Firebird makes bad impression on Gray’s Dodge after veteran driver kisses guardwall for first time

February 19

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 19, 2012) - Johnny Gray did all he could to get his Big O Tires/Service Central Funny Car to connect to the tricky, hot dragstrip at Firebird International Raceway.

And the Dodge Charger R/T body has the marks to prove it.

Gray earned the No. 1 qualifying position for the NHRA Arizona Nationals at the track near Phoenix and won his first round matchup with a run of 4.084 seconds, which was the second quickest among the 16 cars in the round.

But as the track warmed and combined with a few oil downs, the equation became more confusing than a trigonometry problem.

In the second round against event winner Robert Hight, Gray lost traction early and then Hight also began to spin his rear racing slicks. Each driver feathered the throttle and Gray grazed the guardwall trying to wrestle control of his Dodge.

"We don't really know what happened," Gray said. "We did the burn out and started backing up and the car was really aggressive backing up. It was like one of the clutch discs was a lot more aggressive in the clutch pack. I was really concerned about it and then when I hit the throttle it took off and blew the tires off.

"I tried to stab it and go and I saw Robert strike the tires so I tried to go. The car darted straight towards the wall and I tried to turn it away and it didn't want to turn away so I had no choice but to stab the throttle. I could either hit the wall with the front or the back and I chose the back. So I tagged the wall. It's pretty upsetting for me. I've been driving for 40 years and that's the first time I've ever touched the wall."

ARIZONA NATIONALS RESULTS FOR DSR TEAMS
FUNNY CAR
Johnny Gray, Big O Tires/Service Central Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 1
Round 1: GRAY (4.0484 sec., 310.34 mph) def. Grant Downing (4.422, 217.28)
Round 2: Robert Hight (4.613, 241.97) def. GRAY (no time, disqualified for hitting wall)

Ron Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 10
Round 1: CAPPS (4.162 sec., 301.13 mph) def. Cruz Pedregon (4.210, 274.33)
Round 2: Mike Neff (4.264, 246.75) def. CAPPS (7.000, 90.68)

Jack Beckman, Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 6
Round 1: BECKMAN (4.090 sec., 308.57 mph) def. Tony Pedregon (4.179, 304.83)
Round 2: BECKMAN (4.172, 282.24) def. Jeff Arend (4.322, 294.43)
Semifinals: Mike Neff (
4.099 306.74) def. BECKMAN (4.129 301.60)
Event winner: Robert Hight

Matt Hagan, Aaron's Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 4
Round 1: Todd Lesenko (4.264 sec., 266.79 mph) def. HAGAN (4.325, 293.92)

NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING STANDINGS
(Through Phoenix; 2nd of 23 national events)

FUNNY CAR
1. Mike Neff, 196
2. Robert Hight, 154
3. John Force, 150
4. JACK BECKMAN, 137
5. RON CAPPS, 125
6. Courtney Force, 124
7. Todd Lesenko, 102
8. JOHNNY GRAY, 99
9. Jeff Arend, 84
10. Gary Densham, 83
11. MATT HAGAN, 74


TOP FUEL
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualified: No. 5
Round 1: BROWN def. (3.796 sec., 320.36 mph) def. Terry McMillen (3.857, 313.73)
Round 2: BROWN def. (3.888, 287.47) def. (3.987, 262.74)
Semifinals: BROWN (3.832, 313.51) def. Shawn Langdon (6.072, 106.18)
Final: BROWN (3.793 sec., 319.82 mph) def. Tony Schumacher (3.813, 318.17)
Event winner: Antron Brown

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster
Qualified: No. 2
Round 1: SCHUMACHER (3.770 sec., 323.12 mph) def. Mark Strasburg (4.217, 208.91)
Round 2: SCHUMACHER (3.819, 315.12) def. Doug Kalitta (3.856, 307.65)
Semifinals: SCHUMACHER (3.819, 315.12) def. Clay Millican (8.924, 83.46)
Final: Antron Brown (3.793 sec., 319.82 mph) def. SCHUMACHER (3.813, 318.17

Spencer Massey, Prestone/FRAM dragster
Qualified: No. 4
Round 1: MASSEY (3.769 sec., 325.37 mph) def. Cory McClenathan (3.964, 255.73)
Round 2: Antron Brown (3.888, 287.47) def. MASSEY (3.987, 262.74)

NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING STANDINGS
(Through Phoenix; 2nd of 23 national events)

TOP FUEL
1. ANTRON BROWN, 212
2. TONY SCHUMACHER, 180
3. SPENCER MASSEY, 176
4. Morgan Lucas, 143
5. Shawn Langdon, 139
6. Clay Millican, 126
7. Steve Torrence, 89
7. Bob Vandergriff, 89
9. Brandon Bernstein, 85
9. Doug Kalitta, 85

NEXT UP
The DSR racing convoy of 19 rigs hits the highway Monday for its 1,689-mile jaunt back to headquarters in Brownsburg, Ind. The next NHRA event is the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals presented by NAPAfilters.com on March 8-11 in Gainesville, Fla.

FOLLOW DSR
Reports on DSR drivers from the NHRA Arizona Nationals can be found later Sunday night at ShoeRacing.com.
Follow DSR on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shoeracing and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/shoeracing.
More information can be found at NHRA.com.

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 176 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.