NHRA FRIDAY QUALIFYING COMPLETED IN NORWALK

Johnny Gray raced to the Funny Car qualifying lead Friday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Gray drove his Dodge Charger to the qualifying lead with a performance of 4.094 seconds at 306.33 mph to take the top spot. Gray currently has one No. 1 qualifying position this season and two in his career.

"The car left hard, ran hard, and I thought we were really going to make a good run, and at almost 3.8 seconds into the run, it knocked the tires loose and went up on the rev limiter, so I just drove it to the finish line," said Gray, currently fourth in the points standings. "You have all these thoughts and all these fears that you're going to make a mistake because you're hot and not thinking straight, but once they fire the motor and lower the body, there's no more thought processes. It's just action then. From then on, it's more like a reaction thing."

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Sr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were qualifying leaders at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

In Top Fuel, Torrence moved into position to earn his second No. 1 of the season with a performance of 3.829 at 319.98 in his dragster. In Pro Stock, Allen Johnson powered his Dodge Avenger to the qualifying lead with a 6.663 at 207.34. If the run stands through tomorrow's two sessions it will be Johnson's fifth No. 1 qualifying position of the season.

Arana Sr. rode his Buell motorcycle to the top qualifying spot with a performance of 6.962 at 188.02 mph. He has three No.1 qualifying positions so far this season. He won this event in 2008, but has never been No. 1 qualifier at this track.

Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday's eliminations start at 11 a.m.

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