KJ PULLING OUT ALL STOPS TO REKINDLE BRAINERD MAGIC

At this point in the season, Pro Stock racer Kurt Johnson is pulling out all of the stops in trying to find new ways to go quick. Saturday’s kj.jpgabbreviated qualifying at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals showed him what won’t work.

"We haven't showed them everything yet," Johnson said. "We were struggling with the motor tune-up, trying some new parts and new carburetors and it just didn't quite want to go. We got it put back a little bit better this morning. The car made a decent run but didn’t want to get up on the tire. We have the core that we need to go fast, we just need to get the right parts in the right places. Slowly we're putting this ACDelco Chevrolet back to the way it used to win races, believe it or not, so I think we'll be in pretty good shape for tomorrow."

At this point in the season, Pro Stock racer Kurt Johnson is pulling out all of the stops in trying to find new ways to go quick. Saturday’s kj.jpgabbreviated qualifying at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals showed him what won’t work.

"We haven't showed them everything yet," Johnson said. "We were struggling with the motor tune-up, trying some new parts and new carburetors and it just didn't quite want to go. We got it put back a little bit better this morning. The car made a decent run but didn’t want to get up on the tire. We have the core that we need to go fast, we just need to get the right parts in the right places. Slowly we're putting this ACDelco Chevrolet back to the way it used to win races, believe it or not, so I think we'll be in pretty good shape for tomorrow."

Johnson returned to his original combination but it wasn’t put to the test because of rain.

"I made a good looking run by the seat of my pants this morning, but the number didn't come up that we expected – the tune-up wasn't quite right," Jonson said. "I felt we could have gone out in this last session and stepped it up to a top-four car. I really wasn't too worried about picking up and making a good run. It cooled off, and we made the gearing changes we needed to make for the better weather."

This is Johnson's 17th appearance as a Pro Stock competitor at Brainerd International Raceway. He has won more races at this event (1997, 2000, 2005, 2008) than any other on the circuit, and he was runner-up and No. 1 qualifier at BIR in 2003.

"We kind of got off course a little bit but now it's time to get on it." 

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