DSR's Gray and Big O Tires Dodge get second pole to lead Funny Cars into Arizona Nationals eliminations

February 18

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 18, 2012) - Johnny Gray and crew chief Rob Wendland produced a stellar run on Friday that no one came close beating the following day to give Gray the second pole of his NHRA pro career.

The 58-year-old Gray, a native of Artesia, N.M., recorded a time of 4.074 seconds at 298.93 mph and will face No. 16 qualifier Grant Downing in Sunday's first round of eliminations in the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix

The DSR team rebounded from last weekend's opening event of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series when a part failure led to a first-round loss at Pomona, Calif.

"We had a problem and we fixed it. That won't happen again," Gray said. "Our crew works hard and that's how we're the No. 1 qualifier.

"These Nitro Funny Cars are very mechanical. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. There are more ways to lose a drag race than there are to win one."

In Pro Stock, Gray's son Shane Gray qualified 13th in the Big O Tires/Service Central entry owned by Gray Motorsports.

Championship eliminations begin 11 a.m. Sunday.

FUNNY CAR

Johnny Gray, Big O Tires/Service Central Dodge Charger R/T

Qualifying position: No. 1

Sunday's first-round opponent: Grant Dowing

Qualifying

Friday

Session 1: 4.167 sec., 296.50 mph

Session 2: 4.074, 298.93

Saturday

Session 3: 5.950, 111.12

Session 4: 4.127, 301.07

No. 1 qualifier: Gray

SCHEDULE:

Sunday: Pro eliminations, 11 a.m.

WEATHER.COM FORECAST:

Sunday: High of 69, partly cloudy, 0 percent chance of rain

ON ESPN2

Saturday qualifying: 8-10  p.m. (ET),  5-7 p.m. (PT)

Sunday eliminations: 7 p.m.-midnight (ET), 6-9 p.m. (PT) 

About Service Central

Service Central® is the automotive service offered exclusively at Tire Kingdom®, NTB-National Tire and Battery®, Merchant's Tire and Auto®, and Big O Tires®. Available at more than 1,300 locations, the certified ASE technicians use state-of-the art equipment to provide quality service.

About Don Schumacher Racing

Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 175 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.