Championship Drag Racing

Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Chicago, IL
(June 7-10)

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Kurt Johnson Mark Christopher Auto Center Chevrolet Cobalt

Chicago, Sunday:  As they do at every event they enter, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team came into Sunday’s final eliminations of the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals in Joliet, IL with a simple goal – to win.  However, after winning the Pro Stock’s all-star race, the King Demon Crown, on Saturday, there was added motivation in the form of a $25,000 bonus if they were able to “double up” and capture the national event win. 

Starting from the sixth position, things went as planned in the first round, as Johnson used a solid 6.671-second, 207.30 mph pass to eliminate Craig Hankinson, who carded a 6.683-second, 205.98 mph run in the losing effort.   However, KJ faced an even tougher assignment in the second round, as he would square off against rival Jeg Coughlin without the benefit of lane choice. 

Running in the less-preferred right hand lane, which produced only three wins out of 15 contested, Johnson gave it a game effort, leaving the line at the same instant as his opponent, powering through the quarter-mile in 6.683-seconds with a top speed of 206.86 mph.  Unfortunately, it was not enough to better his opponent’s 6.665-second, 207.21 mph effort, cutting short KJ’s day.

“We had a good weekend that came up a couple rounds short.  We lost lane choice by a few thousandths, which put us in the right hand lane that had been slightly slower all weekend.   We also had a few issues with the car, which certainly didn’t help.  The bottom line, however, is that we were beat by a car that happened to be better on that particular run.

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