Mooresville, N.C., April 24, 2013 – Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson paid his dues as a crew member and crew chief before graduating to the role of driver and earning four series championships, and he learned early in his career that success in the incredibly competitive category requires more than skilled driving. An exceptional team is critical to rising to the top in a class where every ten-thousandth of a second counts. This weekend, at the O’Reilly Auto Part NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston, Anderson will be calling on a total team effort to summon success for the KB Racing group.
“What we’ve been able to achieve has been way beyond our wildest dreams,” said Anderson. “We didn’t set out thinking that we could dominate in this class for a number of years, and we exceeded our expectations. But when you get to that point and begin to go in the other direction and experience misfortune and what we perceive as failure, you take it really hard. You fall off of that mountain, and you take it hard.
“I told everyone when we were experiencing that high that it was the lows that would really distinguish the character of this KB Racing team, how we would be able to recover from adversity. Well, we did it – we recovered from a group of tough years and came back to win the championship in 2010 and 2011. That’s what a team does. If you can keep your head up and have faith in each other, you can dig out of that hole and find success again. We have to stay together, work together, win as a team, and lose as a team.”
Anderson made his first final round of the season last weekend at his home racetrack in Charlotte after starting a respectable 5th in the line-up. For the driver who has qualified on the pole 75 times in his career and participated in 112 national event final rounds, top-half qualifying isn’t enough, and the fact that it took four races to get to a final just doesn’t sit well. Anderson and his dedicated crew expect more – particularly on raceday.
“It comes down to adapting to racetrack conditions on Sunday,” said Anderson. “We had a pretty good test session after Charlotte, and we definitely gained some ground on what we think went wrong on Sunday last week. For us, it’s going to be a matter of avoiding mistakes like we made that day and managing the round-to-round changes with the racetrack that we haven’t been able to keep up with. It’s difficult to create those changes when you test, so it’s a work in progress, but we definitely have a lot of thoughts on combatting the problem. We don’t want to get over-anxious and say it’s fixed, but we will say that this Summit Racing team plans to do a better job in Houston.”
It is certainly no secret that the Summit Racing group has accomplished much in their history of racing together under team owner Ken Black, and the team has watched their combined total of Pro Stock victories rise to a remarkable 103. Anderson’s record in Houston includes two wins – one in 2004, when he was also the No. 1 qualifier – and then again in 2008, when he bested KB Racing teammate Jason Line in the final.
“You know, I look forward to this weekend in Houston. We have often had great atmospheric conditions there, and our Summit Racing cars have run fast at that racetrack,” said Anderson of the sea-level altitude facility that is particularly complementing to the naturally aspirated factory hot rods. “And the fans there are just wonderful – there always seems to be a good turnout in Houston, and they love Pro Stock. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and I’d like to think that if all of those things come together and we make the right decision on Sunday, we’ll get one of these Summit Racing Camaros to the winner’s circle.”
