St. Louis: Kurt Johnson Saturday summary

With Two Strong Runs, KJ Qualifies Fifth in St. Louis

After persistent rain curtailed qualifying on Friday at the O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, the NHRA's Pro Stock contingent faced a difficult task. Not only would the 27 competitors have only two chances to earn one of sixteen spots in Sunday's starting field, but they would also have to do so by solving the very tricky Madison, IL racetrack, which had been washed clean by the precipitation from the day before.

Fortunately, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt Racing team were up to the challenge, making two impressive runs, with their best effort of 6.709 seconds, 205.32 mph earning them the fifth starting position for Sunday's final eliminations at Gateway International Raceway.

"It's scary when you're trying to qualify on a tricky racetrack, and only have two chances to get the job done. I talked to several racers, including Mike Edwards and Allen Johnson, and none of us knew what to expect out there. All things considered, we're pretty happy with how our ACDelco Cobalt performed. On our first attempt, I knew it wasn't a particularly good run, so I was surprised and pleased when they told me I had run a '.71, which was low at the time. I knew then that we had a decent hot rod, one we could work with throughout the rest of the weekend.

"Our second run was even more gratifying, because we were able to run a 6.70 in the right hand lane. We had made some changes, throwing some stuff at it to see if it would stick, and it did. We'll take that tune up into tomorrow and go from there."

-credit: j2r