CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
K&N FILTERS ROUTE 66 NHRA NATIONALS
ROUTE 66 RACEWAY (JOLIET, ILLINOIS)
JULY 10, 2016
Chevrolet Racing Extends Pro Stock Win Streak Into Second Half of Season
• Greg Anderson claims his sixth victory and 13th in a row for KB Racing
• Teammate Bo Butner is runner-up for third time this season
• No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force sets Top Fuel track record in Monster Energy Chevrolet
• Dan Fletcher records 51st Super Stock win in Chevrolet COPO Camaro
JOLIET, Ill. (July 10, 2016) – The second half of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) season began just as the first half with Greg Anderson winning the Pro Stock competition in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS.
Anderson defeated KB Racing teammate Bo Butner, driving the Butner Auto Sales Chevrolet Camaro SS, in the final round of the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals for his 84th career Pro Stock win, which is one behind second-place Bob Glidden on the all-time list. Warren Johnson leads the class with 97 victories.
The win tied the NHRA record for consecutive team victories at 13. Jason Line, the Pro Stock points leader has an NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series-leading seven victories and Anderson registered his sixth of the season. It was the second time this season that Anderson has won as the No. 4 qualifier.
“We just flat out-raced them today. We didn’t out-power anybody, we didn’t outrun anybody,” said Anderson, who had a pass of 6.644 seconds to Butner’s 6.667. “I had a good day today and got the job done. We made good runs all day. Bo Butner whipped the toughest guy on the planet, Jason Line (in a semifinal), and it was an honor to race him. KB Racing, Chevy all the way.”
Chevrolet drivers claimed eight of the top 10 Pro Stock qualifying spots and swept into the semifinal round of eliminations. Anderson defeated No. 1 qualifier Shane Gray (Valvoline/Nova Services Chevrolet Camaro SS) in the other semifinal. Butner, a three-time runner-up this season, and Anderson are the only drivers to pin a round loss on Line, who is 43-6 in eliminations.
Gray ended KB Racing’s streak of 13 consecutive No. 1 qualifiers dating to the 2015 season (Anderson 6, Line 6, Butner 1).
Vincent Nobile (Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS), who won the event at Route 66 Raceway in 2014, and Chris McGaha (Harlow Sammons of Odessa Chevrolet Camaro SS) also were first-round winners.
Robert Hight advanced to the Funny Car semifinals for the second consecutive event in the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS. Hight, the No. 6 qualifier in the new Chevrolet Camaro SS, fell to eventual winner and No. 2 qualifier Jack Beckman.
Courtney Force, driving the 2016 Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS for the first time, won her first-round match but lost to Beckman in the second round. Force, who climbed to second in the Funny Car standings following her final-round appearance at Norwalk, Ohio, two weeks earlier, was the No. 7 qualifier. John Force (PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS) fell in the first round of Funny Car eliminations to Ron Capps. It was their 84th matchup, the fourth-most in NHRA history between two drivers.
In Top Fuel, Brittany Force set the track elapsed time record of 3.692 seconds in claiming the No. 1 qualifier spot for the second time this season and the sixth of her Top Fuel career. She has qualified in the top four in each of the past five events. Force, who earlier this season set the Top Fuel national record in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster, won in the first round of eliminations but fell to Leah Pritchett in the second round. Force has won twice this season and was the runner-up another time.
Dan Fletcher, driving the PEAK/K&N/Denso Chevrolet COPO Camaro, recorded his 51st win in Super Stock and 98th of his career. Fletcher, the No. 60 qualifier of 64 entrants, has four Super Stock wins at Route 66 Raceway. Ryan Herem, the No. 5 qualifier of 65 entrants driving the Autogeek.net Chevrolet COPO Camaro, lost in the final round in Stock Eliminator.
After a one-week break from on-track competition, Bandimere Speedway in Denver hosts the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals on July 22-24, as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series begins a three-race western swing.
“What a way to start the second half of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Congratulations to Greg Anderson in the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS and the entire KB Racing team for winning in Pro Stock for the 13th event in a row, which ties the NHRA record,” Chevrolet Racing NHRA program manager Roger Allen said. “And to see an all-Chevy semifinal again was another great accomplishment in this competitive class.
“Brittany Force continues to make waves in Top Fuel by earning her second No. 1 qualifier of the season and setting the track elapsed time in the class. As I said last week, round wins will continue to flow her way and she’ll be in the winner’s circle for the third time this season soon.
“Robert Hight, reached the semifinals for the second event in a row in Funny Car and now all three John Force Racing drivers have the new Chevrolet Camaro SS as Courtney Force drove it for the first time this weekend. They’ll continue to make progress. Also, congratulations to Dan Fletcher, who won for the 51st time in Super Stock and registered his 98th career win.
