Welcome to
Shane Gray done in the desert and ready to go testing PHOENIX, Sunday: It was another rain-plagued day of racing at the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Raceway. A few rounds were completed before the action was halted and scheduled to finish tomorrow. First-round of Pro Stock was run and the outcome was not good for Shane Gray in his beautiful new Tire Kingdom Pontiac GXP. Gray went against Ron Krisher for the second race in a row. Last week Gray got the win light. This week his 6.697 wasn’t enough against Krisher’s 6.619. But Gray’s demise wasn’t just his race car; it also was the racing surface. He experienced a rough ride and posted his slowest time of the weekend. “The left lane here is horrible,” expressed Gray. “If you’re in the left lane, you’re done. They wrecked two Pro Stock cars in the left lane. And to make a long story short, we were in the left lane. The car shook in low gear and it made it through low gear but when I put it in fourth gear, it spun the tires. Then when I put it in high gear, it was all over the track. So, we slowed to a .69 and we lost. “But we made it down that lane, we’re safe and nothing is tore up. Now we’ll go to the shop and regroup and get ready for some heavy duty testing before the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals.” Shane Gray makes the show again PHOENIX, Saturday: Due to rain in the desert, there were only three qualifying sessions at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Raceway but Shane Gray was still able to get his Tire Kingdom Pro Stock Pontiac GXP into the show. After making three strong runs, Gray qualified in the No. 15 position. In qualifying, Gray had a consistent car posting a 6.681 at 206.54 mph, a 6.683 at 207.11 and a 6.668 at 206.86 mph. But in typical racer fashion, Gray would like his car to be quicker. “We are down on power,” stated Gray, “and we are crutched because of the lack of testing and the lack of knowledge on the car. We still don’t have it to where it will go from the starting line to the 330-foot mark. We need more testing; we need more power, just a few little things like that. “This weekend is kind of special to me, my wife and boys are here with me and I always enjoy having them at the track. I do feel bad that my dad didn’t make it in. We made it by the skin of our teeth so I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring. “The support I am receiving is great,” continued Gray. “We put our new sponsor’s decals on the car today and that was exciting. I want to thank the Tire Kingdom people for believing in us and putting their efforts into our program. So, I encourage everybody to buy their tires at Tire Kingdom.” For the second week in a row, Gray will face Ron Krisher in the first-round. Last week Gray emerged from the match-up as the victor. He hopes it can happen again tomorrow. “I don’t think our odds against Ron are as good as last week,” said Gray. “His car is definitely faster than mine and we’ll just have to see what happens. If we get by him again it will be another gift from the gods.” PHOENIX, Saturday: Rain in the desert today cut qualifying down to only one session and Johnny Gray would have liked that lost chance to get his NTB Pro Stock Pontiac into the show at the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals Firebird Raceway. Instead, he will have to be a spectator tomorrow. Gray made three good runs this weekend but they weren’t good enough against the tough competition. He ran a 6.701 at 206.29 mph, a 6.733 at 206.20 and a 6.684 at 206.04 mph. But at the day’s end, he found himself on the outside looking in. “It’s kind of a double edged sword,” said Gray. “We’re thrilled to death to have NTB on the side of our car and Tire Kingdom on Shane’s car. It seems like a lot of people are excited about it and are sending in notes to the corporate office saying they are going to buy their tires because they are supporting us and the NHRA. So we’re real excited about the sponsorship deal, I just hate to let them down by not qualifying. “We’ve really been struggling with the chassis on my car for some reason. It wants to shake every run. So we will leave here, let the guys get a little bit of rest and a week from Monday we’ll be somewhere testing. We will have this car lined out before we get to Gainesville. We’ve just got to look forward and keep going. The guys at the shop are doing their best to build us power. We’ve got more power than we’re actually showing. We’re not utilizing it real well. I’m still a firm believer that by the middle of the season we will be a definite force to be reckoned with and I think everyone at NTB, Tire Kingdom, Big O Tires, Merchants Tire and Service Central will be proud to have us on their car.” The Tire Kingdom Gatornationals is two weeks away. Gray is determined to show marked improvement when he rolls up to the starting line at Gainesville Raceway.
Gray determined to make new sponsor proud
Shane Gray knows practice makes perfect
PHOENIX, Prerace: Now that his first race as a Pro Stock driver jitters are over, Shane Gray wants to be a more accomplished driver. And with the exciting news of a major sponsor joining the team, Gray does not want to carry a “student driver” sign on his new Tire Kingdom Pontiac GXP. So, he spent the past few days testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The test session was designed for Gray to make 330-foot passes and to practice his starting line procedure. The team knows the car can make it down the track; they just needed to adjust the launch. It’s the rookie driver that needed more seat time before this weekend’s Arizona Nationals at Firebird Raceway.
“We tested for a couple of days in Vegas,” stated Gray, “so hopefully I will be more prepared in Phoenix than I was in Pomona. We worked on getting the car to leave the line in a more efficient manner. And I certainly needed more laps in the car because I was struggling on the tree.
“I’m feeling better now after making a bunch of laps. Now we just have to wait and see what we can do on Friday and Saturday, so maybe we’ll be racing again on Sunday.”
The 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, February 19-21 is the second stop on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing tour
