Championship Drag Racing

Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Chicago, Ill.
(June 5-8)

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Driver Profile

Kurt Johnson Mark Christopher Auto Center Chevrolet Cobalt

Chicago, Saturday: Although their participation in Sunday’s final eliminations of the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Route 66 Nationals was never in doubt, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team certainly had to work to earn their sixth starting position.  Coming into Saturday’s second day of qualifying at Route 66 Raceway in the eighth position, they were deprived of making a run in the preferable conditions of the morning session by an unusual mechanical malfunction that pulled Johnson through the starting line beams.

Undaunted, the team returned to the pit area, located the problem and fixed it, coming back on their final attempt with their best pass of qualifying at 6.728-seconds, 204.91 mph, their ninth top half qualifying performance in this year’s ten races.  With the challenge of securing a top starting spot behind them, Johnson turned his attention to race day, with a more aggressive tuning strategy in the works.

“Our top priority heading into today was to ensure our ACDelco Cobalt would have lane choice for the first round on Sunday.  To be honest, I wish I had been able to make that run in the morning session, but we had some issues that cost us the chance.  Fortunately, we were able to fix them in time for this afternoon, and got ourselves into the sixth spot.

“Still, taking a look at all the data, we believe we should be able to run a couple hundredths quicker.  Therefore, we’re going to make some big changes for tomorrow, getting more aggressive with the tune-up, and seeing if we can run the 6.69 or 6.70 we feel this car is capable of.  It’s time to stop messing around, so tomorrow we’re going to do whatever it takes to get the deal done.”

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