ATLANTA – Terry Gray earned his 12th United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters Outlaw Thunder Tour National champion during the series’ 23rd season.
The veteran sprint car driver collected the National title plus two United Sprint Car Series regional series titles. In a year that saw a record 21 drivers win United Sprint Car Series main events, Gray made two visits to the victory lane and had 23 top-five finishes, plus 33 top-10 finishes and a record of perfect attendance during the 46 events to accumulate the most championship points.
Gray clinched the title during the two-day USCS Fall Brawl on Nov. 9-10 at the Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala., where he finished in the runner-up spot in a field of 31 entries in the 25-lap Saturday night preliminary main event.
During Sunday night’s season finale, he garnered a 10th-place finish to close out the season with the championship tucked away. He also will be recognized as the team owner of the car No. 10m driven by Morgan Turpen, who won the USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series championship.
‘We are very proud to announce Terry Gray is again our United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters National Champion,” said USCS Founder and President Pete Walton. “Gray has worked hard and is very professional in his approach to his goals and he and Morgan Turpen been very successful as a team this season. Both of those drivers have the work ethic that it takes to create champions and they are an example of what hard work and dedication and determination can accomplish. As a team always represent our series in a way that always makes us proud. Congratulations to Terry Gray Racing.”
Johnny Bridges finished in the runner-up spot behind Gray in the final USCS National standings. Bridges also had perfect attendance during the series’ 46 events and had two victories on the season at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., on April 6 and at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., on April 26. Bridges had a runner-up finish in the season’s final contest at Talladega Short Track on Nov. 10 to finish on a high note.
In addition to his runner-up standing in the USCS National point standings, Bridges garnered a second-place finish in both the USCS Southern Thunder and USCS Deep South regional series standings, as well as finishing in third in the USCS Mid-South regional series standings. It was Bridges first conquest of the entire USCS National Championship schedule since his 1998 rookie season.
The rest of the top-10 in the National Championship standings included Tony Agin, Jeff Willingham and USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series champion Turpen.