Michael Ray has been competing in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class – part-time and full-time – since 2011.

Ray, however, confirmed with CompetitionPlus he has no definite plans right now to compete in the class in 2017.

“I don’t have anything with NHRA working right now,” Ray said. “With me kind of being a privateer and always going in and renting power and not owning my own engine shop I really want to see what this year brings with the new motor from S&S and Victory and also what is going to come of the Buell motors. I know there are going to be a lot of good products still out there to go play with it, but really I don’t have much planned for NHRA right now. Funding is tight and tough, there are so many changes going on right now, for a privateer like myself, it makes it tough.”

Ray finished 17th in the season points standings a year ago after competing in 10 races – the final one being the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

“I’ve definitely been scratching to see if anybody is out there, looking to get in (to the Pro Stock Motorcycle class), and I’m still in shape and still ready to ride, but it seems that there isn’t a lot of new interest in the sport or the class for that matter right now,” Ray said. “It’s tough right now. The chassis that my partner and I had, we actually sold it to Matt Smith, so I don’t have a chassis anymore. We kind of sold off a bunch of stuff while it still had interest, rather than sitting on stuff. I was riding a Buell last year owned by a family out of Ohio and we were leasing motors from Matt (Smith).”

Ray competed full time in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class from 2012-14. He has three career national event wins – Dallas (2012) and Englishtown and Chicago (2013) – and finished a career-best second in the points standings in 2013 to world champion Matt Smith. Ray also was sixth in points in 2012 and 10th in 2014.

“When we got into it (the Pro Stock Motorcycle class) a few years ago it was just family money,” Michael said. “It was almost like the Days of Thunder story. We had enough money to get there and if we could get us a good sponsor to keep going, we were going to keep going. Unfortunately, it is kind of like the champagne breath on a beer budget. I went out there and did it as long as I could. If I had the money, I would be testing today.” While Ray isn’t racing, he works for his father, Paul’s trucking company – Silver Eagle Environmental Solutions in Gonzales, Texas. Michael also works at Woods Cycle Country in New Braunfels, Texas.

And, if Ray doesn’t get a PSM deal done, he is exploring another racing option.

“We rented a bike from Johnny Vickers at Hawaya Racing,” Ray said. “He has a Pro Fuel Harley that we rented for a few events (last year) and I went the world fastest on a Pro Fuel bike at 7.06 (seconds). We also won two events running in the Man Cup (Series). We had a blast doing that. I’ve kind of always had a little hidden passion for riding Top Fuel since my dad rode Top Fuel as well as Pro Stock. We are kind of seeing what opens up for that.”