Greg Anderson Earns 88th Pro Stock Title

Greg Anderson proved that he was still in the game winning the 88th NHRA Wally trophy of his career at the NHRA Summernationals. What made the victory even more special was that he forfeited a qualifying session on Saturday to fly home to North Carolina to see his son, Cody, graduate from high school.

"I hate to even think about missing a run, but it was important to be there,” Anderson said. “Seeing Cody graduate definitely brought a tear to my eye. I’ve never handed my son one of these trophies, but this one is going to him.”

Anderson is now an eight-time winner at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, and the number of trophies he has earned there exceeds any other professional driver in the series.

On Sunday Anderson was first off the starting line to best Kenny Delco on a holeshot in the opening round of eliminations. His 6.647 second/210.21 MPH pass topped Delco’s 6.636/208.78 on a very hot and tricky racing surface. In Round Two of eliminations, Allen Johnson had lane choice but Anderson was again first off the line with a 6.611/210.14 beating Johnson’s 6.622/209.56.

In the semifinals Anderson faced KB Racing-powered Bo Butner, the current points leader and No. 1 qualifier. Anderson took the win with a 6.632/210.28 to Butner’s 6.648/209.69.

With the low ET of the round, Anderson had lane choice for the final-round meeting with Vincent Nobile, a driver he was perfectly even against in previous head-to-head matches on race day.

The hot racing surface did not hurt Anderson’s performance, and he crossed the finish line with a 6.613/210.44 to beat Nobile’s 6.665/210.21. The victory was the 137th Pro Stock win for KB Racing and team owners Ken and Judy Black.

“This place has been magical for me,” said Anderson, who was racing in his 143rd final round. “I have a lot of great memories here. This has been a great race track for me for throughout my career. Yesterday was the perfect day, and today was, too.”

Each of Anderson’s four runs on Sunday were over 210 MPH, and his Summit Racing Chevy Camaro was the only Pro Stock car to surpass 210 in each attempt on race day. His 211.79 MPH during qualifying stands as top speed of the meet, and Anderson made the quickest race day lap of anyone in the class with the 6.611/210.14 in the second round.

With the win, Anderson moves up to the No. 2 position in the Pro Stock points.

It was an early day for Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Jason Line, who exited Sunday in Round One of eliminations.

"It just blew the tire off, so I pedaled it,” said Line, who had to lift and allow his race car to settle for a split-second before regaining a straight and narrow path down the track. "These cars are not made to pedal, but I gave it a whirl. It was a tough day for the blue car, but a great day for Greg and Team Summit."

Tim Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car had trouble in the first-round meeting with Alexis DeJoria. Wilkerson’s tires broke loose down-track, and that was the end of Team Summit’s day in the Funny Car class.

Despite car problems, Wilkerson is looking forward to the next race. “I’m still optimistic. We’ll continue on and see if we can make the thing go at Bristol.”

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Steve Torrence (3.857/320.28) defeated Antron Brown (3.932/306.74)

Funny Car—Jack Beckman (4.100/312.42) defeated Ron Capps (4.143/299.66)

Pro Stock—Greg Anderson (6.613/210.44) defeated Vincent Nobile (6.665/210.21)

Pro Stock Motorcycle—Jerry Savoie (6.918/192.85) defeated Hector Arama Jr. (6.862/195.62)

What’s Next
The next event on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour is the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tennesse, June 16-18.

For more information and complete race results visit DragRaceCentral.com.