POMONA, Prerace: The off-season is a very busy time for all the teams. There are cars to prep, parts to be stocked, items to be certified, uniforms to be designed and the list goes on. For Pro stock racer and team owner, Johnny Gray, this usual routine was the easiest part of his off time.
With his oldest son and newly licensed Pro Stock driver, Shane, by his side the New Mexico businessman took on a massive task. Gray expanded to a two-car team, moved his Gray Motorsports race headquarters to Denver, N.C., took delivery of two beautiful new Jerry Haas Pontiac GXP’s and the toughest feat of all, began his own engine program.
With this huge undertaking put into play, Gray is ready to begin an exciting new chapter at the 50th annual NHRA Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. And to prepare for the new season, the father and son duo spent several days at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway getting Shane licensed and testing their new equipment.
“We’re very pleased with the new Jerry Haas cars we have,” explained Gray. “We we’re working out issues and tried different set-ups on Shane’s car than on mine. In the beginning it appeared that we had the better set-up on his car so we started changing mine over closer to his, but still tried some different directions and some different things.
“Because we were behind the eight ball in testing we were throwing everything we had at them trying to find somewhere they were happy and where we think we can adjust from to actually race in Pomona. We plan to run them pretty close to the same in Pomona. We’re going to turn them loose and run them out the other end of the track and see if we’ve got any power. And right now we’re cautiously optimistic that if we can make decent runs, we can get both cars in the field.”
There is another important thing that Gray is pleased with, and that is how well his son did during testing.
“Shane is doing a real good job,” Gray said with a smile. “I’m real proud of him. He’s driving the car well and he’s paying attention to what everybody is telling him. It’s an awful lot for someone that’s never done this, to absorb, especially in a short period of time. We really weren’t fair to him. Over the winter we planned to do a lot of testing and having a lot of laps under his belt before we took him to a national event. But he’ll handle it fine, I don’t have any qualms with it. He will be just fine.
“I’m looking forward to this year. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us and we have a lot to learn but the best part will be getting out there and running as a family organization and having some fun.”
With his oldest son and newly licensed Pro Stock driver, Shane, by his side the New Mexico businessman took on a massive task. Gray expanded to a two-car team, moved his Gray Motorsports race headquarters to Denver, N.C., took delivery of two beautiful new Jerry Haas Pontiac GXP’s and the toughest feat of all, began his own engine program.
With this huge undertaking put into play, Gray is ready to begin an exciting new chapter at the 50th annual NHRA Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. And to prepare for the new season, the father and son duo spent several days at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway getting Shane licensed and testing their new equipment.
“We’re very pleased with the new Jerry Haas cars we have,” explained Gray. “We we’re working out issues and tried different set-ups on Shane’s car than on mine. In the beginning it appeared that we had the better set-up on his car so we started changing mine over closer to his, but still tried some different directions and some different things.
“Because we were behind the eight ball in testing we were throwing everything we had at them trying to find somewhere they were happy and where we think we can adjust from to actually race in Pomona. We plan to run them pretty close to the same in Pomona. We’re going to turn them loose and run them out the other end of the track and see if we’ve got any power. And right now we’re cautiously optimistic that if we can make decent runs, we can get both cars in the field.”
There is another important thing that Gray is pleased with, and that is how well his son did during testing.
“Shane is doing a real good job,” Gray said with a smile. “I’m real proud of him. He’s driving the car well and he’s paying attention to what everybody is telling him. It’s an awful lot for someone that’s never done this, to absorb, especially in a short period of time. We really weren’t fair to him. Over the winter we planned to do a lot of testing and having a lot of laps under his belt before we took him to a national event. But he’ll handle it fine, I don’t have any qualms with it. He will be just fine.
“I’m looking forward to this year. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us and we have a lot to learn but the best part will be getting out there and running as a family organization and having some fun.”
