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Gregory Ray (born August 3, 1966) is an American former race car driver.

After winning theSCCA nationalFormula Atlantic championship in 1993, Ray moved up to theCART-sanctionedToyota Atlantic series in 1994.

In1997, Ray made hisIndy Racing League debut driving for Thomas Knapp in an unsponsored black No. 97 car. He made his mark on the series a year later during qualifying for the1998 Indianapolis 500. Driving the same, plain, black No. 97, he qualified second behindA. J. Foyt's driverBilly Boat. The car attracted sponsorship from local businesses and the national anti-tobacco campaign, and became known as Ash Kicker Racing. Though he failed to finish that race, he scored several good results in subsequent races and caught the eye of successful businessman and team ownerJohn Menard Jr.

In1999, Ray won the IRL championship on the strength of three victories. However,2000 was a difficult season with only one victory. He qualified on pole for theIndianapolis 500 but subsequently finished last (33rd). In 2001, Ray and Menard had split, and his replacementJaques Lazier won his first victory at theChicagoland Speedway.

Things continued to go downhill from there, as Ray bounced around three separate cars in2002 before starting his own team in2003, Access Motorsports, the lone team utilizing aPanoz chassis withHonda engines. He gained sponsorship fromTrimSpa but failed to light up the scoreboard and in2004, he ran a few races before giving his seat to formerInfiniti Pro Series championMark Taylor. The team closed at the end of the year from a lack of sponsorship.

Ray had five wins in his 74 IRL starts.

Ray made his debutIndy Racing League start during the 1997 portion of the1996-97 Indy Racing League season driving the No. 97Thomas Knapp MotorsportsDallara-Oldsmobile Aurora in five of ten events including theIndianapolis 500 where he would finish 25th due to a water pump failure. Ray's best finish came at theTrue Value 500 atTexas Motor Speedway near Ray's hometown ofDallas, Texas to finish 29th place finish in points.

For1998 Ray would continue to drive Knapp's No. 97Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora with sponsorship fromMercury Outboards andMercury Marine for the opening rounds of the season. However, during practice for theIndianapolis 500 Knapp's team was without a sponsor. Ray would manage to qualify second betweenA. J. Foyt Enterprises teammatesBilly Boat andKenny Brack and would gain race day sponsorship fromJustice Brothers, Inc.,True Value,The Nashville Network, and Ray's hometown trackTexas Motor Speedway. In the race, Ray led for eighteen laps before retiring on lap 167 due to a gearbox failure. Ray would follow up his 500 performance with a second place finish at theTrue Value 500 atTexas Motor Speedway where Ray acquired sponsorship fromAT&T but Knapp's team skipped races due to a lack of sponsorship. Ray then drove a two-race stint forA. J. Foyt Enterprises in the No. 11ConsecoDallara-Oldsmobile Aurora as a replacement to the injuredBilly Boat (who beat Ray to the pole position at Indianapolis and the win at Texas) at thePep Boys 400K atDover Downs International Speedway where Ray would set the fastest lap before getting taken out in a crash and theVisionAire 500K atLowe's Motor Speedway where Ray retired with gearbox failure. Knapp then reopened his team for the final three races of the season with sponsorship fromGenoa Racing andBest Access Systems but would retire from each race.

Knapp's team then closed its doors for good due to a lack of sponsorship but Ray was signed on to drive the No. 2Glidden/MenardsDallara-Oldsmobile Aurora and would take pole positions at theMCI WorldCom 200 atPhoenix International Raceway and theVisionAire 500K atLowe's Motor Speedway (the latter of which was cancelled due to an accident that killed three spectators). Ray would retire from the first three races before getting three wins atRadisson 200 andColorado Indy 200 Presented by Deloitte & Touche both atPikes Peak International Raceway and theMBNA Mid-Atlantic 200 atDover Downs International Speedway to get the championship (Ray's only time in the top-ten in points).

For2000, Ray would continue to drive for Menard in the No. 1Conseco/Quaker State/MenardsDallara-Oldsmobile Aurora scoring six poles in the series' nine races including theIndianapolis 500 where during the IRL's split withCARTChip Ganassi Racing, a CART team, entered a pair of cars for CART driversJuan Pablo Montoya andJimmy Vasser with Montoya starting second to Ray. Because of this Ray and Montoya were the favorites to win. Ray would lead 26 of the first 66 laps before crashing on lap 67 and finishing in 33rd (last) place with Montoya leading 167 of the two-hundred laps on his way to an easy win. Ray would go on to win theMidas 500 Classic atAtlanta Motor Speedway. However, Ray would drop to thirteenth in points.

