Greg Anderson Takes Three-Race Winning Streak, Pro Stock Points Lead to Pacific Raceways
Pontiac Driver Kicks Off Western Swing with Denver Win
KENT, Wash., July 16, 2008 - With one leg of the NHRA Western Swing completed and two remaining on the docket, race teams now turn their gaze toward the Pacific Northwest and the running of the 21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals on July 18-20 at Pacific Raceways.
Pontiac's Greg Anderson knows just how important a good start to what will be a tough three weeks of racing can be. The POWERade Pro Stock points leader captured his third consecutive win and a class-leading fifth victory of the season last Sunday at the NHRA Mile-High Nationals in Denver, qualifying No. 1, setting a new track e.t. record at 7.010 seconds and running top speed of the meet at a track-record 196.39 mph. The three-time POWERade champion is hoping he can duplicate that kind of performance out of his Pontiac GXP when the series makes its annual stop at Pacific Raceways.
"It seems like every year that the Western Swing is what makes or breaks your season," Anderson said. "Either you get on a run and have a good second half of the season, or you get in a rut and you're scrambling to find your groove again before the Countdown comes. It felt good to run as well as we did in Denver, and the neat thing is, which is probably ridiculous to even think about it, it would be awfully neat to be able to sweep the Western series. But with the way Pro Stock is right now, with the competition so tough, that was probably the farthest thing from my mind a month ago. With the win in Denver we're the only ones that still have a chance, even though it's a small possibility.
"I love the change going from Denver to Seattle to Sonoma. All three tracks present you with different circumstances, and because of that, it's probably the toughest challenge we go through all year. If we're a good team, a championship-caliber team, then we need to show what we can do to be able to meet those challenges - having the depth on this team to be able to make it three races without running through all your good parts and having good engines by the time you're done with it. I look forward to it every year."
At Denver, Anderson drove his Summit Racing Pontiac to his third straight victory, the first time he's captured three in a row since the summer of 2005 when he won at Memphis, Indianapolis and Reading. It marked his 56th career win and his 54th victory while driving a Pontiac. Anderson also extended his consecutive qualifying streak to 129 races, the longest active streak in the Pro Stock category.
"There's no one certain thing we've been working on - it's been a lot of things," commented Anderson on the win streak. "Before, we weren't running well to do anything like winning three races in a row. Also, with the state of the class and where it is, you wouldn't think anyone could win three in a row. It's been kind of surprise to be able to do that, just because of the competition. Yes, we have been working hard, and we're certainly going in the right direction making forward gains. It's a great feeling, a neat deal, but we're certainly not going to get complacent and think we have the rest of the field covered. If we think like that we won't win another race the rest of the season. We have to keep digging and keep trying to get better.
"It's a great feeling to go to a race knowing you have a hot rod that can win on Sunday. We've been on a good streak of runs these last three races where we haven't made any mistakes and had a lot of luck to go with it. I've said it a million times, I don't care how good you run, you still have to have luck on your side to win races, and we've had that recently."
Anderson made 19 test runs on his Summit Racing Pontiac in preparation for the extreme conditions of racing at the Mile-High Nationals, and now comes the daunting task of readjusting the race setup from the challenges of competing at Bandimere Speedway's 5860 feet of altitude to the 265 feet of measured altitude at Pacific Raceways. The difference between the two venues is well over one mile (5,595 feet) in altitude, and the changes that have to be made in such a short amount of time leave no room for error.
"It's a complete makeover and a big challenge, just like Denver," Anderson said. "You completely change everything for Denver, and you focus on that one race only, and you race your car completely different than you do anywhere else with completely different parts. Now you have to change back. You have to make sure you get everything back to the way you run at a sea-level type track - and you can't forget anything. From the front bumper to the back bumper of that Summit Racing Pontiac, changes were made to make it different for Denver, and now it has to go back. It's a full, two-day changeover and you have to make sure you don't miss any detail."
Including this weekend's Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, five races remain on the schedule before the 10 finalists to the Countdown to 1 are determined following Indianapolis. Anderson is a two-time winner at Pacific Raceways. He defeated Larry Morgan in the finals in 2003 and Dave Connolly in the final round in 2004. Then it's on to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., for the third event of the Western trifecta. Anderson knows a strong finish to the Western Swing and the five remaining contests before Indy will play directly into his chances of winning a fourth POWERade title.
