Anderson Protects Points Lead, Flies to Semifinals at Route 66 Raceway
CHICAGO, Ill., July 12, 2015 – Greg Anderson took advantage of the opportunity to prove he has a very fast hot rod this weekend at the 18th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals. The driver of the red Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro recorded low elapsed time of raceday and held onto the track record he set during qualifying to leave a big impression on Route 66 Raceway. Racing to the semifinal round after accumulating a nice collection of bonus points during qualifying, Anderson left the event with the points lead still in hand.
After reaching five finals in the last six races and winning the most recent event on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour, the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Anderson had high expectations arriving in Chicago. He won here in 2011.
The Mooresville, N.C.-based Anderson qualified in the No. 3 position at Route 66 Raceway, and he drew Dave River as a first-round opponent. Anderson was first off the starting line and blazed down the quarter-mile dragstrip to low elapsed time of raceday with a 6.575-second pass at 210.34 mph.
With lane choice over KB Racing-powered Vincent Nobile, Anderson had an advantage in the second round. On the starting line, the two were just .001-second apart, but it was Anderson at the top end with the win light after clocking a 6.604, 209.98 to halt Nobile’s 6.621, 209.46.
The semifinal round pitted Anderson, again with lane choice, over Allen Johnson. Just last weekend in Norwalk, Anderson beat AJ in the first round, but this time the tables were turned as AJ left the starting line first and turned it into a 6.605, 209.88 to 6.588, 210.08 win. Adding insult to injury for Anderson was the fact that his Summit Racing Camaro made the quickest run of the round and the second-quickest of the entire day – behind only his own low elapsed time.
“My Summit Racing Chevy Camaro was a great racecar today,” said Anderson, who has now finished in the semifinals or better 10 times out of the first 13 races of the year. “I should have won this race, but I feel like I let the team down and didn’t get ‘er done. I was the weak link today, and that hurts – but I’ll get over it, and we’ll go to Denver and make amends for it. The KB Racing team did a fantastic job today. It works both ways, sometimes I’m going to pick up the slack, and sometimes they’re going to pick up the slack, and when we get it all together we’re just about unstoppable.”
Incoming points leader Anderson retains his lead in the Pro Stock points, and he looks forward to the next block of races on the tour, the strenuous Western Swing that begins in Denver, heads to Sonoma, and ends in Seattle.
“Team Summit is going to go home and work on our engines, and we’re going to spend the next few days getting everything ready for this big trip out West,” said Anderson. “It was a bit of a bee sting to not get to another final round here this weekend, but it’s still a great feeling to know we have a really good racecar. We’ll get over this and move forward.”