J . R . GRAY

ing the dream after his triumph at South Georgia , but he ’ s definitely not dreaming .

He put together the quickest eighth-mile run in nitrous history in the final round , with it oddly enough coming against Reese , who built his stunning new Camaro .

But he needed every bit of that 3.542 , as Reese , who qualified No . 1 , went a stout 3.520 at 212.59 . Gray , though , was deadly on the starting line – the norm for him in Valdosta and typically everywhere else – going . 021 to stay ahead of Reese and enjoy the massive payout .

It was listed as $ 70,000 , but thanks to some considerable side bets , Gray estimated it was more like $ 85,000 , which made the victory even sweeter .

“ I ’ ve got a big grudge following and one of my partners started betting everybody . It worked out pretty well for us ,” Gray says . “ We were either going to be a winner with a blown-up car or a loser with a blown-up car . Going into the finals ,

I was stoked . I was happy it was No . 1 versus No . 2 . David definitely deserves a win , but I was glad to take this one .”

Even with it being his first RvW race , Gray didn ’ t feel any pressure , and his performance showed it . With Stevie “ Fast ” Jackson making the tuning calls , Gray found his sweet spot during eliminations , running 3.608 at 200.92 , 3.579 at 205.76 and 3.590 at 205.98 to reach the final round .

Just as big was Gray ’ s showing on the starting line when it counted , as he posted reaction times of . 007 , . 023 and . 021 to pick up the landmark win .

“ My lights were pretty good and I told my team , this is my style of racing , one-on-one with big money on the line ,” Gray says . “ That ’ s my style : ‘ This will be the last pass this motor ever makes .’ I love it . I love the pressure and I love I had to perform on the starting line . All that ’ s really exciting .”

Still , not many could have predicted Gray would have such a resounding impact the first time racing in radial racing ’ s elite class with a group that included Jackson , Reese , Melanie Salemi , Marcus Birt and others in Valdosta .

The car had a single run on it – yes , one total run – when it entered the gates at SGMP . It took some time to find consistency , but doing it in the course of one pressure-packed weekend was a tribute to Jackson and Gray ’ s team .

It was a work of genius that wasn ’ t lost on the popular , fan-favorite grudge racer .

“ Stevie , he ’ s amazing . He ’ s just good at so many things with a race car ,” Gray says . “ He ’ s taught me so much the last several years . It ’ s just a dream team to me , having David and Stevie work together on this car . Who comes to an event with the fastest cars in the world having only made one hit ? But we just chipped away at it , and to break the nitrous world record in the final round , it was just amazing .”

Jackson joked the team “ needed 30 more days ” before the event , but Gray and company quickly proved to be well ahead of schedule . DI

22 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 162