Gray No. 13 in final Rte. 66 qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2004 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 20 of 23
CARQUEST AUTO PARTS NHRA NATIONALS
ROUTE 66 RACEWAY
JOLIET, ILL.
Race Dates: Oct. 1-3, 2004


JOHNNY GRAY DRIVES WONDER WAGON TO NO. 13 IN RTE. 66 QUALIFYING

JOLIET,  Ill. (Oct. 2, 2004) - Johnny Gray drove Don Schumacher's Wonder
Wagon Dodge Stratus into the No. 13 spot in qualifying for tomorrow's final
eliminations at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

It wasn't an easy weekend for Gray and the Wonder Wagon team, as one round
of qualifying was rained out and track conditions today were outstanding.
Crew chief Dan Olson knew they had to step it up in today's final session
after qualifying out of the field, in 17th, earlier today with a
5.045/305.63.

Their efforts worked, as Gray piloted the Wonder Wagon down Route 66
Raceway's quarter-mile in 4.850 seconds at 317.34 mph and into No. 13.

"We got in," he said. "We struggled all weekend. We had an ignition problem
in one of our runs. It kind of got us behind the 8-ball. We changed all the
ignition out and figured out what was wrong with it. We made what we
considered to be a conservative run in the last session. And Dan says he
knows what we need to do step the thing up tomorrow.

"We feel real confident going into tomorrow. We'll be ready for them in
round one."

As was everyone else in the stands and in the pits, Gray was impressed with
John Force's No. 1 qualifying run of 4.697-seconds at 332.75 mph. "There's
nothing that you can really say about John Force except that it's John Force
Racing," he said. "They've got quite a program, and when he gets on a roll
like this, you just can't do anything with it.

"I know how (multi-team owner) Don Schumacher is and all the guys on all of
his teams and I know how dedicated and determined they are. They will step
up, find out what he's done, and they'll surpass him and get right back
ahead of him."

Gray faces Cruz Pedregon in first round of eliminations on Sunday, which
begin a 11 a.m.