GRAY HOLDS ONTO HIS PERCHATOP NORWALK FUNNY CAR FIELD

Johnny Gray battled the elements to the top of the Funny Car qualifying ladder during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

Twice before, Gray has qualified at the top of the pack: earlier this season at the NHRA Arizona Nationals - where he won a round on raceday - and last season at the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. Gray built on the No. 1 start in Maple Grove and drove his NTB/Service Central Funny Car to the final round.

In Norwalk, teams battled through treacherous heat on both Friday and Saturday that saw air temperatures soaring near 100 degrees and baking track temperatures as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Gray's pole-worthy 4.094 at 306.33 mph was recorded on the first day of qualifying at the event, and although the second day did not result in numbers quite as favorable for the Service Central team, no other driver was able to near Gray's exceptional performance.

"I hope tomorrow is not like today because obviously we weren't stellar," said Gray, who experienced traction issues in both sessions on Saturday. "The Service Central/NTB car is a good race car, and we've got a good tune-up for it. We tried to run too hard the first session this morning, and then this afternoon we had the thing lined up a little bit to the left, so it took off towards the center line, and when I tried to turn it to reel it back, it kind of upset it and knocked the tires loose.

"But we're good. We know what we did wrong, and we'll go out tomorrow, and it should be a good day. We've got Robert [Hight] first round, and that's kind of one of those deals. I don't want any part of him, but I don't think he wants any part of us right now, either. It should be a good race."

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