Through his decorated NHRA career Greg Anderson has a couple of incredible statistics: 105 national-event wins, most all-time in Pro Stock, and 125 No. 1 qualifying positions.
Make the latter 126 – third most in NHRA history.
Anderson claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., on Saturday, clocking a 6.615-second elapsed time at 205.38 mph.
“I think we got it all,” Anderson said. “I got out the first run this morning, and I think we got more than it all. I know I’ve never said that before.
This is Anderson’s second No. 1 qualifier of 2024, with the earlier one coming at the Four Wide Nationals in Charlotte. His run was no fluke, as he clocked a 6.628-second run at 205.29 mph in Q4 to give him the two quickest runs Saturday.
“So fantastic when you do something like that and then come back and back it up on the next run, same day. And it’s awesome out here,” Anderson said. “The competition is so, so mean and so tough. You’ve got a different hero every week, and you never know who can beat who. It’s just the class is fantastic right now. So, to have a day like today and outrun the competition by a couple of hundredths, that’s a mile in Pro Stock. And it certainly doesn’t ever guarantee you will win because it still comes down to that Christmas tree.”
Anderson faces Larry Morgan on Sunday in the first round as he seeks an event win to go with those earlier in the season in Phoenix and Charlotte. The driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro won at Bristol in 2001 and 2004.
“Super, super happy and hopefully we can carry it into (Sunday),” Anderson said. “I wish and pray we’d have the same weather conditions we have today because obviously they worked for us. But it looks like we’re not going to have those, but, still, it’s a great racetrack for me. I love racing here. Obviously, this is where I won my very first ever NHRA national event back in 2001. So, if it wasn’t for this place and the jump start, I got here to start a great career I’ve had, obviously I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.
“It’s been a hell of a ride and I love racing up here at Thunder Valley. A lot of memories up here and it’s just fun to come here.”
What Anderson did Saturday was quite impressive because of the hot, muggy conditions, the altitude, and the tricky racetrack.
“You’re going to have to go back to that trailer and ask the guys there because there was a lot of talk this morning about different things they wanted to try,” Anderson said. “We were qualified after (Friday), and we knew today was the day just to … We weren’t in the Mission 2fast2tasty deal, so we didn’t have to worry about racing today. It was just a day to go out and learn. And they took some gambles. They made some changes. They took some gambles and came up sevens and hats off to them. It’s all of them, it’s not me.”
Anderson continued to describe what it is like driving his hot rod.
“The car becomes very easy to drive when they make runs like that,” Anderson said. “They’re a challenge when you’re not making quality runs, that’s when they’re hard to drive. But when they make runs like mine made (Saturday), anybody in this room could’ve drove my race car and I guarantee that’s the truth. So, it’s a pleasure. It doesn’t happen that often, but today was just a magical day. It was great. It was easy to drive a Pro Stock car today, and the team did everything right.”
Despite driving for the powerhouse KB Titan Racing even he was taken back by the numbers he saw after both his runs Saturday.
“I was certainly shocked when I got out of the car the first time. It felt good, but I didn’t expect it to be that fast,” Andersons said. “So, when they feel that smooth, they normally don’t run that good, to be honest with you. They got to be a little on edge to usually really lay a great number down, but (Saturday) they were just as smooth as glass, and every bump that we felt in the racetrack (Friday) went away today. They were all gone. It looked like a sheet of glass out there, and the car was just happy.”
And Anderson’s driving skills were as good as ever as he navigated the racetrack that has tunnel bumps and was dealing with extreme heat.
“It’s extremely challenging and I wish I could take credit for it, but I can’t. I have three great crew chiefs over there that are working great together and they’re making great decisions,” Anderson said. “And they’re happy with this race car right now. I can rewind and go back about five days ago, and my race car was not happy. We struggled with that racetrack in Epping (N.H.), and we kind of came here with something to prove. We knew we had a better car than that under us, and we basically made some mistakes.
“So, we fixed it here and it made top quality runs like it had been running before that. And I say it’s a dream to drive when it’s like that. It doesn’t happen very often. So, it’s a special day.”
