MECHANICAL ISSUE ENDS JOHNNY GRAY’S RETURN

TO FUNNY CAR COMPETITION AT NHRA WINTERNATOINALS

A mechanical failure ended Johnny Gray’s debut race today in the Service Central Racing® Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing during the first round of the NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline.

According to the 57-year-old veteran driver, returning to Funny Car after a five-year hiatus, a solid weekend ended up stopped by a simple problem.

“A mechanical issue – a hose popping off the air system – about a third of the way down the track ended our return to Funny Car competition,” said the Artesia, N.M. resident. “We lost the first round race against Jeff Arend, but we know what the problem is and we’ll just get ready for Gainesville.”

The missing hose, which affected the car’s overall operation, resulted in an 8.512-second/79.41-mile-per-hour pass, not good enough to catch Jeff Arend’s 4.331/235.39.

“Taking all of our runs starting Thursday, we had a good weekend,” Gray said. “Of course, we wanted to do better, and considering how good the Service Central Dodge Lee [Beard, crew chief] and his guys prepared, we expected to.

He led the field after the first two rounds of qualifying on the strength of 4.049/311.20 and 4.079/306.33 rounds, getting nudged off the pole by Cruz Pedregon’s near-record 4.015.

“But this is nitro racing and anything can happen on any run,” he added.

Gray plans on a better performance at the next stop on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, March 10-13, at the 42nd annual Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

“This is an important race, because it is our title event,” explained Gray. “Service Central® is the automotive service offered exclusively at Tire Kingdom® stores, where the certified ASE technicians use state-of-the art equipment to provide quality service.”