Veteran Pro Stock driver Kurt Johnson came into today's 21st annual NHRA Summer Nationals qualified
in the No. 7 position and confident that his ACDelco Chevrolet could advance late into the day on
Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka. A first-round loss to his dad Warren derailed the race-day hopes
of the younger Johnson and now has him looking ahead to next weekend's Windy City contest at Route
66 Raceway.
"We're making gains but we didn't have the performance this morning that we needed," Johnson. "The
track actually picked up and we were too conservative. We could have gotten after it a little bit,
but we shook and ran 6.76. We're ready to move onto Chicago."
With today's early exit, Johnson leaves Heartland Park Topeka in eighth place in the Pro Stock
standings. He will have to wait only five days to get back into his ACDelco Chevrolet to begin
qualifying for the 12th annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill. Johnson
is the defending champion and a three-time winner of the event (2003, '06 and '08).
"We're going to have to regroup. Our combination was completely different this weekend from what we
normally run, and that's from trying to adapt to this racetrack. Going to Chicago, we know we can
get back to basics, put this ACDelco Chevrolet through the goalposts and be pretty darn fast.
Seeing that we're defending champions at Route 66 Raceway, we can look over our notes and hopefully
repeat."
The 12TH annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals on June 4 - 7 at Route 66 Raceway in
Joliet, Ill., is the 10th race on the 24-event NHRA Full Throttle Series tour.
