Anderson Pleased with Houston Return
HOUSTON, Tex., April 27, 2014 – The O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway marked the return to the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series for Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson, and the four-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion certainly had hoped to see a few win lights on Sunday, but he was ultimately pleased with the outcome of the event.
Anderson, of Mooresville, N.C., recorded a 6.636-second pass at 209.92 mph in his first 2014 run down the quarter-mile racetrack and followed up with a 6.607, 210.54 in hot and humid conditions. On Saturday, the second day of the event, Anderson produced a 6.601, 210.34 followed by a 6.628, 210.21. The 74-time national event winner continued a qualifying streak that now spans 258 races in which he attempted to secure a position in the field and succeeded. Anderson earned a start from the No. 11 position and a first-round meeting with Jeg Coughlin.
True to championship form, Anderson was wide awake at the starting line and clocked a very efficient .015-second reaction time. Unfortunately, his opponent knew he could leave nothing to chance and reacted with a .005 and raced to a winning 6.609 to top Anderson’s 6.670 at 209.36.
Although a win light was not to be had in his first race back on tour, Anderson was still buoyant at the conclusion of the event.
“I’m happy with the way things went, overall,” said Anderson, clearly fully recovered from heart surgery performed in February. “This weekend certainly answered a lot of questions and cleared up any reservations I had. There should be no issue going forward, and nobody is going to give me any more sympathy – especially any of these racers when I line up against them. It’s time to get back to hard-nose racing, and I’m ready.
“The next thing we have to do is get my racecar fast again. I have a lot of years left in me to do this, and I’m very, very happy about that. Now we need to concentrate on winning races and getting into that Countdown to the Championship. I’m very happy with the weekend.”
The next event for Anderson will be the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, May 16-18.