In2001, Ray would continue to drive for Menard in the No. 2Johns Manville/MenardsDallara-Oldsmobile Aurora. Ray continued to be an excellent qualifier with four poles in the series' first ten races but had trouble finishing races with a win at thezMax Atlanta 500 Classic atAtlanta Motor Speedway. Ray's relationship with Menard got even worse after theIndianapolis 500 where Ray qualified second and would lead forty laps before finishing seventeenth, eight laps down. Ray split from Menard after theBelterra Resort Indy 300 atKentucky Speedway while Ray's replacement,Jaques Lazier won in his second race in the car at theDelphi Indy 300 atChicagoland Speedway. Ray would drive the season endingChevy 500 atTexas Motor Speedway returning toA. J. Foyt's team in the No. 11A. J. Foyt RacingDallara-NissanInfiniti where Ray would start 13th and finish 8th in his only other top 10 of the year besides his Atlanta win.

Starting off2002 without a ride, Ray was hired to drive the No. 11Harrah'sDallara-Chevrolet forA. J. Foyt Enterprises in place of the injuredEliseo Salazar. Ray made his 2002 debut at theIndianapolis 500 starting 31st and crashing after 28 laps and finishing in 33rd, last, place again. Ray continued to drive Foyt's #11 (later #41 when Salazar returned) through theGateway Indy 250 atGateway International Speedway. Ray would then drive forSam Schmidt Motorsports in the No. 20Dallara-Chevrolet with sponsorship fromEmpress Casino andYoung Chevrolet in the final two races of the season. Ray's best finish of 2002 was a 12th at theBoomtown 500 atTexas Motor Speedway in Foyt's No. 11 car. This led to a 23rd-place finish in points.

Without a ride for2003, Ray started his own team called Access Motorsports fielding Ray in the No. 13Trim SpaPanoz G Force-Honda. The team started out strong with a 9th-place finish at theIndy Japan 300 atTwin Ring Motegi and followed that up with an eighth place finish at theIndianapolis 500. Ray would equal his eighth place finish at theKansas Indy 300 atKansas Speedway, theEmerson Indy 250 atGateway International Speedway, and theChevy 500 atTexas Motor Speedway. In addition, Ray would have fifth place qualifying efforts at theSunTrust Indy Challenge atRichmond International Raceway and theBelterra Casino Indy 300 atKentucky Speedway. Ray would finish fifteenth in points despite missing three races.

In2004, Ray looked to be in good shape after a respectable 2003 season. Ray acquired sponsorship fromRenovac for the opening rounds on his No. 13Panoz G Force-Honda and would have a second place start at theIndy Japan 300 atTwin Ring Motegi. But prior to theIndianapolis 500 the team was without sponsorship but Ray was able to get sponsorship fromRent-A-Center due to the company being based in Ray's home town ofPlano, Texas. After Indianapolis Ray fielded his own cars without sponsorship at theBombardier 500 atTexas Motor Speedway and theSunTrust Indy Challenge atRichmond International Raceway getting a seventh place finish at Texas. But soon a lack of sponsorship caught up to Ray as he had to withdraw from the following race, theArgent Mortgage Indy 300 atKansas Speedway. Ray would quietly finish 23rd in points and the team closed up shop at the end of the season.

Ray soon afterwards retired from racing after being unable to find a drive for the2005 season.

Ray started off his career by driving in various divisions of theSCCA by first attending SCCA driving schools in September 1991. By 1992, Ray was competing in several SCCA-sanctionedFormula Ford 2000 series. In that season Ray had seven podium finishes and set a track record lap for a Formula Ford 2000 car atSears Point Raceway and would take the series championship.

In 1993, Ray moved up to theFormula Atlantic series and would take the championship in series in dominating fashion.

In 1994, Ray moved toCART's version of the Atlantic championship, thePlayer's/ Toyota Atlantic Championship continuing to drive the same car he won the 1993 championship with. Ray would dominate this series also with wins atPhoenix International Raceway,Mosport International Raceway, and theMilwaukee Mile. Ray would have seven other podium finishes, six pole positions, and eight fastest laps with the championship.

By1996, Ray was competing in thePPG/ Firestone Indy Lights Championship Powered by Buick driving forTeam KOOL Green in the No. 27KOOLLola-Buick V6. Ray's best race of the season came at the race at theMilwaukee Mile where Ray started fourth and finished in second place. Ray would finish in twelfth place in the overall championship.

After winning the1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League championship Ray drove aPontiac Firebird Trans Am, representing thePep Boys Indy Racing League. Ray had a best finish of seventh at the race atTalladega Superspeedway and would also start 2nd at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway race. Ray would finish in eleventh place in the championship.

Ray has appeared as a playable driver in theracing games;Indy Racing 2000 andIndyCar Series 2005.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

¹ The 1999VisionAire 500K atCharlotte was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities. Ray had qualified for the pole position.

• GregRayRacing.com
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• 1966 births
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