Gainesville: Kurt Johnson Friday rain notes

Friday's ACDelco Gatornationals Qualifying Cancelled by Rain

A massive storm that blanketed central Florida drenched Gainesville Raceway on Friday, forcing NHRA officials to cancel the first day of professional qualifying at the ACDelco Gatornationals. Sunday's starting field will now be set on two sessions to be held on Saturday afternoon.

With his number of attempts cut in half, ACDelco Cobalt racer Kurt Johnson found himself having to completely change the tune-up in his race car to better adapt to the conditions forecast for Saturday.

"We worked for about three hours this morning that quite literally was a wash. After all, we were preparing our ACDelco Cobalt to race on a 70 degree racetrack with 500 foot density altitude, while tomorrow will probably be sunny and 75 degrees with a 1400-foot altitude, requiring a completely different set-up.

"It's a shame, because we were really looking forward to getting on the track today and putting on a good show for the fans. I'm confident we could have run something in the low 6.50 range at speeds approaching 210 mph.

"Of course, it never helps when you lose half of your qualifying attempts, especially at your sponsor's race. However, we were in the same situation three weeks ago in Phoenix, where it rained all day Friday and we came back out on Saturday and put her in the number three spot on the first hit. Hopefully, we can duplicate or improve on that performance tomorrow. In any case, it will be interesting."

-credit: j2r