JONATHAN GRAY TALKS ABOUT BEING BACK IN PRO MOD RACING

by Tracy Renck    Tue, 2020-07-21 11:59

Prior to this year, the last time Jonathan Gray drive a Pro Mod car was the last weekend of October of 2017 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Gray, driving a second car for Rickie Smith, did make some laps at the inaugural Drag Race Illustrated World Doorslammer Nationals, March 6-8 in Orlando, Fla., but didn’t qualify.

Gray was back in the seat in Indianapolis for the inaugural Lucas Oil Summernationals in Indianapolis last weekend. He qualified No. 9 at 5.888 seconds at 249.03 mph. Gray lost in the first round to Kris Thorne. Gray’s 5.865-second lap was upended by Thorne’s 5.837-second run.

“I made enough runs in Orlando to get an idea of how to drive the automatic stuff,” Gray said. “It is not so much that they are that much different to drive, it is just the procedures are different. It is a whole different ball of wax trying to get it in and out of gear. I’m an automatic person, but I’m OK with it now.”

Gray said he’s scheduled to compete again in Smith’s Pro Mod Camaro, Aug. 6-9 at the NHRA Indy Nationals in Indianapolis.

“Depending on how that goes, I will probably run at the U.S. Nationals (Aug. 3-6) and Dallas (Oct. 16-18),” Gray said.

Gray competed in NHRA’s Pro Stock class in 2014 and 2015. He competed in 45 career Pro Stock races with one win and four runner-up finishes. Gray placed seventh in the points standings in 2014 and was 10th in 2015.

“In 2016, I messed around with that precision turbo car a little bit and that deal just didn’t work out and I drove a GTO a little bit,” Gray said. “That winter I really had not planned on doing anything in 2017. Then, Rickie Smith called and ask if I wanted to drive his car for a few races because he had to get his back operated on. I said ‘Ok. Sure.’ I was a little taken back by why he was calling me because there are plenty other people out here who have way more experience than I do. We went to Galot (N.C.) and that was the first time I drove a nitrous car. Then, I went ended up going to Houston and I ran the rest of the year.”

Gray didn’t do any racing in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, and when he returned in 2020 in Orlando the Pro Mod world had changed dramatically.

“They went to automatics with the lock-up deal in 2018, and I wasn’t a fan of it because I’m a clutch guy,” Gray said. “I came from Pro Stock and went into his stuff (in 2017) and I was right at home in it. With a clutch, I knew if I had to, I could wear you out on the starting line. This button deal it is just a different ball of wax. There are so many different ways you can do things. How hard you push on the button. You can use your thumb. You can use your finger. There are just a million different ways to do things and I just don’t have enough runs yet doing it. I just have to get comfortable doing it.”

When Gray isn’t racing, he does farming in Artesia, N.M.

“That definitely keeps me busy and I enjoy it,” Gray said.

 

 
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