Koretsky Savors Driving Kudos, Looks Forward to Running Well at Denver

It’s a sure bet Kenny Koretsky’s opponent in the first round of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals Sunday at Bandimere Speedway will look at him a little differently. But it won’t be just the guy in the other lane; drag racing fans that saw Koretsky’s amazing performance last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway are noticing, too.

Koretsky put on an individual clinic by producing near-perfect reaction times and coming mille-seconds from winning the first NHRA Pro Stock event of his 30-plus year career. “I had a lot of people call to congratulate me Monday and Tuesday,” said Koretsky. “All the responses made me feel good. It was great getting to the finals, but I really want to win a race.”

That’s the goal of Greg Hill’s Indicom Electric/Nitro Fish Chevy Cobalt team this weekend in the oxygen-starved air of Denver.

Koretsky , whose first title round appearance was at Indianapolis in 2004, came within nine inches (0.0024 seconds) of his coveted first race victory in just his second career title round. His final hole-shot of the day – 0.013 to 0.041 – against Jeg Coughlin kept the Richboro, Pa., driver in the lead until the finish line.

Koretsky, who used a 0.001 reaction to upset Greg Anderson in the first round, came back with a 0.033 (his slowest of the day) in a win over Larry Morgan and a 0.006 leave to upset Dave Connolly in the semifinals. “I heard that my total was the best race-day reaction-time average ever. My average was 0.013 and there haven’t been any under .025. That’s pretty impressive.

“We need to get in the field solidly at Denver and then run well on race day.”

Qualifying is scheduled for 4:45 and 7:15 p.m. Friday and 1:15 and 4:15 p.m. Saturday. Final eliminations begin at noon.

Television Schedule:

Saturday, July 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD qualifying highlights, 10 p.m.-midnight, ET
Sunday, July 8, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD final eliminations, 9 p.m.-midnight, ET