Gray makes second best qualifying of season but falls short on Sunday
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_gray.jpg" alt="j_gray" align="right"borders="0"/>
Memphis, Sunday: It was a beautiful early fall weekend in Memphis for the 21st running of the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals and Johnny Gray took advantage of the great weather to continue the development of the performance of his Dodge Stratus Pro Stock. Gray qualified No. 10, which was his second best qualifying effort of the year. The competitive Gray was pleased with this but would have liked his Sunday to last longer.
Gray had three good qualifying attempts. His first run was a 6.667 at 206.39 mph. His best effort came on Friday night when he ran 6.632 at 207.18. On Saturday, his first run was 6.666 at 206.35 and on his last attempt he chattered the tires and coasted to an 11.261 at 77.39 mph. So, it was his Friday night pass that put him in the tenth spot.
“Our qualifying went pretty good,” said Gray. “The car certainly is consistent but we’d like it to be quicker consistent. However, we learned some things and that always helps.”
In the first-round of eliminations, Gray faced the eventual race winner, Mike Edwards. Again Gray’s Stratus looked to be consistent and ran 6.671 at 207.27, but encountered some trouble and didn’t have enough against Edwards’ 6.634f at 207.11 mph.
“We were a little too aggressive on that run and it spun the tire at the hit,” explained Gray. “But we knew we had to be because we knew Mike was going to be tough. And we we’re right because he won the race. My hat goes off to him for his win.
“But in retrospect it wasn’t a bad weekend for us. So, I think we’re ready to take this thing out and give it a whirl again.”
The next stop on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour is the Virginia Nationals, October 10 – 12 at Virginia Motorsports Park.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_gray.jpg" alt="j_gray" align="right"borders="0"/>
Memphis, Sunday: It was a beautiful early fall weekend in Memphis for the 21st running of the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals and Johnny Gray took advantage of the great weather to continue the development of the performance of his Dodge Stratus Pro Stock. Gray qualified No. 10, which was his second best qualifying effort of the year. The competitive Gray was pleased with this but would have liked his Sunday to last longer.
Gray had three good qualifying attempts. His first run was a 6.667 at 206.39 mph. His best effort came on Friday night when he ran 6.632 at 207.18. On Saturday, his first run was 6.666 at 206.35 and on his last attempt he chattered the tires and coasted to an 11.261 at 77.39 mph. So, it was his Friday night pass that put him in the tenth spot.
“Our qualifying went pretty good,” said Gray. “The car certainly is consistent but we’d like it to be quicker consistent. However, we learned some things and that always helps.”
In the first-round of eliminations, Gray faced the eventual race winner, Mike Edwards. Again Gray’s Stratus looked to be consistent and ran 6.671 at 207.27, but encountered some trouble and didn’t have enough against Edwards’ 6.634f at 207.11 mph.
“We were a little too aggressive on that run and it spun the tire at the hit,” explained Gray. “But we knew we had to be because we knew Mike was going to be tough. And we we’re right because he won the race. My hat goes off to him for his win.
“But in retrospect it wasn’t a bad weekend for us. So, I think we’re ready to take this thing out and give it a whirl again.”
The next stop on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour is the Virginia Nationals, October 10 – 12 at Virginia Motorsports Park.
