Anderson Gathers Information, Thanks Fans After Long Day in Indy

Anderson Gathers Information, Thanks Fans After Long Day in Indy

Event:  58th annual Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals

Location: Lucas Oil Raceway, Clermont, Ind.

Day/Date: Saturday, September 1, 2012

The second day of qualifying for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Clermont, Ind. proved to be a long and trying day for racers and fans alike.  Although Hurricane Isaac arrived in the area late on Saturday morning, it did not create the complete washout as originally predicted. Still, the intermittent showers caused a delay of nearly three hours as well as a complete reshuffling of the running order with the Pro Stock categories, which ran after the fuel classes, losing the evening session due to excessive humidity on the race track.

Naturally, the increased humidity prevented any changes among the top qualifiers.  Even so, being unsure of how many attempts they would ultimately have at Lucas Oil Raceway, Greg Anderson and the Summit Racing team looked to make the most of their single run, posting the fourth-quickest time among the 29 cars attempting to qualify at 6.665-seconds with a top speed of 207.05 mph. Although not totally pleased with his attempt, the defending U.S. Nationals champion was still pleased to have a run on a day when it seemed unlikely they would, while also acknowledging the many fans who waited out the numerous delays.

“It was a long and wet day, but considering we weren’t expecting to make any runs, we see the one run we did get as almost a bonus,” said Anderson. “We didn’t really make the most of it, but at least we were able to gather some additional information on our Summit Racing Camaro.  It did show us that we have to work on our tune-up for these extremely humid conditions. It’s obviously something we’ll have to deal with all weekend, dodging raindrops and getting runs in when we can if at all, so we have to figure out the right tune-up.

“We made the one run today which was not what we wanted, so we’ll go in a different direction tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get something in so we don’t have to go into race day looking to make major changes.  In the meantime, I’d like to thank the fans for sticking with us throughout the day.  I hope we were able to put on a show for them to reward them for their support.”