POMONA, Friday: After two qualifying sessions at the 50th annual NHRA Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Johnny Gray has a positive outlook for his Gray Motorsports Pro Stock.
On yesterday’s qualifying attempt, Gray had extreme tire shake when he hit the throttle, which ruined the run, but he managed to squeak out a 9.483 at 163.57 mph. Today’s attempt turned out much better for Gray. The beautiful Pontiac GXP left the line the way it’s suppose and made it straight down the track. He posted a 6.681 at 208.14 mph. Although this was a great improvement, it was not enough to get him in the show.
“We had some severe carburetor issues yesterday,” explained Gray, “we think a float was stuck. We got them all cleaned up for today. And, then the car was way too aggressive, blew the tires off in low gear, and continued spinning them in second. At least now, we have something to work with. So we’ll try and get it figured out for tomorrow and see if we can make a decent run.
“But all in all, for where we were three months ago to where we are now, knock on wood, we have a couple motors that still have the rods in them. And that’s all good. So, we’ll go out tomorrow and see if we can sneak into the show and if we do, I’d say we knocked a home run.”
Tomorrow, Gray will have two more chances to qualify and if he does, he will be in the program and get to play on Sunday.
On yesterday’s qualifying attempt, Gray had extreme tire shake when he hit the throttle, which ruined the run, but he managed to squeak out a 9.483 at 163.57 mph. Today’s attempt turned out much better for Gray. The beautiful Pontiac GXP left the line the way it’s suppose and made it straight down the track. He posted a 6.681 at 208.14 mph. Although this was a great improvement, it was not enough to get him in the show.
“We had some severe carburetor issues yesterday,” explained Gray, “we think a float was stuck. We got them all cleaned up for today. And, then the car was way too aggressive, blew the tires off in low gear, and continued spinning them in second. At least now, we have something to work with. So we’ll try and get it figured out for tomorrow and see if we can make a decent run.
“But all in all, for where we were three months ago to where we are now, knock on wood, we have a couple motors that still have the rods in them. And that’s all good. So, we’ll go out tomorrow and see if we can sneak into the show and if we do, I’d say we knocked a home run.”
Tomorrow, Gray will have two more chances to qualify and if he does, he will be in the program and get to play on Sunday.