"We're gaining confidence with each run," Anderson said. "We're not where we need to be and I'm glad the Countdown doesn't start tomorrow. I'm glad that we have a few more races to try and make our program better. The best part is that if we go back four or five races, I think at each race we've made progress. We need to keep digging, keep our nose down and keep making progress at every race. We're certainly not as good as we want to be - we're nowhere near that. We have a few more races to go and we still need to keep getting better."
Watch Video - Pro Stock winner Greg Anderson/Denver Post-Race; YouTube - Pontiac/Greg Anderson/NHRA Pro Stock/Denver Post Race
Watch Video - Funny Car winner Tim Wilkerson/Denver Post-Race; YouTube - Tim Wilkerson/NHRA Funny Car/Chevy Impala/Denver Post Race
21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals GM RACING STATS AND FACTS
* Greg Anderson's back-to-back-back wins at Englishtown (N.J.), Norwalk (Ohio) and Denver gave the Summit Racing Pontiac driver a class-leading five wins on the season and increased his Pro Stock points lead over Chevy driver Kurt Johnson to 96.
* Anderson is one of only five drivers, and the first and only driver in Pro Stock, in the 28 years of the Western Swing to have swept all three races (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma). Those drivers are Joe Amato (1991, Top Fuel), John Force (1994, Funny Car), Cory McClenathan (1997, Top Fuel), Larry Dixon (2003, Top Fuel), and Anderson (2004, Pro Stock).
* Anderson's Denver victory was the 187th all time for Pontiac in the Pro Stock category. Of those 187 victories, Greg Anderson has the most behind the wheel of a Pontiac with 54 victories (56 total career wins), Warren Johnson is next on the list with 42 wins and Jim Yates is third with 25.
* Dave Connolly, driver of the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt, is the defending event champion in Pro Stock at Pacific Raceways and currently sits 11th in the Pro Stock standings, just 53 points out of the coveted 10th position for the Countdown to 1.
* Connolly also set the Pacific Raceways track record for speed in Pro Stock last year at 6.649 seconds. Greg Anderson holds the track record for speed at 207.50 mph, also set at last year's event.
* Warren Johnson in the GM Performance Parts Pontiac GXP leads all GM drivers in career wins at Pacific Raceways with four (1998, 1995, 1991, 1989). Son and teammate Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt has three wins (2005, 1999, 1993), Greg Anderson has back-to-back wins in 2003 and 2004, and Young Life/Penhall Pontiac driver Mike Edwards also had back-to-back wins in 1996 and 1997. Cagnazzi Racing teammates Dave Connolly (2007) and Jeg Coughlin (2002) each have a win at Pacific Raceways.
* After 11 of 24 races on the schedule completed, and just five events remaining before the Countdown to 1 cut at Indianapolis, eight drivers in GM-branded cars occupy a spot in the top 10 of the Pro Stock standings. Greg Anderson (Pontiac) leads the standings with 996 points, Kurt Johnson (Chevrolet) is in second place with 900 points, Jason Line (Pontiac) is third with 828 points, and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Chevrolet) is fourth with 819 points. Mike Edwards (Pontiac) is sixth with 671 points, Ron Krisher (Chevrolet) is in seventh place with 662 points, Greg Stanfield (Pontiac) is ninth with 627 points, and Warren Johnson (Pontiac) is 10th with 565 points. Dave Connolly (Chevrolet) is just outside the top 10 in 11th place with 512 points.
* Chevy Impala SS Funny Car drivers have combined for eight victories so far this year to give the red bowtie the most wins this year in the class. Points leader Tim Wilkerson has a class-leading four victories, Tony Pedregon, winner in two of the last four races, has three victories, and Del Worsham drove the CSK Chevrolet to a win in April at Houston.
* Tim Wilkerson's win at Denver was Chevrolet's 96th all time in the nitro Funny Car category, and it was also the 190th time a Chevrolet had advanced to a Funny Car final round.
* After 11 of 24 races, three Chevy Impala drivers occupy a spot in the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car standings including points leader Tim Wilkerson in the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevrolet. Wilkerson leads all Funny Car drivers with 978 points. Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevrolet is in third place with 750 points, and Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS is tied with Ron Capps for seventh with 632 points.
