Anderson looking for things to go his way at Midwest Nationals
Mooresville, N.C., September 24, 2014 – Greg Anderson isn’t one to dwell on the past, but as the 74-time national event winner returns to the St. Louis area this weekend for the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, he is buoyed by the memory of strong past performances. The driver of the white Summit Racing Pro Stock Chevrolet Camaro won the event in 2004 in what was truly a remarkable season that included 15 wins in 19 final rounds. In addition to the St. Louis win, Anderson is a multi-time finalist there and has a collection of low qualifier awards earned at the drag strip in the shadow of The Arch. To say that visiting Gateway Motorsports Park is something that the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver looks forward to would be to state the obvious.
“I’m not sure what it is about that particular racetrack, but it’s a nice facility, and we do really well there. We have fun there, we’ve had a lot of success there, and I love going there. It’s another one that we really look forward to, and it’s just the perfect time of the year to be in that part of the country. Last weekend in Dallas it was darn warm, and hopefully things cool down this weekend and the cars run really fast. It certainly has the potential to be a very exciting race for Team Summit.”
Anderson visited his first Gateway final in 2000, competing in only his third season as a driver in the exceptionally competitive category of naturally aspirated factory hot rods. He was again runner-up in 2002, and in 2004 the Minnesota native was the No. 1 qualifier at the event and finally earned the longed-for trophy with a final-round defeat of Steve Johns. The next season, Anderson fell just short of defending the title and finished in the final, and in 2006 and 2007 he continued to show great power at the facility as he raced to back-to-back starts from the No. 1 position.
“I’m excited every weekend, and this one is no exception,” said Anderson, who is eager to put an uncharacteristic red-light in Dallas last weekend in his rearview mirror. “I have a shot at winning these races, and last week I let it slip away. We’ve been working hard, and this weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park, hopefully things will go my way.
“The trucks went on to St. Louis from Dallas, but the KB Racing crew came back to the shop to work on our engines in pursuit of making them even better, and we can get right back to work on the racetrack this weekend. The Countdown to the Championship is heating up, and we’ve got our teammate Jason Line up there in the No. 1 spot – and we’d like to keep him there. We’ll go to St. Louis with the hope of winning the race and helping our teammate.”