Anderson Heads Home to Race for the Brainerd Trophy
Mooresville, N.C., August 13, 2013 – Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson is returning to his home state of Minnesota this weekend for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, and the driver of the Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro has his heart set on one thing: earning his first trophy of the season in front of family and friends at the racetrack where he grew up.
Although the 74-time NHRA national event winner and four-time Pro Stock world champion is obviously no stranger to toting home the hardware, the 2013 season has been a particular challenge for Mooresville, N.C.-based Anderson. Although he has already secured a spot in the Countdown to the Championship and is currently seventh in the Pro Stock standings, Anderson has yet to wheel his way to the winner’s circle. He isn’t just hungry; he’s starving for that win, and there would be no better place to get it done than on the hallowed grounds where he learned his craft.
“Every win is incredibly special in one way or another,” said Anderson. “But Brainerd is just absolutely at the top of the list. It’s a race that means so much, not just to me, but also to my Summit Racing teammate Jason Line. We both have roots there, and we have a lot of supporters at this racetrack cheering us on. To win in Brainerd is really a big deal for this team, and we haven’t seen a lot of bright spots this year – to get it done this weekend would be huge.”
However, it isn’t enough to simply win. Anderson and his team want to earn it, and after the recent journey across the United States for the notoriously strenuous, three-in-a-row Western Swing, the Summit Racing crew powered right back to the KB Racing headquarters to pack as much hard work as possible into the week and a half before the Brainerd race. Anderson and company worked overtime and put the Summit Racing Camaros to the test before the rigs finally departed this week to cut a trail north towards what they hope will be their most successful outing yet this season.
Anderson, a Duluth native, has enjoyed success in the past in Brainerd and has so far acquired three wins in six final rounds, with trophies earned in 2003, 2009, and 2011. Summit Racing teammate Line, who won the first national event of his career in the Stock Eliminator sportsman category in Brainerd, was a Pro Stock finalist in 2006 and again in 2009, when he went toe-to-toe with Anderson but missed the win light by just .002-second.
“I can tell you one thing, this team just doesn’t rest. You just can’t in a class like Pro Stock,” said Anderson, who acquired his work ethic in drag racing honestly, as a student first of his father, Rod, and then of mentor and treasured friend, the late John Hagan, an iconic Minnesota racer. Before launching his own career as a Pro Stock driver, Anderson worked with, and was undoubtedly influenced by, another successful North Star State Pro Stock campaigner, Warren Johnson.
“One thing I’ve learned is that it’s tough out there, you don’t get any breathing room, and you have to be at the top of your game all the time if you want to have any measure of success,” Anderson continued. “I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a group of very motivated individuals who really give it everything they’ve got. This could be our weekend, and I’d be very, very happy if it was.”