Sonoma ideal setting for Shane Gray and Big O Tires Service Central Camaro to continue upward climb

The famed Western Swing can be a strenuous stretch of road for competitors on the Full Throttle Series tour with three races back-to-back-to-back and just a few days in between for travel and recuperation, but as the Full Throttle Series tour arrives in the picturesque wine country of California for the 25th annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Shane Gray and the Gray Motorsports team are nothing but revived and ready.

"You know, we went up there to Bandimere Speedway last week with a brand new motor combination in our Big O Tires/Service Central Camaro, and she really came around," said Denver, N.C.-based Gray, who steadily increased the pace throughout the weekend despite the thin air and blazing heat. 

"The Mile-High Nationals were like a fresh start for us, and when you see your efforts producing results, it's just a great feeling. We're excited to get to Sonoma and see if we can keep that ball rolling. If we could make gains at a high-altitude racetrack, we should have a good chance of making progress at sea level."

In 2010, his first year racing in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock category, Gray excelled on raceday in Sonoma. He opened his eliminations bid with a well-played holeshot win over his own father, current Funny Car pilot Johnny Gray, and in the second round he got past a troubled Mike Edwards, who was aiming to defend the 2009 Pro Stock world championship.

So far this season, Gray has come exceptionally close to the final round on two separate occasions; he was a semifinalist in both Topeka (at the NHRA SummerNationals) and Norwalk (at the Summit Racing NHRA Nationals), and the third-year Pro Stock driver is currently eighth in the series points.

"We've had some good fortune in Sonoma, and boy, it's sure a pretty place to get to race," said Gray. "We would love to use that beautiful facility as a backdrop for our first final round of the season – or maybe even go one better. With the way our Big O Tires/Service Central Camaro has been responding, that just may be a possibility."

Shane Gray laying groundwork for favorable future in NTB Service Central Camaro

The first step is always the most difficult, but two weeks ago at Bristol Dragway, Pro Stock driver Shane Gray rose to the challenge and debuted the much-talked about NTB/Service Central Chevy Camaro. In their first outing with the brand new car, the Gray Motorsports team earned a qualifying position and a raceday start. This weekend, at the 15th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals held just outside Chicago at Joliet’s Route 66 Raceway, Gray and company will be adding a few more bricks to the structure that promises a very bright future.

Second-generation driver Gray is pleased with the direction of the program, especially with so few runs on their new car. Of course, they had hoped to go a few more rounds and qualify a bit higher at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, and with that thought in mind the team followed what has become a normal routine and headed right back out for a test session the week after the event. They were pleasantly surprised to be one of the top performing cars on site.

“Well, we tested well – but we always do well when we test,” said Gray. “Since then, we’ve been working away at the shop, and we will continue to dig. What we need to be able to do is race a little bit better, and that is our goal. 

“I’m not the type of guy to get really excited, but I am most certainly optimistic about the future of this team and the NTB/Service Central Camaro. We see a glimmer out there on the horizon, and we’re going after it.”

The highlight of the 2012 season thus far was a semifinals performance at the Topeka Summernationals, and Gray would like to go one or two steps further at Route 66 Raceway, where he was the No. 4 qualifier and finished in the semifinals last year. Currently ninth in the Full Throttle Series standings, the driver who has finished in the top 10 in each of his first two years as a professional Pro Stock competitor is seeking valuable points at the Chicago-area event to further solidify his berth and earn a chance at racing for the championship.

“It’s difficult for me to compare last year to this year, but we have done well there in Joliet in the past,” said Gray. “We have a different car and a different engine combination; everything is different now, but we’re going to see if we can use all that we have available to use and make more progress toward our goals.”

BRISTOL IS A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR THE GRAY FAMILY

The Gray family is the perfect example of Nitro Generation. Dad Johnny is coming off his first win of the season at the Toyota NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J., son Shane is debuting a new Chevy Camaro at the 15th annual Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers at Bristol Dragway this weekend, and youngest son Jonathan will compete in Comp in Bristol, his fourth national event this year. Johnny is ecstatic to spend Father’s Day racing with his boys: “Of course, we’d like to turn around and double up with a win in Bristol in our NTB/Service Central Dodge, and I’d sure like to see Shane and Jonathan do well, but what’s really special is having the family all together. Jonathan and his family weren’t able to make it to Englishtown, but we’ll all be reunited in Bristol, and I’m really looking forward to that. Not every guy is as fortunate as I am to have their kids all together doing what we love to do.”

Shane Gray drives NTB Service Central Pontiac back into the top 10 in series standings in Topeka

Heartland Park Topeka has something that Gray Motorsports driver Shane Gray and his NTB/Service Central Pontiac GXP just seem to love. Last year, the Denver, N.C.-based racer won the event in just his second season competing in the exceptionally competitive Pro Stock category, and at this weekend’s Dollar General NHRA Summernationals, Gray made up a lot of ground in the Full Throttle Series standings as he accumulated round wins and stopped just one short of the final.

Gray qualified his NTB/Service Central Pontiac GXP in the lucky No. 13 position with a 6.673 at 205.38 mph and was paired with No. 4 man Mike Edwards, a former world champion and quite a tough draw, in the first round of eliminations.

The Service Central Racing-backed driver did his job on the starting line and launched ahead of his competitor, .035 to .054, and his well-prepared Pontiac pulled its fair share of the weight the rest of the way down the quarter-mile racetrack to post the team’s best time of the weekend: a 6.596 at 208.94 mph to Edward’s 6.579, 209.65. The triumph would officially be recorded as a holeshot win.

The excitement of winning the round was somewhat foreshadowed by the realization that something had gone wrong in the engine compartment – and the team thrashed brutally to replace the bullet and make an extremely tight turnaround time.

Infused with adrenaline, they made the call for round two, where the battle was again won at the starting line when Erica Enders was out of the gate .003-second too soon and illuminated the red light. A little of that Topeka luck Gray had been hoping for fell his way in their meeting; he was uncharacteristically a bit tardy to launch and recorded a .078 reaction time.

He was back on his game in the semifinals, however, where the stage was set for a fight to the finish line with No. 1 qualifier Allen Johnson. Although Gray beat his challenger in reaction time, .028 to .036, Johnson was simply quicker to the last timer on the track for a 6.590 to 6.648 win.

“This is a heck of a lot better,” said Gray. “We surprised ourselves there that first round, but we were obviously very happy with the outcome. Then we got our lucky round against Erica. I did a horrible job driving, and we did not do a good job with the car – but every squirrel eventually finds a nut. That time, I was the squirrel that got the nut.”

It was a standout weekend after weeks of fruitless efforts for Gray and company, and their success in Topeka equated to a serious rise in the standings. Gray entered the event just outside the top 10 and jumped from 11th to 8th by Sunday afternoon.

“I’m getting my confidence back. The confidence comes with going rounds, and it’s been a while,” he said. “This weekend was really good for the morale of the Service Central team. Last year, we took the confidence that we gained here right on through to Englishtown, where we were the No. 2 qualifier. Hopefully, we can do something like that again.”