MCCRAY RETURNS TO SRL
“Well my sponsor James Dickey wanted me to race some more, and he and my dad had been talking about getting a new car, McCray told the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series. Linny White came by our shop and told us about Jeremy Doss selling all his tour stuff! We talked to Mike Doss and the next thing I know, a week later we have new race cars at the shop!
McCray continued, “I have big shoes to fill with this car! I’m excited about racing it, and the biggest thing will be getting me comfortable in the seat. I’m looking forward to testing it with Mike and very hopeful for the race on July 20th!”
McCray will be making her eighth start in the SRL. The Highland, CA driver made her debut back in 2014, with an impressive third place performance at Irwindale. Her additional starts have been between Irwindale and the Bullring @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the one top-five and four top-ten finishes. She has one Super Late Model start in the prestigious Winter Showdown, at Kern County Raceway, finishing ninth in the field of 54 Super Late Models.
McCray’s success at Irwindale Speedway includes a Super Late Model Championship runner-up finish to Ryan Partridge in 2013. She was the Late Model Championship Runner-up in 2014 and 2015 to Ryan Partridge Racing and Trevor Huddleston. Toni accumulated 14 wins over those three seasons. In 2017 McCray split time between Kern County Raceway and Irwindale Speedway, picking up another victory.
In 2019 McCray has spent much of her time at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. McCray has reeled off a series of top-five efforts that have her in championship contention, despite missing the last event. As she heads back to Irwindale, she will have to adjust her driving style from the tight ¼-mile oval to the wide-open ½-mile.
“I hadn’t raced that much over the last two years, but this year we have been running Orange Show and having lots of fun with that! I’m really looking forward to going back to Irwindale, where I have had a lot of success as well. They are two different tracks, so I need make sure I don’t use the short track mentality of Orange Show at Irwindale.”
McCray knows the competition will be tough on July 20th. It is something she looks forward to, however.
“The SRL series is one of the toughest most competitive series there is, and it has an abundance of talented drivers”, McCray stated. “I know it will absolutely be the toughest race I have ran this year, but I like the challenge. My goals for the weekend would be to qualify in the top-10 and finish top-10, but top-5 would be like a Win to me!”
To make this opportunity come true, McCray has a large list of supporters whom she would like to acknowledge.
“There are a lot of people that have made this happen”, McCray began. “Jim Dickey one of the most amazing men I know, who has supported me over the last 5 years, and given me opportunities most dream of! The most important man in my life, my dad and biggest supporter who is always there and encouraging me to do this and telling me I can! Also, Linny White, Josh Ferguson and Clay Wooster. Without them every week, I wouldn’t be able to be racing this race! They have busted their butts to get everything ready and give me the best piece possible! I am so looking forward to being back at the track with the SRL series!”
McCray and the rest of the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series drivers will be racing for $5,000-to-win, thanks to the “Winner’s Bonus” sponsored by our friends at Performance Friction Brakes. McCray would love to keep that money in Southern California, and give the area drivers bragging rights for the weekend.
Photo credit: JB.R Images
