Fathers and sons racing together in the National Hot Rod Association’s championship drag racing series is nothing new.

Johnny Gray, 58, of Carlsbad, N.M., has been racing since he was a teenager but his son Shane is relatively new behind the wheel of the car.

“Nobody messed had ever messed with hot rods before I started messing with them,” Johnny Gray said in a southern drawl that comes from growing up 70 miles away from Texas.

“I started the racing deal and now both of my sons drive. My grandkids are racing motorcycles. I hope to get them off the motorcycles and into the cars.”

Right now there’s plenty of drag racing for Johnny and Shane Gray to do in the NHRA.

Both Grays come into this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, which is just minutes away from Kent and Covington, in position to claim a spot in the top 10 of their respective categories. This is the 14th race in a 22 event series that starts and ends at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif.

And the NHRA’s Full Throttle series brings the thunder of the professional racers wheeling nitromethane fueled funny cars, which Johnny Gray drives, and top fuel dragsters as well as the pro stock cars which Shane Gray pilots.

The nitro fueled cars can cover 1,000 feet from start to finish in under four seconds while generating a rib-rattling 8,000 horse power.

And being behind the wheel of the funny car is just where Johnny Gray likes to be every race weekend.

“Fuel funny car is definitely my favorite,” he said. “I’m naturally a lot happier in my fuel car.”

The elder Gray, however, has bounced between classes before.

Last season, in fact, he raced pro stock and Shane explained during a phone interview between the race in Denver two weeks ago and this past weekend’s event in Sonoma, Calif., that in 2010 father and son faced each other far too often in the first round of eliminations on Sundays.

“We were running a two car pro stock team and really concentrating on getting him going,” Johnny Gray said. “That was his passion, that was what he wanted to do, so I did everything I could to help him out.”

This season, with Johnny back in the funny car, Shane is working on building an already solid pro stock resume.

He is in ninth place in the points despite red lighting in Sonoma in the first round this past weekend and hopes to round out the Western Swing — races at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colo., Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and this year Pacific Raceways in Kent is the last stop — with a win in what is known among the NHRA community as the Seattle race.

Shane Gray already has a win this season in the Topeka race to add to the Wally he picked up in his rookie season a year ago. Another win could push him from the bottom half of the top 10 into the upper half and possibly a shot to contend for the title in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoff system.

He had helped his dad out when he was in his 20s to build a pro stock program, but, Shane Gray eventually bowed out of racing while his father continued with top alcohol dragster and top alcohol funny car.

“I kind of bowed out of the scene,” Shane Gray said. “I went on and did my thing.”

When he decided to get back into racing a few years ago, there were a few bumps in the road, but once they set up an engine shop in North Carolina things started moving in the right direction.

Before diving into pro stock, Shane Gray drove a comp eliminator B altered car in the Division 4 Lucas Oil Series “just trying to get my feet wet.”

His first year in that car he finished second in the division and in 2009 he was fourth in his category in Division 4.

After two years running the comp eliminator, the car was sold, Shane Gray explained and the focus turned to the pro stock program.

“We had the two engines put together in time for the Las Vegas test session and everything seemed to work OK,” Shane said. “We went to Pomona and we won our first round against Ron Krisher. We had a good season last year but this season had its ups and downs. We’ve just been struggling a little bit this year. We’ll run a really good at a race then go to the next race and not run so good.”

Shane Gray said the team needs to find some consistency by the time they arrive in Seattle.

The key is to qualify well, preferably seventh or better, in the 16 car field.

“Qualified eighth is not really good because you’re the first pair out on Sunday,” he said. “We’re just going to try and go some rounds and take it one round at a time. We really need to go some rounds… in Seattle. We have to be competitive.”

And after winning a race this season Shane Gray said he’d like to win some more.

If things become consistent this season the way he hopes then it will also be something to be build on going forward with an eye toward contending against the big hitters of the class — Greg Johnson, Mike Edwards and current points leader Jason Line to name a few — for a championship at some point in the future.

But, for now, Shane Gray is taking it one round at a time and his next task is lay down some good passes at Pacific Raceways this weekend.

“I like the fast track for sure,” Shane Gray said. “There’s a lot of good scenery up there, a lot of good restaurants. We definitely enjoy the outings.”

His father, however, is on the outside looking in as far as the top 10 goes in the funny car points chase. Johnny Gray can make up some ground this weekend in Seattle as he battled with Tony Pedregon and Tim Wilkerson for the 10th and final spot in the Countdown which starts after the race in Indianapolis Labor Day weekend.

“We have the technology, we have the parts, we have the organization and I have the ability, so if we can put things together there’s no reason we can’t move up into eighth or ninth place relatively easily,” Johnny Gray said. “We have to turn this car around and get it running. We believe we have a real good tune up for Sonoma, Seattle and Brainerd, so we believe we’ll be find for the Countdown. We’ve just got to go rounds.”

Eliminations on Sunday consists of four rounds. This Sunday going rounds will mean racing in very different conditions than the past two weeks. Bandimere in Denver is a mile high which slows the cars down due to the elevation among other conditions.

Sonoma is closer to sea level but it still gets pretty warm there.

And then there’s Seattle.

“I like racing in Seattle because of the altitude and because of the trees and the greenery around there produces a whole lot of oxygen,” Johnny Gray said. “When you have sea level conditions… you can make some good runs if the conditions are right.”

Neither of the Grays have won in Seattle.

And while the competition is stiff in both classes the father and son who race together are both aiming for their first wins here together.

“It’s just an indescribably good thing,” Johnny Gray said of racing with his son. “NHRA is a family sport, a fan oriented sport. Not only do I have fans who are like my own kids there I have my kids there so it’s a great deal.”