Rookie Tanner Gray puts big scare in defending series champion at season opener
POMONA, CA – Call it youthful exuberance. Racing in his first-ever NHRA national event, 17-year-old Tanner Gray 
matched up with three-time and defending world champion Jason Line in the quarterfinal round of Sunday’s 57th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals and damn-near put the veteran on the trailer.
Gray fashioned a massive four-hundredths of a second advantage at the starting line and led the race until well past half track before Line finally caught and passed his Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro with just inches to spare, taking the stripe by six-thousandths of a second. The final tally showed Line winning with a 6.558 at 210.97 mph to Gray’s 6.604 at 210.18 mph.
“Everybody did a good job but me,” Gray said. “I didn’t have as good of a light as I needed against Jason. I was a little bit late on the tree. I should have been a little better there. I mean, a .019 (reaction time) would have won the round. And I probably didn’t do the best job driving down the track either so we’ll go to the next race in Phoenix and see what we can do to be better.”
Earlier in the day, Gray upset Chris McGaha by beating him off the line (.017 to .059 seconds) and out-running him on the racetrack, 6.588 at 210.73 mph to McGaha’s 6.603 at 209.88 mph. McGaha entered the race one slot above Gray on the elimination ladder so the win was a bit of a surprise.
“I learned a lot this weekend,” Gray said. “The best thing to do is to try and stay calm and relaxed. The more pressure you put on yourself and the more you try to get amped up, the worse you do. It’s better being calm and relaxed and just doing your deal. That’s exactly how it was when I was racing dirt track and asphalt stuff.
“With every pass we get better. The more seat time, the better feel you get, the more you can feed back to the crew chief and crew. I just need more laps so I can get better in the seat.”
Racing in support of his son Tanner, Shane Gray also reached Sunday’s second round by beating an out-of-shape Allen Johnson with a 6.575 at 211.16 mph to Johnson’s aborted 8.845 at 101.72 mph. He then went toe-to-toe with Line’s teammate Bo Butner, ultimately losing by .007 seconds, with Butner’s 6.574 at 211.06 mph slightly better than Shane’s 6.581 at 210.64 mph.
“After a great start to the day Tanner and I were hoping both of us would win our second-round races so we could match-up against one another in the semifinals but it wasn’t meant to be today,” Shane said. “Had we both reached the semis we would have had a car in the finals for sure. Nevertheless, we had a good weekend, learned a lot, and Tanner got some real race experience.
“We’ll get geared up for Phoenix. I’ll be racing the second Gray Motorsports Camaro there once again in support of Tanner so we’ll see if we can’t help him continue his progression. Overall, this was a decent start to the year so we’re pretty pleased.”
Up next for Gray Motorsports is the 33rd annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, which take place Feb. 24-26 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz.
