Anderson returns to where it all began at Thunder Valley Nationals
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 11, 2014) – Greg Anderson will take command of the white Summit Racing Pro Stock Chevrolet Camaro at Bristol Dragway this weekend for the 14th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with a very clear and distinct goal. It is the same goal that Anderson has in mind every weekend, but the gorgeous facility cut into Tennessee’s Smokey Mountains is the perfect stage for achieving Anderson’s most pressing task: to win his first race of the season. If he should do so, it would happen on a very special day of the year as Sunday is Father’s Day.
“This is where it all started for me; it’s where I got my very first win,” said Anderson, who raced to his first NHRA Pro Stock victory in Thunder Valley in 2001. “Bristol Dragway is very special to me for that reason, and racing on Father’s Day is also something I particularly enjoy because I’ve had some success with that. There is a little bit of magic surrounding that very special day, and hopefully, this weekend we can tap into that again.”
Anderson won twice consecutively on Father’s Day, once in 2002 and then again in 2003, at an NHRA national event that was then held in Columbus, Ohio, and sweetening the sentiment is the fact that his dad, Ray Anderson, celebrates a birthday on June 15th. Often, the Anderson family patriarch’s birthday has actually fallen on the holiday.
“I’ve been able to win races on Father’s Day with my dad present, and although he won’t be there this weekend, it certainly doesn’t take anything away from how special it is to accomplish a win on that particular day,” said Anderson. “This year, our team owner Ken Black and his family will be with us in Bristol – and it’s no secret that Ken is like a second father to all of us. We love him and we hope to get that trophy for him and as a birthday and Father’s Day present for my dad, too.”
Anderson and the KB Racing team took a small breather between a set of three-in-a-row events and the four consecutive race weekends on the immediate schedule, but they also logged hours in the race shop and testing at a Mooresville, N.C.-area facility, as per the norm.
“We definitely recharged our batteries, but we worked hard, too,” said Anderson, currently No. 13 in the Pro Stock standings and driven furiously to break into the top 10 in time to make NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoffs. “We jammed a lot into the week off that we’ve had since the last race because this is a very important four-race stretch. I need to make some serious hay and get myself into a great position, and that cannot wait until the last four or five races before the Countdown. It has to happen now, and I have every faith that this team can do that.”
Anderson has powered his way to the final round in two of the last four events, and despite coming into the season at a statistical disadvantage – he missed the first five races of the year as he recovered from surgery – he is still in the game with a very real shot of battling for the championship this fall.
There is, perhaps, no one hungrier and more motivated than Anderson to win. With four world championships and 74 national event trophies engraved with his name, the Minnesota-native and lifelong drag racer can easily recall what it feels like to celebrate victory. His current reputation as a driver most likely to leave the starting line first and hit every shift point along the way to the finish line stripe strengthens this one single fact: No one takes Greg Anderson lightly. But for Anderson, that is simply not enough.
“I want to win. I need to win. And I need it to happen this weekend,” said Anderson.
