The march to the milestone is over for Pro Stock superstar Greg Anderson.

Anderson captured his coveted 100th career Pro Stock NHRA national event victory at his favorite race the prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis
Monday.

Anderson claimed his century mark win when his KB Racing teammate Dallas Glenn had a redlight start in the other lane.

“I don’t know if I could explain it,” said Anderson, who is NHRA’s all-time leader in Pro Stock national event wins. “It is incredible. I kept asking myself
what do I have to do to win. It wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to be at Indy obviously. What a cool, cool deal. I have made no bones about telling
everybody all my career how special Indy is to me. It means everything. It means 10 times more than any other race. There is a lot of other special
racetracks on my schedule obviously Vegas, Charlotte, the Gatornationals and all those great race tracks I have had success at, but nothing compares
to Indy.

“It is an out of body experience when you win here (in Indy). To win No. 100 here I just can’t possibly ask for anything more than that. I’m a lucky man
not only to say I won 100 races, but to win 100 at Indy. It is incredible. It means everything to me.”

This was Anderson’s first victory of the season and his seventh at the U.S. Nationals. He also won at Indy in 2001, 2003, 2004-2006 and 2011. Only Bob Glidden has more U.S. Nationals Pro Stock wins with nine in 1973-74, 1978-79, 1983, and 1985-88.

“It’s wonderful,” said Anderson of his mastery in Indy. “It’s fantastic. I remember back in the day when we were winning quite often, from 2001 to 2011 we won six times. It was pretty crazy. You're  convinced that I might win 10 of these. I can remember Frank Manzo I think he won like 10 times here and I can remember him saying that 'I’m nothing Greg Anderson already has six and he’s going to blow way past me.' Then times become tough, and it became hard to win here and I’m not going to catch him and that’s Ok. That just tells you how special Frank Manzo is and hard it is and how hard Indy is. In the heyday, we were knocking them off right and left and now when you go through a slump like this or whatever you want to call it, tougher times, you really appreciate it. Today was probably my most special Indy ever not only for the 100th reason, but to win Indy at this stage of my career is beyond believe.”

Anderson’s dream weekend included him being the No. 1 qualifier and defeating Fernando Cuadra Sr., Troy Coughlin Jr., Fernando Cuadra Jr. and
then Glenn.

Anderson’s Pro Stock journey began 40 years ago as an apprentice to the late John Hagen, who died in a crash in Aug. 19, 1983, in Brainerd, Minn.

“It is funny that you bring that up because his son, David was here this weekend,” Anderson said. “He had to leave (Sunday), but he felt like something special was going to happen this weekend. The kids have stayed very close to me ever since that day and I love them to death. They came here because they felt like something special was going to happen. I’m definitely going to have to give him a call as soon as I walk out the door out here. They are a very special family. It is where it all started. I can absolutely say with 100 percent sincerity I would not be here today if it wasn’t for that family. It is  incredible what they did for me and the love they showed me.

“It 100 percent started there, and I don’t talk enough about it about the Hagen family and how special they were. Anybody who knew him back in the
day, no one would say a bad word about him. You don’t have many in the world and he was one of those guys. I was very fortunate to spend time with
him. I treated him as he was my second father. It was a sad, sad deal, but I wouldn’t be here without him. It is as simple as that.”

One of Anderson’s other key mentors was Warren Johnson, and he receives a lot of credit for crafting Anderson into what he is today, but Anderson
acknowledged that Hagen also taught him profound lessons he employees now.

“There’s no question Warren opened my vision to a lot of different things and certainly educated me on a lot of things that I had not already learned,”
Anderson said. “But I had a good basic skill set when I came to Warren and that’s because of John Hagen. I guess between the two of them they have
got me to where I’m at today. They taught me how to work on race cars. They taught me how to work hard. I learned that northern Minnesota work
ethic and I brought it with me all my career.

“I tell people every day that I have never met anyone in my life that has failed in life by working hard. If you just work hard, you’re going to succeed in life. It is really that simple. I’m not a brain surgeon and I’m not the smartest person out there, but I work hard, and I have learned that from them. It is a valuable, valuable lesson that a lot of people now-a-days could learn from.”

Anderson joins an elite club of drivers – John Force, Frank Manzo, Dan Fletcher, and David Rampy – who have won at least 100 NHRA national events.

“It is incredible,” said Anderson about being in that exclusive club. “A couple three years ago when I was breaking over the 90 mark and I chased down
Warren (Johnson) with 97, I tried not to think about it. I was having too much fun racing. I was thinking I could race forever and now I’m certainly coming closer to the end of my driving career. I’m 61 years old. I have to be realistic.

“You can’t compete with Dallas Glenn and all these young guys out there who can go 00 on the light every time. My days are numbered but I got 100
and I don’t think I’m done. I think I’m going to get a few more and I’m not going to quit until basically I can’t win anymore, but I know that day is coming because the competition just keeps going up every year. It is pretty cool deal. I think it is wonderful that the class is full of all these young guns coming into it. I think that is pretty neat, but if it was just all the young guns it might not have the zip that is has now. You still have to have a couple of crusty old veterans who still can do it and who still can win to compete with these young guys who can do it. I think that’s what makes the class so cool.

Anderson, who also is the reigning NHRA world champion, had a candid answer as to when he became ‘crusty.’

“A lot of years ago,” he said.