[coverattach=1]POMONA, Prerace: This weekend’s Automobile Club of Southern California Finals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona holds special significance for Artesia, N.M. businessman, Johnny Gray. It will wrap-up his return to NHRA POWERade Drag Racing. Gray came back to the quick, split-second world he loves so well after a four year absence. This time Gray returned as the team owner and driver of the S.K.I. Racing Pro Stock Dodge Stratus.
As with all teams and drivers, Gray started the year filled with great plans and high hopes. And as it also goes, he had a year of ups and downs. He had too many DNQ’s for his liking and some struggles with his car and tune-up. But he enjoyed three semi-final finishes and ran his Pro Stock career best E.T. and mph. And in retrospect, Gray realizes he set himself up for a tough challenge when he started the year but is optimistic that his plans for 2009 will get him to his goal. He has formed an alliance with Allen Johnson for next year and will be part of a two car team.
“We didn’t do near what we thought we would do this year,” Gray said. “I really thought that we had a good shot at being in the top 10. But it was a little tougher than I thought it would be but when things get tough you just have to get tougher and get right in the middle of it.
“We’ve teamed up with Allen Johnson and Mopar for next year. I really feel that with the two car deal and the added knowledge from both cars that both our teams will be better. And I just don’t have any doubts in my mind that we will be in the Countdown to 10 next year.”
But before starting out on his next adventure, Gray wants to complete his season on a positive note. So, after the race in Las Vegas last week, he stayed to test, hoping to find something to help him be successful this weekend.
“Testing on Monday after Vegas went great,” explained Gray. “We think we found where we’ve been amiss with the car. We actually made some changes in the car and it showed us a lot of potential. We didn’t actually run faster on each run but the air got worse and worse all day and we ran just as fast. So, in actuality we did speed up because the air was getting worse. So, we feel pretty good coming into this weekend.
Gray certainly hopes that this chapter of his racing career will end in the winner’s circle.
As with all teams and drivers, Gray started the year filled with great plans and high hopes. And as it also goes, he had a year of ups and downs. He had too many DNQ’s for his liking and some struggles with his car and tune-up. But he enjoyed three semi-final finishes and ran his Pro Stock career best E.T. and mph. And in retrospect, Gray realizes he set himself up for a tough challenge when he started the year but is optimistic that his plans for 2009 will get him to his goal. He has formed an alliance with Allen Johnson for next year and will be part of a two car team.
“We didn’t do near what we thought we would do this year,” Gray said. “I really thought that we had a good shot at being in the top 10. But it was a little tougher than I thought it would be but when things get tough you just have to get tougher and get right in the middle of it.
“We’ve teamed up with Allen Johnson and Mopar for next year. I really feel that with the two car deal and the added knowledge from both cars that both our teams will be better. And I just don’t have any doubts in my mind that we will be in the Countdown to 10 next year.”
But before starting out on his next adventure, Gray wants to complete his season on a positive note. So, after the race in Las Vegas last week, he stayed to test, hoping to find something to help him be successful this weekend.
“Testing on Monday after Vegas went great,” explained Gray. “We think we found where we’ve been amiss with the car. We actually made some changes in the car and it showed us a lot of potential. We didn’t actually run faster on each run but the air got worse and worse all day and we ran just as fast. So, in actuality we did speed up because the air was getting worse. So, we feel pretty good coming into this weekend.
Gray certainly hopes that this chapter of his racing career will end in the winner’s circle.
