Second Round Finish, Playoff Spot Not Enough for Anderson in Denver
Event: 33rd annual Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Location: Bandimere Speedway, Morrison, Colorado
Day/Date: Sunday, July 22, 2012
After struggling in qualifying, Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson knew his team would need to show improvement in order to contend in Sunday’s NHRA Mile-High Nationals in Denver, Colo. Starting from the ninth position, the KB Racing driver responded to the challenge in the first round, using a stellar .014 reaction time to gain the advantage on arch rival Jeg Coughlin and never looked back, stepping up to a 6.978-second elapsed time and 197.28 mph top speed to gain the round win.
Anderson’s reward for his strong opening performance was an encounter with Allen Johnson, who had qualified No. 1 and been the dominant car throughout the weekend. Although the four-time champion was able to make a solid 6.988-second, 197.13 mph pass, it was not enough to eclipse his opponent 6.945-second, 198.15 mph effort. Despite being the first driver in the Pro Stock category to lock into this year’s Full Throttle championship playoff, he was more concerned with his team’s performance in the trying conditions at Bandimere Speedway.
“We knew coming into this race that since we did not test here, we would be a little behind the eight ball,” said Anderson. “As a result, we needed every run we could make, and when we missed that first qualifying pass, we found ourselves fighting to catch up, and just ran out of runs. Because we struggled in qualifying we had to run the toughest car on the grounds in the second round, and we needed a couple more passes worth of tuning data to really take the fight to him.
“The news wasn’t all bad, as our Summit Racing Camaro was able to get an important first round win, which was the bright spot of our weekend. It’s always a big deal when we race that yellow Mopar, and it’s a good day any time we can take him out. Still, we’re disappointed with our overall performance, and it shows that we have a real issue with the mountain. It’s expensive to come up here and test, and it doesn’t guarantee anything, but you can mark it down that we will be here next year, doing whatever we can do to find the right tune-up.”