This weekend, the NHRA will stage its first event in the new $60 million facility built at Lowe’s Motorspeedway in Concord, N.C.
Called the CAROLINA NATIONALS, the inagural event kicks off with qualifying rounds beginning Friday.
The new track has 4 lanes for competition, a first of its kind. For this event, only two lanes will be used. The second set of lanes may one day be implemented to allow competition to continue in the secondary lanes after an oil down or other incident that may delay action.
Kurt and Warren Johnson were among 4 pro stock teams that tested at the track Thursday. KJ set the fastest time during the test at 6.680 @ 206.35 mph. Warren ran 6.685 @ 207.43, both had high praise for the new track.
“This is absolutely the best facility I have ever raced at in my career,” stated the younger Johnson. “Since no one had really gone down this track before, we came here today expecting to only make eighth-mile runs. However, our ACDelco Cobalt was able to go to the finish line four times with no problems whatsoever, showing that a lot of people paid attention when building this new track. This is a huge addition to our sport, and I can’t wait to come back next weekend and race.”
“There is no doubt that this is a tremendous facility,” added WJ. “The track didn’t have a whole lot of rubber on it, and yet it held everything that our GM Performance Parts GXP, as well as every other team, put out there, and it is only going to get better from here. In addition, the shutdown area here is smoother than the racing surfaces at many of the other tracks we run on during the year. All in all, considering how quickly this project was completed, you’d have to say they did a bang-up job. This promises to be a great race.”
During the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis last weekend, John Force had this to say;
“When I see ol’ Bruton,” drag racing legend John Force said, “I am going to kiss him on the lips.”
“I sent my own guys down there to take pictures,” Force said at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. “I didn’t want to listen to the rumors or look at things on the Internet. I wanted to see it.
“My guys came back with the pictures and said, ‘Man! Look at this!’ (NHRA president Tom) Compton called me from down there and said, ‘I have to give Bruton credit. This thing down here makes you want to cry.’ ”
To O.Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. a tip of the ol’ racing cap. Lets hope it is a successful and safe weekend for the Carolina nationals.
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