No one can say Johnny Gray doesn’t like taking chances.

The NHRA veteran driver is not only coming back to compete in Pro Stock for a third-consecutive season in 2010, but he’s doing it with a two-car team and his own engine program.

Gra,y and his 37-year-old son Shane, will each be campaigning Pontiac GXP cars for a full national event schedule.

“My thoughts are we will be very competitive with a two-car team,” the 56-year-old Johnny Gray said. “We’re naturally, at the present time, struggling because we’re trying to build an engine shop, build horsepower and build two new cars all at the same time. With the economy in the shape that it is in, the parts vendors are not stocking anything extra on the shelves and it’s a little harder to get parts and get up and running fast. We still have a real bright outlook and we feel like we will be very competitive in a short period of time.”

No one can say Johnny Gray doesn’t like taking chances.

The NHRA veteran driver is not only coming back to compete in Pro Stock for a third-consecutive season in 2010, but he’s doing it with a two-car team and his own engine program.

Gray, and his 37-year-old son Shane, will each be campaigning Pontiac GXP cars for a full national event schedule.

“My thoughts are we will be very competitive with a two-car team,” the 56-year-old Johnny Gray said. “We’re naturally, at the present time, struggling because we’re trying to build an engine shop, build horsepower and build two new cars all at the same time. With the economy in the shape that it is in, the parts vendors are not stocking anything extra on the shelves and it’s a little harder to get parts and get up and running fast. We still have a real bright outlook and we feel like we will be very competitive in a short period of time.”

Gray finished 15th and ninth in 2008 and 2009, respectively, in the Pro Stock world standings. Shane, meanwhile, is making his Pro Stock debut in the upcoming season.

“Shane drove a B/Altered last season and finished third in Division 4 and was 15th in the national points, while running a limited schedule,” Gray said. “He drove the car real well and got his feet wet and he’s ready to go.”

During the past two seasons, Johnny ran a Dodge Stratus and leased motors from Roy Johnson, but he felt like it was time for him to go his own way to make horsepower at Gray Motorsports.

“I bought Dennis Fisher’s engine shop in Denver, N.C.,” said Gray, who is the president and co-owner of Marbob Energy Corporation in Artesia, NM. “That’s what we’re struggling with right now. We’re trying to get the engine shop up and running and get all the equipment in place. We also had to get the proper people onboard to do the proper jobs. We will struggle a little bit here, like every new team does. We have not done any testing because we do not have the motors to test with yet, and it’s going to come down right to the wire for us to have the motors ready to go for Pomona (Winternationals).”

The NHRA’s season-opening Winternationals are on tap Feb. 11-14 and Gray is also in the process of looking for primary sponsors for both of his Pro Stock entries.

“Right now, S.K.I., Spending Kids’ Inheritance is our sponsor,” Gray said. “We’re searching for sponsorship as we speak.”

Although Gray realizes his team will go through growing pains, he has no second thoughts about embarking on this new challenge.

“I learned after leasing motors for a couple of years, you just need to go through your own deal,” Gray said. “If it is doesn’t run it’s your fault, and if it does run it’s your fault. You put the blame where it belongs instead of not knowing for sure or having to take somebody else’s word for what you have got in the car. We see the opportunity to go out and build very competitive motors and possibly in 2011, I would like to have some motors there I can lease out to somebody else.”

Gray is no stranger to the NHRA scene. He has won national events in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car. What’s more, he raced a Top Fuel Funny Car off and on from 1999 to 2006. Back in 2002, Gray placed a career-best 10th in the Funny Car point standings.

“I have had some great drag racing memories, but the one that probably stands out was in 1997,” Gray said. “We were running an Alcohol Funny Car in Memphis, Tenn., and we had a young man who was part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation who came and hung out with us. He had cancer and we let him help us with the car all weekend. We ended up catching the car on fire Saturday night and we worked on the car all Saturday night and he stayed out there and worked with us and we ended up winning the race the next day.”

After competing in only seven NHRA races, all in Funny Car, from 2004-2007, Gray came back into the sport in 2008 with a purpose.

“I got back into the NHRA primarily because my son (Shane) was wanting to run Pro Stock and I was trying to figure out how to get in and get up and running,” Gray said. “I also wanted to get him a year in a Comp car and put him in a Pro Stock car and then go out and run as a family organization and have some fun.”

Gray’s plan, however, didn’t unfold how he envisioned.

“It was tough because the leasing (of motors) didn’t work how we thought it would,” Gray said. “Any time you’re leasing motors, there’s always the question of whether you really have the good stuff in your car. We struggled in the first half of (2009) pretty bad and after Denver (the Mile-High Nationals in July) there were some changes made and my car picked up significantly. Supposedly, there was no difference, but my car sure ran better after changes were made. The alternative (for us this season) was to either quit or build our own motors and here we’re building our own motors, and we’re looking to be successful.”

Advertisement