced results or were in vain.
NHRA Pro Stock is not a class that respects past accomplishments, such as his Phoenix runner-up effort; it’s one that only deals with the present. Johnson believes the team is headed in the right direction now.
"We made seven runs on the ACDelco Chevrolet and it ran really well," Johnson said. "The track was good enough that we could learn some stuff. Our 60-foot times were incredible, our 330-foot times were good, and we were fast to the eighth-mile. This is probably the most upbeat we've been since the beginning of the year, but considering we have three engines to build between now and Wednesday, we still have plenty to do."
Qualifying for KJ has been a steadily improving process as Gainesville produced his best effort thus far at No. 4. Because he qualified well early, he was able to use some of the runs to experiment with new combinations.
"At the Gatornationals, we tried some different things with the car and learned quite a bit," said Johnson, who ran one of the quickest 60-foot times during Saturday's first round of time trials at Gainesville Raceway. "We had some fresh parts in the car that we know helped us improve during a key qualifying session. When you consider the rain, weather and bad luck we had at the Winternationals, it's really only been two races for us. We ran good on Saturday at Gainesville and we ran even better during testing last week.”
KJ believes he has a team to beat and the test session at his home track backed up that thought process.
"We're getting closer to where we need to be and it's demonstrated by the way we're qualifying. We're picking up. Now it's a matter of getting a solid mile in on Sunday."
Johnson is a two-time winner at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals posting victories at HRP in 1999 and 2003 to go along with runner-up performances in 2002 and at last year's contest. Johnson has also been No. 1 qualifier at HRP three times (including last year's race), and he set a national speed record at this venue in 2003 when he ran 205.57 mph. Johnson currently holds the HRP track elapsed-time record at 6.638 seconds, also set at last year's race. He is sixth in the Pro Stock points standings heading into this weekend's contest.
"You work your butt off, you sweat and you turn wrenches,” Johnson explained. “You try and make more horsepower and you try to make better runs than everybody else. But there are a lot of good teams out here you're competing against and anytime you can win one of these races, it's a huge accomplishment."
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