A one-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, July 19, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, July 20, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11 a.m. Eastern, and concludes with three hours of final eliminations coverage beginning at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Pontiac Driver Kicks Off Western Swing with Denver Win
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KENT, Wash., July 16, 2008 - With one leg of the NHRA Western Swing completed and two remaining on the docket, race teams now turn their gaze toward the Pacific Northwest and the running of the 21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals on July 18-20 at Pacific Raceways.
Pontiac's Greg Anderson knows just how important a good start to what will be a tough three weeks of racing can be. The POWERade Pro Stock points leader captured his third consecutive win and a class-leading fifth victory of the season last Sunday at the NHRA Mile-High Nationals in Denver, qualifying No. 1, setting a new track e.t. record at 7.010 seconds and running top speed of the meet at a track-record 196.39 mph. The three-time POWERade champion is hoping he can duplicate that kind of performance out of his Pontiac GXP when the series makes its annual stop at Pacific Raceways.
"It seems like every year that the Western Swing is what makes or breaks your season," Anderson said. "Either you get on a run and have a good second half of the season, or you get in a rut and you're scrambling to find your groove again before the Countdown comes. It felt good to run as well as we did in Denver, and the neat thing is, which is probably ridiculous to even think about it, it would be awfully neat to be able to sweep the Western series. But with the way Pro Stock is right now, with the competition so tough, that was probably the farthest thing from my mind a month ago. With the win in Denver we're the only ones that still have a chance, even though it's a small possibility.
"I love the change going from Denver to Seattle to Sonoma. All three tracks present you with different circumstances, and because of that, it's probably the toughest challenge we go through all year. If we're a good team, a championship-caliber team, then we need to show what we can do to be able to meet those challenges - having the depth on this team to be able to make it three races without running through all your good parts and having good engines by the time you're done with it. I look forward to it every year."
At Denver, Anderson drove his Summit Racing Pontiac to his third straight victory, the first time he's captured three in a row since the summer of 2005 when he won at Memphis, Indianapolis and Reading. It marked his 56th career win and his 54th victory while driving a Pontiac. Anderson also extended his consecutive qualifying streak to 129 races, the longest active streak in the Pro Stock category.
"There's no one certain thing we've been working on - it's been a lot of things," commented Anderson on the win streak. "Before, we weren't running well to do anything like winning three races in a row. Also, with the state of the class and where it is, you wouldn't think anyone could win three in a row. It's been kind of surprise to be able to do that, just because of the competition. Yes, we have been working hard, and we're certainly going in the right direction making forward gains. It's a great feeling, a neat deal, but we're certainly not going to get complacent and think we have the rest of the field covered. If we think like that we won't win another race the rest of the season. We have to keep digging and keep trying to get better.
"It's a great feeling to go to a race knowing you have a hot rod that can win on Sunday. We've been on a good streak of runs these last three races where we haven't made any mistakes and had a lot of luck to go with it. I've said it a million times, I don't care how good you run, you still have to have luck on your side to win races, and we've had that recently."
Anderson made 19 test runs on his Summit Racing Pontiac in preparation for the extreme conditions of racing at the Mile-High Nationals, and now comes the daunting task of readjusting the race setup from the challenges of competing at Bandimere Speedway's 5860 feet of altitude to the 265 feet of measured altitude at Pacific Raceways. The difference between the two venues is well over one mile (5,595 feet) in altitude, and the changes that have to be made in such a short amount of time leave no room for error.
"It's a complete makeover and a big challenge, just like Denver," Anderson said. "You completely change everything for Denver, and you focus on that one race only, and you race your car completely different than you do anywhere else with completely different parts. Now you have to change back. You have to make sure you get everything back to the way you run at a sea-level type track - and you can't forget anything. From the front bumper to the back bumper of that Summit Racing Pontiac, changes were made to make it different for Denver, and now it has to go back. It's a full, two-day changeover and you have to make sure you don't miss any detail."
Including this weekend's Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, five races remain on the schedule before the 10 finalists to the Countdown to 1 are determined following Indianapolis. Anderson is a two-time winner at Pacific Raceways. He defeated Larry Morgan in the finals in 2003 and Dave Connolly in the final round in 2004. Then it's on to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., for the third event of the Western trifecta. Anderson knows a strong finish to the Western Swing and the five remaining contests before Indy will play directly into his chances of winning a fourth POWERade title.
