Kurt Johnson Scores a Decisive Win in
May
4, 2008,
Knowing he would need an almost
flawless performance to capture his third win at Gateway International Raceway,
Johnson took control from the start, leaving the starting line ahead of his
opponent and never looked back, using a 6.631-second, 209.30 mph pass to easily
outdistance his rival’s 6.651-second, 208.78 mph effort and score his first
national event win since February 2007. It was the 37th national
event win of Johnson’s career, first of the 2008 season and third at Gateway
International Raceway.
“It was a great day at Gateway for
the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team,” said Johnson. “You never know what to expect
at one of these races. Everybody in Pro Stock is hungry, and everyone we faced
today ran pretty well, so if we had made one little slip-up, someone else might
have won.
“Going into the final, we knew David
(Connolly) is a good driver with a good team and that we would have to be on our
game to get by him. Fortunately, the crew did an outstanding job, we made the
right calls on the tune-up, and I did my job behind the wheel. It just feels
good to win for everyone on this team, our great sponsors including ACDelco and
Chevrolet as well as all the people who support
us.”
After setting career bests in
elapsed time and top speed in qualifying fifth, Johnson quickly established
himself as a contender on Sunday, with his 6.581-second, 209.36 mph pass in the
first round against rookie Todd Hoerner lowering his personal best by another
hundredth of second and setting the standard for the Pro Stock class in
eliminations.
However, Johnson’s next opponent
would prove to be his toughest of the day, as he took on defending Pro Stock
champion Jeg Coughlin. In the closest race of the day of any of the
professional categories, KJ combined a stout .014 reaction time with a 6.620,
209.33 mph pass to edge Coughlin by one ten-thousandth of a second, as he posted
a 6.623-second, 208.01 mph in the losing effort.
“We knew we really had to dig down
for the run against Jeg,” stated Johnson. “He is always so tough on the
starting line, and looking at the numbers from the first round, we ran a 6.58,
while he ran a 6.61, so he knew if he had a good light, he would be there, and
it ended up being really close. It was probably the race of the day, and
fortunately we were able to come out on top, which was a big lift for the entire
team. However, at that point we had to remind ourselves that we were only
halfway home.”
The ACDelco crew’s solid performance
continued in the semifinals. Even though V. Gaines’ red-light start awarded him
the automatic win, Johnson put himself in good shape.for the final round by
posting a 6.619-second, 208.78 mph pass to earn lane choice against Connolly, in
what proved to be the first step towards ending his 28-race winless
streak.
“We made some big changes coming in
to today, and our ACDelco Cobalt went down the track on every run, which is what
you have to do in this category,” said Johnson. “Everyone on both my ACDelco
and Dad’s (six-time champion Warren Johnson) GM Performance Parts crew have been
working extremely hard, doing what they can to help, and it makes a big
difference all the way around when one of our cars makes it to the winner’s
circle.
“This was a big win for us, because
once you know you can do it, it makes it a little easier to do it again. But
I’ve been around long enough to realize how hard these are to get and to
appreciate every win. After all, it starts all over again in two weeks when we
get to
