FUNNY CAR

Funny Car driver Johnny Gray and his tireless Rob Wendland-led team have had their hands full lately with an unruly nitro beast, but the Pitch Energy Dodge returned to glory this weekend in Norwalk. Gray, the No. 4 qualifier, scored his fourth win of the 2013 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the seventh Wally trophy of his professional career with a final-round defeat of Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.

Gray was a trailblazer earlier this year and had three wins by the time the tour left Topeka in May. For a brief spell he even held the points lead for the first time as an NHRA Funny Car pilot. However, for the last three events, the 60-year-old driver, who has declared that this season will be his final season chasing the championship, came up frustratingly short with a surprising string of first-round losses. Last weekend on Sunday afternoon in Joliet after a far too-early ending to the day, Gray and his crew sat down and determined that a big change needed to be made if they were to return to form.

"We loaded up Sunday night, called our chassis shop over at Don Schumacher Racing, and they started getting ready for us," said Gray, who has earned seven of Don Schumacher Racing's 211 national event wins. "The guys drove straight from Chicago to the shop in Indy, stripped the car down Sunday night and early into Monday morning. They had it in the chassis shop by 7:30, bare frame, and the chassis shop handed it back with a whole new front end by Monday afternoon. Everyone worked real hard to turn it around so quickly, and boy it sure paid off quick. The guys bolted the car back together, and we came here and never missed a step."

Right out of the box, the Pitch Energy Dodge showed improvement as it cleared the finish line with a strong 4.148 at 305.08 mph in the first session of qualifying. His best, a 4.061 at 312.64 mph, was good for a start from the No. 4 position and a first-round meeting with Alexis DeJoria.

Gray set the tone in round one with a 4.047 at 314.97 mph that eclipsed DeJoria's 4.131, and in the second round, Gray got the nod over a troubled Chad Head despite a slowing 4.191. The victory set up a semifinal meeting with DSR teammate Jack Beckman, and the two were identical at the tree with 0.065-second launches, but it was Gray with the win light at the top end on a 4.121, 310.34 pass to Beckman's tire-smoking 8.309.

One more DSR teammate stood in Gray's way: final-round foe Capps. Gray and Capps had already squared off in the final on three separate occasions coming into raceday in Norwalk.

The Norwalk final proved to be a truly spectacular race. Gray launched ahead of Capps – but just barely – and the two were nearly glued together as they traveled the length of the dragstrip. Gray was ahead by 0.005-second at the 60-foot timer, behind by 0.002 at the 330 mark, and had regained the lead by 0.004 at 660 feet. The Artesia, N.M.-based driver was first to the finish line stripe and took the win by a slim 0.0064-second.

Stunningly, the times on the scoreboard were nearly identical: Gray's 4.103 at 314.02 mph beat Capps' 4.103 at 314.09. The deciding factor was what happened as the two left the starting line; Gray clocked a 0.061-second reaction to Capps' 0.067, and the outcome was inscribed in the books as a holeshot win in favor of Gray.

"That was just a good drag race," said Gray, now No. 2 in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car standings and the only Funny Car driver with four wins on his scorecard in 2013. "There really aren't words to describe this feeling. Rob just does an awesome job, and he and [assistant crew chief] Rip Reynolds give me a racecar that's really hard to screw up. I just can't say enough for what my crew does for me. They give me a good, safe car, and all I have to do is get in it and worry about doing the best I can.

"We were getting a little bit frustrated there for awhile, and everybody in the world was looking at us trying to figure out what was wrong. But with the new chassis, new wire, and new set-up, the Pitch Energy Dodge is going right down the racetrack and responding again to everything Rob is asking it to do. This is just a great place to be right now, and we're all having a big time. I couldn't be happier."