Johnny Gray understands the importance of air time to a sponsor. Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, during qualifying for the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals, he delivered to sponsor Service Central both figuratively and literally.

During the final qualifying session, Gray’s Funny Car exploded the supercharger, cracking the Dodge Charger body in half, and sending it into the air, higher than the scoreboards. The front end of the carbon fiber body remained attached to the chassis until the car came to a stop in the shutdown area.

 

Johnny Gray understands the importance of air time to a sponsor. Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, during qualifying for the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals, he delivered to sponsor Service Central both figuratively and literally.

During the final qualifying session, Gray’s Funny Car exploded the supercharger, cracking the Dodge Charger body in half, and sending it into the air, higher than the scoreboards. The front end of the carbon fiber body remained attached to the chassis until the car came to a stop in the shutdown area.

The floating body eventually landed safely on the return road.

“The car was on a good run and I had determined, it was either going to go really fast or not make it,” Gray explained. “Then the body flew and I realized we weren’t going to make it. We have struggled but we figured this would get us some television time.”

In reality, Gray has earned plenty of television time by reaching the finals of the last two events in Reading, Pa., and Dallas.

 

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