The Ray Price Akea Express Drag Racing Team will begin its 2013 season in the newly formed National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Harley Davidson Drag Racing Series, at the Royal Purple Raceway in Houston, Texas on Friday, March 1.
The team of Ray Price, Jeremy Hoy, Justin Heinle, Mark Morgan and rider Tommy Grimes is excited about the start of another race-packed season. In 2012, they won four races, were runner-up four times and made it to the finals eight times in the 15-race schedule. Overall, the team finished number two in points in the AHDRA series. The team consistently finishes in one of the top spots every year.
The team will compete at 10 NHRA races from March through November in addition to the American Motorcycle Racing Association (AMRA) race in Rockingham, NC with the possibility of additional races throughout the year.
Photo by Matt Polito
“Since the new bike won’t be ready for the beginning of the season, we will start out with last year’s bike,” Price said. “However, we have built new clutch parts and various assemblies to replace the race-worn units used for the last number of years. Specialty parts are designed and built in-house from scratch then added to the bike.”
Ray Price, nicknamed “Father of the Funnybike,” began his drag racing career in 1967 and became one of the drag racers sponsored by Harley-Davidson for a number of years. Since the accident that ended his riding career in 2003, he has continued to maintain a successful team with the same crew for more than a decade with various riders, having Tommy Grimes as the sole rider in recent year.
2013 NHRA SCHEDULE
March 1-3
Royal Purple Raceway
Houston, TX
April 12-13
Virginia Motorsports Park
Petersburg, VA
May 17-19
Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park
Norwalk, OH
May 25-26
Atlanta Dragway
Atlanta, GA
June 14-16
Bandimere Speedway
Denver, CO
June 21-22
Cordova Dragway Park
Cordova, IL
July 19-21
New England Dragway
Epping, NH
August 17-18
Pacific Raceways
Seattle, WA
September 6-7
Bristol Dragway
Bristol, TN
October 31-November 3
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, NV
The Ray Price Motorsports team sends sincere thanks to all their sponsors for their support. They include our Primary Sponsors: Akea, Ray Price Harley-Davidson, with special thanks to our Associate Sponsor Raleigh H. O. G. and our Support Sponsors: Vanson Leathers, PJ1 Products, RC Components, CP Pistons, Royal Purple, Barnett Clutches & Cables, Autolite Sparkplugs, Mickey Thompson Tires, Gates Belts, Nationwide Insurance, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, JIMS USA, Industrial Machine Solutions and Wiley X. Additional thanks: Bill Hayes, Hargis Consulting, Ultra Pro Machining and Freddie Robbins.
Ray Price Harley-Davidson - Raleigh, NC – www.rayprice.com
www.LiveToRideLonger.com
