Gray No. 8 in Wonder Wagon after two days at U.S. Nationals

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 23
50th ANNUAL U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK
RACE DATES:  Sept. 3-6, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 4, 2004) - Johnny Gray impressed the crowd in his first
jaunt in Don Schumacher's Wonder Wagon Funny Car in last night's qualifying
session, when he cruised down the quarter-mile to a 4.862-second pass at
305.98 mph. 

This run held up for No. 1 through six pairs until Cruz Pedregon produced a
4.844/315.93, which Gary Densham then surpassed with a 4.795/320.28 for No.
1 after one round.

Under steamy conditions in today's second round of qualifying the Wonder
Wagon smoked the tires dramatically at the hit of the throttle, then coasted
to a full stop to nearly half-track for an aborted run.

In tonight's round it smoked the tires at about 200 feet, and Gray coasted
to a 9.439/93.41 pass, relegating him to No. 8 in the field, with two more
qualifying sessions scheduled for tomorrow.

"I feel great," said last year's U.S. Nationals Funny Car runner-up. "The
car ran real good yesterday and we had a little bit of a malfunction in the
first round today. 

"We went out just a little too aggressive tonight. I'm not discouraged at
all. Tomorrow is when we're going to have to get a race-day setup in the
car. Tonight was just for bragging rights. John Force ran a 4.749 (for the
pole), but he's not going to run a .74 tomorrow in the heat.

"I've got all the faith in the world that Dan (Olson, crew chief) and the
team can make this thing be fully competitive in the heat and if they can do
that we can go out and go some rounds."

As for the attention the Wonder Wagon is getting this weekend: "The fans
love the Wonder Wagon," he remarked. "Don did great when he brought that car
out. It's just amazing. I had several people come by with old magazine
articles with the Wonder Wagon in it and wanted me to sign them. I had one
guy come by today who had one of the old die-casts and it had been signed by
Don, and he had me sign it. That was an honor. It's a fun deal. Everybody
tells me how neat the car is and the fans really like it. I like it."