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Big smoky burnouts over the startline area is an absolute no-no. The burnout tears the rubber and the compound off the track

WHEN you’ve got a serious race meeting coming up and you need to get 4000hp down your race track, who you gonna call? Kurt Johnson, owner of Total Venue Concepts. Kurt has had an incredible career, including five years with the Schumacher Top Fuel Team, stints as marketing coordinator for the NHRA and director of operations at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana, and he sits on countless US automotive boards. He spends his weekends looking for the perfect right-hand wave, and in his spare time he manages a team of nine, preparing over 80 drag racing tracks throughout the USA. We caught up with him at Willowbank after he worked his magic for this year’s Kenda Radial Riot and sent a bunch of Aussies into the history books.

How did you get into this game?

Well, I suck at racing, but I still wanted to be involved in the sport. I never saw myself owning a company that builds scrapers, draggers, sweepers and track preparation equipment, but life takes its turns.

Track preparation seems to be a dark art, and it’s the main gripe of racers. What does it take to do it right?

The boys got me over to prepare for Radial Riot a week before the event. You need to start by scraping every inch of the track from the start line to the finish line. We get it back to basics and then scrub it with a detergent, as it’s real important to get a great bond with the rubber.

We always see the tractors dragging tyres up and down the track; how does that work?

For this eighth-mile track, we drag tyres for 20 hours in total, and coat the surface with around 16 tyres over that period. You can’t go too heavy; it all needs to be done at a patient speed with new rubber.

After this process you spray the track; how much compound do you typically use?

I prepare each batch of spray. It’s all different and I add different chemicals based on the conditions, track surface and the type of event. The chemical composition of each coating can be changed to achieve the perfect result. For the Kenda meet I used 100 gallons (about 380 litres) in the four days leading up to the event, and then I do touch-ups throughout the event.

What’s the worst thing to do to a radial track surface?

Big smoky burnouts over the startline area is an absolute no-no. The burnout tears the rubber and the compound off the track surface and destroys the startline.

Does rain send the track surface off?

No, a good wash is always good for the track, but excessive heat and moisture over time makes the rubber blister and you lose adhesion.

How do you know the track is good to go? Is it as simple as a boot test?

Well they do make a machine to test the ft-lb suction on the track, but I can just toe it with my boot and know if it’s good to go.

So what are your thoughts on Australian racing, as a first-timer?

I love the place! The weather is great, there are lots of fast cars and everyone is friendly. I just had a bunch of guys I don’t know drag me up into their corporate box and offer me beers. What’s not to love! Tomorrow I will head to the Gold Coast for a surf, then grab a plane back home.