Johnny Gray and Service Central team overcome issues to reach finals

April 03

Johnny Gray and his Service Central Racing team overcame adversity throughout the weekend before losing to Robert Hight today in the finals of the 12^th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in a virtual photo finish.

Gray posted his best run of the event, 4.169 seconds/301.81miles per hour, a mere .021 seconds (including reaction time) behind Hight’s 4.149/307.79 here on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“The thing is – this is a new team which overcame adversity all weekend long,” said the 57-year-old Artesia, N.M. native. “What they went through just to get this car to go from A to B in the final round, let alone challenge Robert, was amazing.”

The issues began in the first qualifying session Friday and continued up to the start of the final round which was in doubt as the team made major repairs and the clock wound down to the deadline. The repair was completed, Gray was bolted into his seat in the pits, and the Service Central Racing team rushed to the line.

His 4.254/288.15 enabled him to defeat Mike Neff, 4.287/272.61, despite dropping a cylinder and bursting into flames at the end of the race. In round two he overcame a broken rod, turned in a 4.206/298.54 to top Jeff Arend’s 6.132/127.23.

The semifinal became a “single” as Tony Pedregon did not make it to the start line. And, the preparation for the finals resulted in discovery of the electrical issues (which was the outcome of the first-round fire).

Up against a 55-minute turn-a-round time between rounds, the Service Central team kept finding the wherewithal to get Gray to the start line on time.

“The Service Central Racing team got down to work, fixed it and without a warm up, bolted me into the car in the pits and headed for the line,” he said.

“This is what it takes to form a championship team. We keep getting better and better as a team. Lee (Beard, crew chief) and Don (Schumacher, team owner) provide great leadership and along with Service Central, provide us with what we need to get the job done.

“It’s all good!”

Achieving the finals today enabled Gray to jump from eighth to fifth in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship competition. He trails fourth-place holder and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan by 19 points and overall leader Robert Hight by 98.

“It’s early in the season, so the points are not as important as winning rounds, winning races and building consistent progress,” explained the veteran drag racer whose pro career includes both Funny Car and Pro Stock. “We knew we had a good car and good team when we conducted pre-season testing in Florida; we just were a little slow getting it together. I think this race will do a lot to take this car, this team to the next level.”

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series heads east for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 4Wide NHRA Nationals, April 14-17, at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.