[coverattach=1]COMMERCE, Ga., April 17, 2009 – Qualifying got underway today at the 29th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. After two rounds of time trials ACDelco's Kurt Johnson will be looking to break into the 16-car Pro Stock field when he makes his way to the staging lanes for Saturday's first session.
The local Northeast Georgia driver ended up in the No. 14 slot on Friday with a 6.632 e.t. at 209.10 mph, which he recorded during today's first session. In the second round, Johnson's Chevrolet veered right almost immediately after launching and nearly made contact with the right-side retaining wall before he shut it off. He coasted through the lights with an 11.79 e.t.
"We knew we would get four good qualifying runs," Johnson said. "We tested some stuff on the first run and really got after it on the second run. We attacked the track because it was really good here when we tested (in March), but it wasn't even close tonight. It spun them up down track, and shook – it was just ugly.
"We'll have to back it down in the morning. We have to be quick enough to fill one of the four remaining slots, but we also know we can go 6.58 out there and move into the top four. We'll be the second pair out in the good air tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we have to wait until tomorrow morning to do it and we should have been able to do it tonight. It just didn’t happen.
"The least of my worries tonight was to go out there and shake like we did. We put a better tire on the car because it was iffy down track. We got the tire locked in and distorted. We tried to fix one problem and created another – we couldn’t get the best of both worlds in this situation. We're going to regroup and make sure we go the first 100 feet smooth. We feel that we can go in the '50s' (6.50s) in the morning."
Atlanta Dragway is the de facto home track for Johnson, who has lived in this area since 1983. He's been coming to this venue for more than 30 years either as a competitor at the Southern Nationals, testing, or as a crew member on his dad Warren's Pro Stock car. Johnson's lone win at Atlanta Dragway came in 1996 when he defeated Jim Yates in the final round. He was runner-up in 1993 to his dad, and in 1997 he was runner-up to Jim Yates.
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 6 p.m. (ET) on Saturday April 18. NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute pre-race show, will air at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 19 also on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will feature three hours of eliminations coverage at 7 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 19.
The local Northeast Georgia driver ended up in the No. 14 slot on Friday with a 6.632 e.t. at 209.10 mph, which he recorded during today's first session. In the second round, Johnson's Chevrolet veered right almost immediately after launching and nearly made contact with the right-side retaining wall before he shut it off. He coasted through the lights with an 11.79 e.t.
"We knew we would get four good qualifying runs," Johnson said. "We tested some stuff on the first run and really got after it on the second run. We attacked the track because it was really good here when we tested (in March), but it wasn't even close tonight. It spun them up down track, and shook – it was just ugly.
"We'll have to back it down in the morning. We have to be quick enough to fill one of the four remaining slots, but we also know we can go 6.58 out there and move into the top four. We'll be the second pair out in the good air tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we have to wait until tomorrow morning to do it and we should have been able to do it tonight. It just didn’t happen.
"The least of my worries tonight was to go out there and shake like we did. We put a better tire on the car because it was iffy down track. We got the tire locked in and distorted. We tried to fix one problem and created another – we couldn’t get the best of both worlds in this situation. We're going to regroup and make sure we go the first 100 feet smooth. We feel that we can go in the '50s' (6.50s) in the morning."
Atlanta Dragway is the de facto home track for Johnson, who has lived in this area since 1983. He's been coming to this venue for more than 30 years either as a competitor at the Southern Nationals, testing, or as a crew member on his dad Warren's Pro Stock car. Johnson's lone win at Atlanta Dragway came in 1996 when he defeated Jim Yates in the final round. He was runner-up in 1993 to his dad, and in 1997 he was runner-up to Jim Yates.
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 6 p.m. (ET) on Saturday April 18. NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute pre-race show, will air at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 19 also on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will feature three hours of eliminations coverage at 7 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 19.
