Starting Second, Anderson Targets Fifth Topeka Win

Starting Second, Anderson Targets Fifth Topeka Win   

Event:  24th annual Dollar General NHRA Summernationals

Location: Heartland Park Topeka, Topeka, Kansas

Day/Date: Saturday, May 19, 2012

Summit Racing Pontiac Greg Anderson completed a strong qualifying effort in impressive fashion on Saturday, posting the quickest elapsed time of the fourth and final session at the Dollar General NHRA Summernationals in Topeka, Kan.  With two sessions held in the heat of the day at Heartland Park Topeka, Anderson’s 6.624-second time from Friday night, which came with a track record top speed of 208.55 mph, remained his run of record and earned him the second starting position for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Even so, Anderson was equally pleased with his 6.633-second, 207.37 mph pass in the heat of the afternoon on Saturday.  Armed with a consistent and fast race car, the four-time champion heads into race day and his first round encounter with Richard Freeman cautiously optimistic about his chances of scoring a fifth Heartland Park Topeka win.

“I am happier after qualifying today than I’ve been at any race all year,” said Anderson.  “I don’t know why, but my Summit Racing Pontiac has suddenly come to life. My opinion is that it’s scared that I’m going to retire it, because we certainly haven’t made any major changes to it.  I may not fully understand why it’s happened, but I’m glad it did.

“The good news is that we’re going to have a really good hot rod tomorrow.  We’ve had two good days of qualifying, made four solid runs and scored bonus points in all four sessions, which is a major improvement.  We’ve had a great car so far this weekend, and tomorrow we need to do something with it.

“If we get some cloud cover tomorrow, it will help the racetrack, which has held up well so far in the heat.  It’s also supposed to be cooler, which should give us better air, so these cars should be able to run better, which excites us, because we believe it plays into our strengths.  We’ll have to wait and see what race day brings, but for right now I’m happy.”