Championship Drag Racing

NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals
Las Vegas, NV
(April 6-9)

EVENT HOME
   Tickets
   Event schedule
   Results
   Team Reports
   Audio Broadcast
   Photo Galleries
   Video highlights
   Entry List
   Driver Appearances

Driver Profile

Kurt Johnson Mark Christopher Auto Center Chevrolet Cobalt

Las Vegas, Friday: The first day of qualifying for the Summitracing.com Nationals was completed on Friday, with each of the professional categories having two attempts on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team took advantage of the opportunity and made two good runs, with their best effort of 6.803 seconds at 202.94 mph earning them the provisional fifth starting position.  Heading into Saturday’s final twin attempts, Johnson looked to get an even better handle on the tricky Nevada quarter-mile.

“Our first run was solid, just the way you want to get the weekend started.  We had a good 60-foot time, our ACDelco Cobalt went straight, and even with a slight problem with a vacuum pump battery, we were right near the top of the page.

“We had our sights set on getting the pole, but unfortunately, the track didn’t give us what we wanted in the evening session.  We knew the surface had cooled by 30 degrees after the sun went down, so we threw two or three different things at it in anticipation of its being better.  We used data from our test session here earlier in the year, but the rubber that was on the track in January and what we ran on today were two completely different types.  As a result, it just didn’t hold.  Fortunately, the rest of the weekend is going to be in sunshine, so we’ll regroup and get ourselves ready for race day.”

E-mail this article   Print this article