Event: *12th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals
Location: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada
Day/Date: Friday, April 1, 2011
Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson and his fellow racers encountered the most trying conditions of the 2011 season during the first day of qualifying at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada.* With ambient temperatures soaring into the 90’s, the challenge was not only in making horsepower, but also in transferring it to the hot and slick Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway track, where surface temperatures reached 132 degrees.*
Although Anderson tied for the second-quickest time of the opening session at 6.736 seconds, the top speed tie breaker placed him fourth based on his 204.35 mph speed.* This remained his run of record after the second session, as the combination of rising temperatures and a tricky right-hand lane prevented any changes among the 17 drivers attempting to qualify.* Naturally, the four-time champion looked for improvement during one of his final two attempts on Saturday.
“We know from all the years we have been coming here that when the track is as hot as it was today, the right hand starting line can be an absolute bear,” said Anderson.* “Unfortunately, we just weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be with our changes and it bit us.* It’s not as bad when it’s cooler, because the discrepancy is not as big between the two lanes.
“We’re going to be back in that lane in the morning, and we’ll have to do a better job, pulling out a run similar to what we did in the final round in Gainesville, when our Summit Racing Pontiac made a killer run in the bad lane.* We have the notes from that pass, and apparently we need to go back and look at them to see what we did, so we can apply it to our set-up for this weekend.* In any case, we’ll have to make some changes overnight, so we can take advantage of the two cracks we have at it tomorrow.”
Location: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada
Day/Date: Friday, April 1, 2011
Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson and his fellow racers encountered the most trying conditions of the 2011 season during the first day of qualifying at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada.* With ambient temperatures soaring into the 90’s, the challenge was not only in making horsepower, but also in transferring it to the hot and slick Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway track, where surface temperatures reached 132 degrees.*
Although Anderson tied for the second-quickest time of the opening session at 6.736 seconds, the top speed tie breaker placed him fourth based on his 204.35 mph speed.* This remained his run of record after the second session, as the combination of rising temperatures and a tricky right-hand lane prevented any changes among the 17 drivers attempting to qualify.* Naturally, the four-time champion looked for improvement during one of his final two attempts on Saturday.
“We know from all the years we have been coming here that when the track is as hot as it was today, the right hand starting line can be an absolute bear,” said Anderson.* “Unfortunately, we just weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be with our changes and it bit us.* It’s not as bad when it’s cooler, because the discrepancy is not as big between the two lanes.
“We’re going to be back in that lane in the morning, and we’ll have to do a better job, pulling out a run similar to what we did in the final round in Gainesville, when our Summit Racing Pontiac made a killer run in the bad lane.* We have the notes from that pass, and apparently we need to go back and look at them to see what we did, so we can apply it to our set-up for this weekend.* In any case, we’ll have to make some changes overnight, so we can take advantage of the two cracks we have at it tomorrow.”
