CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
TOYOTA NHRA SONOMA NATIONALS
SONOMA RACEWAY AT SONOMA, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017
Chevrolet Stomps on Competition in Sonoma Wine Country
• Rookie Tanner Gray scores third Pro Stock victory, extends Chevy streak
• Brittany Force sets Top Fuel track speed record on way to semifinals
• Robert Hight becomes first to surpass 339 mph in any NHRA pro category
• No. 4 qualifier Courtney Force advances to Funny Car semifinals
SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2017) – Tanner Gray looks more comfortable in the winner’s circle with the confetti flying, champagne spraying and fans wildly applauding.
Four months after recording his maiden Pro Stock national victory by defeating fellow Chevrolet driver Bo Butner, the 18-year-old North Carolinian took down the class points leader again in the final of the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.
Gray’s pass of 6.572 seconds in the Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro was four-thousandths of a second quicker than the Jim Butner Auto Sales Chevrolet Camaro SS that was the No. 2 qualifier. Gray, who also won in late May at Topeka, Kansas, tied Butner with a class-leading three victories.
“I just want to thank Gray Motorsports, Valvoline, Chevy, and just everybody who makes this thing happen,” said Gray, the No. 5 qualifier. “This is kind of surreal to come out here and be able to (win for the third time). There have been nine different winners already, so that shows how competitive this class is.“
Chevrolet won every Pro Stock elimination round and claimed its 15th consecutive victory this season. Gray outran No. 1 qualifier Drew Skillman (Ray Skillman Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro SS), who had won the past two events, and Butner defeated KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS) in the semifinals.
First-round winners included Jeg Coughlin (JEGS.com/Elite Performance Chevrolet Camaro SS), reigning champion Jason Line (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS), Vincent Nobile (Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS), and Chris McGaha (Harlow Sammons of Odessa Chevrolet Camaro SS).
Brittany Force set the Top Fuel track speed record of 331.61 mph in winning her first round of eliminations in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster. Force, the No. 2 qualifier, advanced to the semifinals for the second consecutive event and the fourth time in the past six races. She fell to Top Fuel points leader and eventual event winner Steve Torrence.
Courtney Force, the No. 4 qualifier in the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS, won her first two elimination rounds but lost in the semifinals. John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight, whose pass in the second round of qualifications in the Auto Club of Southern California/California Highway Patrol Chevrolet Camaro SS was the first to top 339 mph in any NHRA professional category, secured the No. 1 qualifier honor. It was the second No. 1 qualifier at Sonoma Raceway for Hight, who grew up in Northern California, and the 52nd of his Funny Car career.
Hight won his first-round matchup, but in the quarterfinals the car lost traction midway through the run and he came up short. John Force, who earned the No. 2 qualifier spot in the PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS, also fell in the quarterfinals. In the fourth round of qualifications, the 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion surpassed 337 mph for the first time.
“All our Funny Cars and our dragster, we have everything we need, we just have to manage it better and race smarter,” said Hight, who recorded his 38th career Funny Car victory a week earlier at Denver. “You can see our performance in qualifying and the big runs that we have put up … we are there. We just have to do a better job. The good thing is that we only have a couple of days to shake this off, get to Seattle, and try to get back in the winner’s circle.”
Dan Fletcher of Churchville, New York, who has earned Wallys in Super Street and Super Stock the past two events, advanced to the quarterfinals of Stock Eliminator in his 2017 Chevrolet COPO Camaro. Fletcher, who earlier this month became the third driver with 100 career national victories, was the No. 23 qualifier of 43 entries.
The western swing concludes Aug. 4-6 with the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent. Washington. Last year, Aaron Strong earned his first Pro Stock national victory by defeating No. 1 qualifier Vincent Nobile in the final.
FS1 will telecast live qualifications at 9 p.m. ET Aug. 4 and FOX will telecast live eliminations and finals at 4 p.m. ET Aug. 6.
ROGER ALLEN, CHEVROLET RACING NHRA PROGAM MANAGER: “Congratulations to Tanner Gray for winning the Pro Stock competition, and to all the Chevrolet drivers and teams for another successful weekend in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Robert Hight became the first to crack the 339 mph window in his Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car in earning the No. 1 qualifier honor, while Courtney Force reached the Funny Car semifinals. Brittany Force, the No. 2 qualifier in the Chevrolet dragster, reset the track speed record on the way to the semifinals, too. The ‘western swing’ concludes in suburban Seattle this coming weekend, and we’ll cheer on Chevrolet teams and drivers to reach the winner’s circle.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MOTORSPORTS VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; third victory of rookie season; also defeated Bo Butner in Las Vegas final for first Pro Stock victory):
Q: DID YOU THINK YOU COULD WIN THREE TIMES AS COMPETITIVE AS PRO STOCK IS?
TANNER GRAY: I hold myself to a high standard and I’m pretty competitive, so I had hoped for it. But this is kind of surreal to come out here and be able to do that. There have been nine different winners already, so that shows how competitive this class is.
Q: YOU ARE GOOD FRIENDS WITH THE KB RACING GUYS, DOES ANY OF THAT AFFECT YOU IN A FINAL LIKE THAT?
TANNER GRAY: It all gets pushed back. Whoever is in the other lane, you want to beat them. Doesn’t matter if you are friends or not. When you pull up there, nobody is friends.
Q: TALK ABOUT HOW THE CAR EVOLVED OVER THE WEEKEND
TANNER GRAY: I don’t know if the car necessarily evolved. We just figured out how to run it for what it was wanting. We still have some work to do on the car. Just because we won today doesn’t mean the car has done anything outstanding. So we have to continue to work on it and I have to do the same thing as a driver. I feel like I need to be a little more consistent, little better. I am not real happy that I was thirty-something in the semis. It would have made my day to have kicked that thirty out and made it a seventeen. But all that matters at the end of the day is that I am holding the trophy. I am proud of my guys. This is the best I have seen them run the car. The car was throwing us some curve balls and they kind of put a band aid on it. We haven’t necessarily got it fixed, we just made it work with the track conditions today.
Q: IS THIS ROOKIE SEASON COMING TOGETHER THE WAY YOU HAD IT IN YOUR HEAD BEFORE IT STARTED?
TANNER GRAY: Like I said in the interview at the top end, I am very competitive and I don’t expect anything less of myself. It definitely feels really good, but at the same time, I know that we have to go back and keep working. You can’t let the highs get too high and the lows get too low. That’s something that Jason Line would say. I just have to keep working on my part, on the practice tree and try and go out there and get another win in Seattle. I want to try and gain on Bo (Butner). If I can go to the Countdown top three, then I definitely think we can try and win a championship. That’s my focus right now. We won in Vegas and that kind of got the first win out of the way and so after that I was like, ‘okay, let’s go after the championship’. So we just have to keep striving and working in that direction and see where we end up.
Q: WALK US THROUGH THAT FINAL RUN. WHAT DID YOU FEEL LIKE WHEN YOU SAW THE WIN LIGHT GO OFF?
TANNER GRAY: You know, I think I was more nervous for the semis against Drew (Skillman) in that run. For whatever reason, I felt really calm. The car hit the tree pretty good and seemed like the car spun pretty good in low and I think I held it out in low long enough. I pulled it, put it in high gear and looked over and saw Bo was right there. I looked back over and I thought he had won going across the finish line. Fortunately, I looked up and saw our win light was on. I reached up and hit the chutes and the chutes didn’t come out so I was concentrating on getting the car stopped. I honestly thought he had us.