Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown Kicks Off at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 1, 2008- Qualifying for the third annual Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown got underway today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with three rounds of time trials. One round of qualifying still remains to be completed on Saturday before the field is set for the 16-car eliminator.
Team Chevy's Kurt Johnson posted the low elapsed time and top speed of the day, driving his ACDelco Cobalt to the provisional pole with a 6.687 e.t. at 206.16 mph. Parked in the No. 2 position is Jeg Coughlin Jr. who drove his Chevy Cobalt to a 6.701 second run at 205.44 mph, and Ron Krisher is No. 3 in the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt with a 6.711 e.t. at 204.23 mph.
"It pumps us up when you can run a number like that," Johnson said. "We didn't have the opportunity to test when we wanted to under decent conditions all winter, and that shows that we paid attention to what we were doing and what we had to get done. We worked on this ACDelco Chevy Cobalt for 10 weeks straight, went over the car with a fine-toothed comb and kind of set it up the way we figured it needed to be. You never know. The first run this morning, the practice run, you just want to let the clutch out at least once and see if it's going to go right or left. This Cobalt went straight down the boulevard. We were real pleased. That's what it's all about."
Summit Racing's Greg Anderson is driving one of the new Pontiac GXPs this weekend and he's currently qualified in the No. 4 spot with a 6.720 e.t. at205.51 mph.
"We really haven't given this Pontiac GXP a fair chance yet," Anderson said. "The first run we didn't have enough clutch in the car and we had to abort - that certainly wasn't the car's fault. The second run, we got closer but there still wasn't enough clutch in the car, and the third run we got even closer, yet. This new GXP wants to run, we're just not letting it. The car's fine though, and when it asks for more clutch, that's a good thing. We like that, but we're shocked that we have to feed it that much. We'll feed the monster and see what she'll run.
"It's very cool our here, and without a doubt we probably won't see this next week in California. But you have to race the track you're on and master it. We're not close yet, but maybe after a couple of more laps, we'll get closer and then we'll worry about Pomona when we get there. This is certainly an extreme in terms of weather and air conditions, without a doubt, but we have to figure it out."
On Saturday, Feb. 2, the gates will open at 8 a.m. and the first 1000spectators will receive a complimentary Pontiac Motorsports cap. There will be a final round of Pro Stock qualifying at 10 a.m. and the 16-car eliminator will begin at 1 p.m. Sportsman and all Pro categories will be testing throughout the day. On Sunday, Feb. 3, open testing for all categories will begin at 8 a.m. You can watch the first three rounds of qualifying by clicking on the links below:
Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown Q1 - YouTube - Pontiac PS Showdown Q1 LVMS Feb 1
Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown Q2 - YouTube - Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown Q2 - LVMS - Feb. 1
Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown Q3 - YouTube - Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown Q3 - LVMS Feb. 1
Warren and Kurt Johnson open up Friday morning practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - YouTube - Warren Johnson and Kurt Johnson at LVMS