“Chevy teams and drivers will have a week to prepare for the three-race western swing, which will be pivotal in the Chase for the Championship. We’re looking forward to continued progress for all the Chevrolet teams.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:
YOU DEFEATED BO (BUTNER) INSTEAD OF JASON (LINE), BUT YOU MUST BE HAPPY THAT YOU’RE ALL PERFORMING WELL?
“We’re very happy, but any dominance might have been right on the money earlier in the year but it isn’t right now. The class has tightened up, just like I said all along would happen. You’ll have a new landscape by the time we get toward the Countdown. This was a great indicator of what’s coming up. You had a lot of teams that made big games in that week off we had since Norwalk to Chicago and we have another week off before we get to Denver and I expect more of the same. We’re going to have to dig in and work hard. Today, (crew chief) Rob Downing had to come up with something special and he did with the hot sun beating down on the racetrack. We had beautiful runs all day long and basically outraced them. We didn’t out-power anybody and didn’t dominate anything out there. We just flat out found a way to win each round we raced, and that’s what is all about. When the chips are down you have to find something extra, and we did that today. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys. It certainly was our hardest-fought victory of the year, but it makes you feel good. I’m looking forward to the battle coming up. The cars have been fantastic all year, and maybe Jason and I haven’t been killer on the tree when we need to be every time but today when we needed to be we got the job done. It was just a great team effort, and that’s what it takes to win in this class. Thirteen in a row is amazing. We’ll have a whole new learning curve in Denver, and with a week off we’re try to figure it out what we need to do and we’ll start tomorrow morning.”
WAS THERE A DIFFERENT FEEL IN THE PITS THIS WEEKEND?
“No question. There was a lot of confidence from the competitors. All the other race teams had a lot of confidence. When we came up for driver introductions today it was like ‘You’re going down today. We’ll be so happy and we don’t care which one of us beats you, but one of us will and it’s the end of your string.’ And it takes confidence to win out there. They had it coming in, and that’s what makes this feel extra special. We held off that wave of confidence and that wave of performance gap that they closed up on us. It’s going to get tougher each race we go to, but I’m excited. It’s been a lot of fun and it’s going to get tougher yet. When you win one of these buggers now it’s going to feel great.”
DOES IT FEEL GREATER THAT YOU TOOK THE WIN?
“I obviously feel better whenever I can win. As a driver you want to win. It’s great when the team wins and that’s the big picture, but we’re selfish as drivers, we have egos. When you get that far you want to be in the final round, you want to close the deal. I feel fantastic, but if I was on the sidelines I would feel great that Jason or Bo Butner had won. We’ll enjoy this one because it was the hardest-fought one, but we have to realize that it’s a new ballgame and they are even with us if not ahead of us. Shane Gray qualified No. 1. We have to find a way to gain performance before we get to Denver. It’s exciting and cool and a new development period in which things are learned every day.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED IT’S TAKEN THE COMPETITION THIS LONG?
“We’re very surprised. The longer it’s gone on I keep saying ‘Are you kidding me? Could it happen that this could go on all year long?’ But that’s ridiculous and we knew that. History tells that it’s not going to happen. Just to win 13 in a row is beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. People ask, ‘Can you win the whole year?’ No, of course not, we know better than that. But we’ll try to win as many as we can. Regardless of what happens the rest of the year it’s been a great start, but we know deep down that if we don’t find more performance we’re going to get smoked the rest of the year and that’s the beauty of Pro Stock. That’s why we race it. The competition level is the highest out here.”
YOU’VE BEEN IN A POSITION WHEN YOU’VE BEEN HIGH AND LOW. WHAT HAPPENS IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT?
“It’s tough on your mind and hard to dig out of. When I’ve come off of great seasons and winning championships and then you hit that rut, that hole, you wonder if you can ever win again. And that’s what I’ve always said determines what makes a great champion if they can find their way out of the hole and act right when they are in the depression and find their way back to the top. There are very talented people who race in this class. They don’t give up.”
HOW DO YOU TEST FOR DENVER?
“Most of the rest of the class is going to Denver and normally we do, and there’s probably more reason to go this year. We think there’s so much more yet to be gained on our dynos with the fuel injection. We need to go test but I think we can learn just as much on the dyno as we can when we go there. At least that’s what we’re going to hedge our bet on. The rest of the class is going there so one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong. We want those next 10 days on our dynos trying to find a way to get that engine to run better when we get to Denver. On our dyno we can simulate Denver conditions. We’ll see when we get there who made the right decision.”