Drag racing is in Tanner Gray’s blood — it has been from the time he knew any better.

After all, his grandfather and his father built the Gray family legacy on winning on the drag strip, a legacy that Gray has proudly carried on over the past two years.

At first, it appeared Gray might break away from heritage and end up in oval- track racing, but eventually, he found his way to the starting line just as the two generations that came before him.

“In a way, I suppose it was always sitting here, waiting on me,” said Gray. “For a while, I didn’t think about it. I was just focused on racing whatever I could, whenever I could, and trying to be good at whatever type of car I got in.

“I really never expected to do it, until I turned 16 and I realized that I would probably end up going down that road at some point,” Gray continued. “It’s in our blood; it’s a part of our family name and something we all take pride in. I remember going to the race track pretty much 24/7 as a kid and eventually being taken out of public school and being home-schooled just so that I could go to the races with my mom and dad.”

Originally from New Mexico and now residing in Mooresville, N.C., Gray burst onto the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series scene in 2017 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old. He won in just his fourth Pro Stock start and added four additional victories en route to winning rookie-of-the-year honors.

“I didn’t expect things to move as fast as they’ve moved,” admitted Gray. “I knew we were going to have good equipment and because of that I feel like I held myself to a higher standard than most rookies would, but to be honest I was just hoping to get a win sometime during the year. I set a personal goal of wanting to win my very first race, but you have to temper those somewhat as a rookie.

“We were still able to win in my fourth start and I was able to become the youngest Pro Stock winner in history, which is really special to me and something that only one person can say,” he continued. “To go on and contend for a championship in my first year … that’s something that you think about, but you can’t necessarily expect it and to be in that position was a huge testament to our team.”

But it’s no ordinary team.

Family patriarch Johnny Gray, Tanner’s grandfather, raced in both the NHRA Pro Stock and Funny Car classes after launching the team in 2009. Shane Gray, Johnny’s son and Tanner’s father, raced in Pro Stock and won the prestigious U.S. Nationals before handing the reins to Tanner.

In fact, that particular race in 2014 is one that Tanner Gray circled as particularly inspiring to his career.

“Probably one of the coolest racing memories that I have, I think I was 15 … and I got to watch my dad win the U.S. Nationals,” recalled Gray. “To me, that was really, really cool and something I’ll never personally forget. I got to watch my dad, one of my racing heroes, win the biggest race in drag racing that you can win. That was cool, to be able to see him accomplish that and know how much it meant to him because of how tough that event is to win.”

That kind of performance level meant that when the third-generation Gray took the wheel, it wasn’t a question of if he could win, but when he would win.

“Honestly, I feel like my situation is comparable to someone getting into a KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) truck in NASCAR. In that kind of a scenario, you’re expected to win … or at least run up front and in contention,” he explained. “If you don’t do that, I think it shows what kind of a driver you are. I feel like I held myself to that (level) and that I got into a capable car and did some good with it pretty quickly.”