"We're gaining confidence with each run," Anderson said. "We're not where we need to be and I'm glad the Countdown doesn't start tomorrow. I'm glad that we have a few more races to try and make our program better. The best part is that if we go back four or five races, I think at each race we've made progress. We need to keep digging, keep our nose down and keep making progress at every race. We're certainly not as good as we want to be - we're nowhere near that. We have a few more races to go and we still need to keep getting better."
Watch Video - Pro Stock winner Greg Anderson/Denver Post-Race; YouTube - Pontiac/Greg Anderson/NHRA Pro Stock/Denver Post Race
Watch Video - Funny Car winner Tim Wilkerson/Denver Post-Race; YouTube - Tim Wilkerson/NHRA Funny Car/Chevy Impala/Denver Post Race
21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals GM RACING STATS AND FACTS
* Greg Anderson's back-to-back-back wins at Englishtown (N.J.), Norwalk (Ohio) and Denver gave the Summit Racing Pontiac driver a class-leading five wins on the season and increased his Pro Stock points lead over Chevy driver Kurt Johnson to 96.
* Anderson is one of only five drivers, and the first and only driver in Pro Stock, in the 28 years of the Western Swing to have swept all three races (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma). Those drivers are Joe Amato (1991, Top Fuel), John Force (1994, Funny Car), Cory McClenathan (1997, Top Fuel), Larry Dixon (2003, Top Fuel), and Anderson (2004, Pro Stock).
* Anderson's Denver victory was the 187th all time for Pontiac in the Pro Stock category. Of those 187 victories, Greg Anderson has the most behind the wheel of a Pontiac with 54 victories (56 total career wins), Warren Johnson is next on the list with 42 wins and Jim Yates is third with 25.
* Dave Connolly, driver of the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt, is the defending event champion in Pro Stock at Pacific Raceways and currently sits 11th in the Pro Stock standings, just 53 points out of the coveted 10th position for the Countdown to 1.
* Connolly also set the Pacific Raceways track record for speed in Pro Stock last year at 6.649 seconds. Greg Anderson holds the track record for speed at 207.50 mph, also set at last year's event.
* Warren Johnson in the GM Performance Parts Pontiac GXP leads all GM drivers in career wins at Pacific Raceways with four (1998, 1995, 1991, 1989). Son and teammate Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt has three wins (2005, 1999, 1993), Greg Anderson has back-to-back wins in 2003 and 2004, and Young Life/Penhall Pontiac driver Mike Edwards also had back-to-back wins in 1996 and 1997. Cagnazzi Racing teammates Dave Connolly (2007) and Jeg Coughlin (2002) each have a win at Pacific Raceways.
* After 11 of 24 races on the schedule completed, and just five events remaining before the Countdown to 1 cut at Indianapolis, eight drivers in GM-branded cars occupy a spot in the top 10 of the Pro Stock standings. Greg Anderson (Pontiac) leads the standings with 996 points, Kurt Johnson (Chevrolet) is in second place with 900 points, Jason Line (Pontiac) is third with 828 points, and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Chevrolet) is fourth with 819 points. Mike Edwards (Pontiac) is sixth with 671 points, Ron Krisher (Chevrolet) is in seventh place with 662 points, Greg Stanfield (Pontiac) is ninth with 627 points, and Warren Johnson (Pontiac) is 10th with 565 points. Dave Connolly (Chevrolet) is just outside the top 10 in 11th place with 512 points.
* Chevy Impala SS Funny Car drivers have combined for eight victories so far this year to give the red bowtie the most wins this year in the class. Points leader Tim Wilkerson has a class-leading four victories, Tony Pedregon, winner in two of the last four races, has three victories, and Del Worsham drove the CSK Chevrolet to a win in April at Houston.
* Tim Wilkerson's win at Denver was Chevrolet's 96th all time in the nitro Funny Car category, and it was also the 190th time a Chevrolet had advanced to a Funny Car final round.
* After 11 of 24 races, three Chevy Impala drivers occupy a spot in the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car standings including points leader Tim Wilkerson in the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevrolet. Wilkerson leads all Funny Car drivers with 978 points. Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevrolet is in third place with 750 points, and Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS is tied with Ron Capps for seventh with 632 points.
A one-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, July 19, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, July 20, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11 a.m. Eastern, and concludes with three hours of final eliminations coverage beginning at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
