"We were scared to touch the car after running a .58 this morning," Johnson said, "but we knew we had to make some changes. We changed gears around, we changed the clutch around, and the whole ACDelco crew came together and we did what we needed to do. We'll have days like this (in Pro Stock). Tire shake was an issue, but we're pushing these things to the limit. These cars are making well over 1400 horsepower and spinning well over 10,000 rpm, so it's brutal out there. That's what it's all about and we just had a great day.
"It's brutal out there; every run's a challenge. We've got humans working on these cars and everybody's making different decisions out there. That last session yesterday everybody was grouped together with .59s and Jason made a great run with a .57. It just gets so finite and all of the little changes make a difference now a day, it seems like. But it's great to win 14 years in a row; it's been a long time since (the win in) Phoenix last year. This is the seventh race of the season and we now have six different winners, so that just shows you how tough it is and it's great for the fans."
The 25-year-old Connolly was making only his second start in the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt after sponsorship issues forced him to sit out this season's first five races. With his new sponsor headquartered in St. Louis, Connolly advanced to his second consecutive final round at Gateway after claiming a win here last year.
"This was an interesting weekend," Connolly said. "It was fun, but basically it was a test session for us each round. We were putting a new clutch in the car every round. It was the weirdest day I've ever seen in Pro Stock, that's for sure. (In the finals round) I just let the car go through the (starting) beams and as soon as I went to stop it, the tree was on and I was just dead late. We could've run with Kurt . . . it was a win we should've had."
"All-in-all we were happy to take the three round wins and the runner-up for the second weekend out. We have to test before we go to Bristol (Tenn., May 16-18)."
In the Sportsman classes, Peter Biondo of Maspeth, N.Y., drove his '08 Chevy Cobalt to the Super Stock title, in a battle of Camaros Gary Stinnett from Emporia, Kan., in a '69 Camaro defeated the '67 Camaro driven by Donnie Beeler of Elizabethtown, Ky., to win Stock Eliminator, and Brina Splingaire from Lemont, Ill., won Super Gas in a '63 Corvette.
The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the 8th annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., on May 16-18, 2008.
PRO STOCK
Winner - Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 6.631ET/209.30MPH
Runner-up - Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 6.651ET/208.78MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.571ET(track record)/209.23MPH
Low elapsed time - Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.571 seconds
Top Speed - Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 209.39MPH (track record)
