The Secret to Kurt Johnson's Success

An old and accepted adage in NHRA championship drag racing says that to win a national event you must first qualify. But before Kurt Johnson can make even one qualifying attempt down the track, the transporter hauling his ACDelco Chevrolet must arrive there, safe, secure, and ready to operate as a rolling race shop as soon as it enters the gates. That's where Bobby Wunderlich, a crew member on Johnson's ACDelco team comes into play.

For the past three years, Wunderlich and crew chief Justin Belfance (and on occasion, crew member Mike Smith), have shared the oft-overlooked, yet extremely important task of driving the ACDelco Racing team hauler to each national event. The ACDelco transporter, in addition to its primary function of carrying Kurt Johnson' Pro Stock Chevy Cobalt to and from each venue, is an 18-wheel, high-performance garage that functions as the team's on-site race shop. Getting this million-dollar unit (and everything in it) to the track, and back home again, is understandably a job Wunderlich takes very seriously.

"It's a big responsibility," Wunderlich said. "I know when I first started I was pretty nervous. It's such a big truck, longer than most, heavier than a lot, with a lot of parts and pieces. It's pretty much our livelihood we're running down the road with, so you want to avoid any major problems."

Planning and preparation are key to getting the ACDelco race transporter ready for a national event, and Wunderlich completes a methodical pre-trip regimen by checking every aspect of the tractor and trailer to make sure the unit is ready to roll out of the team's race shop in Sugar Hill, Ga., and down I-85. That inspection includes, but is not limited to, a thorough examination of belts, hoses, fluid levels, batteries, tires, brakes, generators, hydraulics, and then making any repairs needed.

"We don't want to get stuck on the road," Wunderlich said. "If we have a problem, we want to find it here at the shop; once we leave, we don't have time to turn around and come back if something's not on there, or if there's something wrong with the truck."

There's also an extensive stock list of items, parts, pieces and components that need to be securely stowed on the trailer so that the team can function normally while on site at a race.

"When we leave Sugar Hill, everything we need has to be on that truck," Wunderlich said. "For the Western Swing, we may ship some stuff in and out if we need it, but not too much. We try to have everything already stored away to save on shipping costs.

"Some weekends we'll go through a lot of stuff and some weekends we won't. But still, before we leave the shop, I'll go through the truck and trailer, and restock it with everything we're going to need."

With the NHRA schedule so tight, and with many events occurring on back-to-back weekends, any stretch of days or hours spent at the team's Georgia headquarters is a premium commodity. Wunderlich has to balance time spent at the shop with the necessary transit time needed to reach a destination.

"We like to maximize all of our time at the shop," Wunderlich said. "There are circumstances when we have to leave on a Monday or Tuesday, but if it's a short drive up to Bristol, we'll leave Thursday afternoon. If it's a long drive out West, we'll have to leave a few days earlier. We try to add a little buffer time in there just in case we blow a tire, or have something go wrong, but we balance that with trying to spend as much time at the race shop as possible -- one more pull on the dyno, or one more part made that we might be able to use at the next race."

While at the racetrack, Wunderlich's other responsibilities include oversight on the back-half of the ACDelco Chevrolet, and that includes the tires, the four-link and rear end, all the hardware underneath the racecar, packing the parachutes, and any other changes driver and team owner Kurt Johnson deems necessary. And while the transporter is trackside, a continuous to-do list is kept on items that will need to be replaced or fixed when the truck gets back to Sugar Hill. When the race is completed, hopefully late on a Sunday night after a win, the team then begins the arduous process of loading the transporter for its next trip down the highway.

"As the weekend goes on during a race, if we see any parts or pieces that need attention we'll make a note of it," Wunderlich said. "After the race, we'll look over the truck, start putting things away, and get it cleaned up so that when we're going down the road, nothing moves. We try to get everything organized, packed away and ready on Sunday night, so that Monday morning, after a good night's rest, we can start for our next destination."

When the truck arrives back at the shop after a race, the crew springs to action and begins the execution of another long checklist of procedures, all geared toward getting the racecar and hauler ready for the next event.

"Typically, when we get back from a race, we bring the car in and scale it, go over our notes from the weekend and then pretty much take the whole car apart. We want to check for anything wrong, look over the car completely to make sure nothing is broken, cracked, coming apart, anything that may be wrong. All the parts and pieces come off, the rear gear comes out, the transmission comes out, the clutch comes out, the motor comes out, everything is checked to make sure there aren't any problems. That way we don't run into one later.

"Then we build a to-do list that we'll use to get ready for the next race, prioritize it, and make any changes that Kurt feels needs to be done. If there's nothing too big on the agenda, then we might have a solid three days of working on standard stuff. We can usually get the car apart in an hour or two, and the whole process can be done in day, but if we have the time, we like to take longer and give it a really good going over."

Wunderlich, who is from Cape Girardeau, Mo., got his CDL to operate a tractor-trailer unit after graduating, first from Wyotech (Wyo.), and then from the School of Automotive Machinists (SAM) in Houston. Wunderlich's been with the ACDelco team for three seasons now, and depending on tests sessions and the NHRA schedule, he says the transporter can travel anywhere from 35,000 to 40,000 miles each year.

"It truly is a rolling raceshop," Wunderlich said. "We can do pretty much everything out of the trailer short of major machining. All precision machining, complete assembly and dyno work is done at Sugar Hill.

"It's a lot of work, but it's exciting and an opportunity to learn from the best. Everyone on this team is ready to do whatever needs to be done and that's pretty much everything here. That way, if necessary, a person can step in and do a job, maybe not as well, but at least enough to help out."

And of all the miles Wunderlich's traveled, what is this road warrior's favorite stretch of highway?

"The last 15 miles of I-85, just before we get home."