Kurt Johnson's first-round loss to Pro Stock rival Jeg Coughlin Jr. at Sunday's
SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals certainly had its share of
unpredictable drama, even though the eventual outcome was not what the
ACDelco driver would have liked. Especially on a weekend when the
black-and blue crew continued to make substantial gains on their Chevy
Cobalt with each pass down the race track.
Tree malfunctions cost almost 90 minutes of Friday’s qualifying in Las
Vegas. A rubber malfunction in the first round of Pro Stock almost cost
Kurt Johnson a disqualification.
KJ was pre-staged and then his side of the tree went dark.
"To be honest, I thought I had completely lost my mind," Johnson said.
"I rolled in, lit the top bulb, and Jeggie was pre-staged, and he went
in. I rolled through there, and before I knew it, my top bulb was out.
There were no lights on whatsoever. It's like, did I miss the second
bulb coming on and roll right through? I gave it a bump, enough for it
to come on. I took a bite out of it, and probably rolled six or eight
inches, and nothing came on, so I stopped, because you're being timed
on the seven-second rule to be red-lighted. I said to myself, 'All
right, we'll take another bite at,' and then the top bulb went out."