[coverattach=1]COMMERCE, Ga., April 19, 2009 – Although the calendar shows it's less than two weeks before the NHRA Full Throttle Series resumes competition in St. Louis, it's a date on the schedule that can't get here fast enough for ACDelco's Kurt Johnson. A first-round loss at today's 29th annual Summit Racing Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway has the 46-year-old Johnson more determined than ever to bounce back when qualifying gets underway on May 1 at Gateway International Raceway.
Johnson's plan of attack includes testing the ACDelco Chevrolet this week at Atlanta Dragway, weather permitting, as early as Monday morning following the completion of the rain-postponed event.
"As soon as they get this race completed we'll be out there testing," Johnson said.
Even though Johnson was qualified in the No. 16 spot heading into Sunday's eliminator, he was confident that the ACDelco team could make a strong run during today's race. But after a long rain delay, Johnson was unable to get his car into the staging beams under power for his first round matchup against Greg Anderson.
"I honestly felt like we had a good shot," Johnson said. "Anytime you qualify, you have a shot to win the race. We've been qualified as high as (No.) two this year so we know the potential is there."
"You're going to have weekends like this, when things, for some reason, don't go right, and a good team like ours will overcome them," Johnson said. "We should have been back in form on that run right there. During qualifying, we had some new stuff on the car that looked good on the dyno, but didn't pan out on the racetrack. We had changed everything back to a setup that we knew would work.
"We should have made a decent run – maybe a 6.62 or a '63 right there. You hate losing that opportunity on that racetrack with the way it was – sticky, cool – another opportunity to make a run and possibly turn on the win light."
The next stop on the schedule is the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals on May 1 – 3 at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. Johnson is the defending Pro Stock champion of the event.
"We have a little more improvement to make in the engine department, and we need to get our consistency down, but we're going to run the wheels off the car this week. We're going to be ready when we arrive in St. Louis."
ACDelco is a global leader in high-quality automotive replacement parts and related services and offers quality aftermarket products for all makes and models, plus GM original equipment replacement parts.
Johnson's plan of attack includes testing the ACDelco Chevrolet this week at Atlanta Dragway, weather permitting, as early as Monday morning following the completion of the rain-postponed event.
"As soon as they get this race completed we'll be out there testing," Johnson said.
Even though Johnson was qualified in the No. 16 spot heading into Sunday's eliminator, he was confident that the ACDelco team could make a strong run during today's race. But after a long rain delay, Johnson was unable to get his car into the staging beams under power for his first round matchup against Greg Anderson.
"I honestly felt like we had a good shot," Johnson said. "Anytime you qualify, you have a shot to win the race. We've been qualified as high as (No.) two this year so we know the potential is there."
"You're going to have weekends like this, when things, for some reason, don't go right, and a good team like ours will overcome them," Johnson said. "We should have been back in form on that run right there. During qualifying, we had some new stuff on the car that looked good on the dyno, but didn't pan out on the racetrack. We had changed everything back to a setup that we knew would work.
"We should have made a decent run – maybe a 6.62 or a '63 right there. You hate losing that opportunity on that racetrack with the way it was – sticky, cool – another opportunity to make a run and possibly turn on the win light."
The next stop on the schedule is the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals on May 1 – 3 at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. Johnson is the defending Pro Stock champion of the event.
"We have a little more improvement to make in the engine department, and we need to get our consistency down, but we're going to run the wheels off the car this week. We're going to be ready when we arrive in St. Louis."
ACDelco is a global leader in high-quality automotive replacement parts and related services and offers quality aftermarket products for all makes and models, plus GM original equipment replacement parts.
