Pontiac's Greg Anderson Captures 54th Career NHRA Pro Stock Victory
Source: GM
Jun 24, 2008 - 8:21:20 AM
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ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., June 22, 2008 – Pontiac's Greg Anderson captured his 54th career Pro Stock victory and Tim Wilkerson drove the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala to his third win of the season during an emotion-filled day at the 39th annual Lucas Oil Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The event was completed today under a somber cloud following the fatal qualifying accident on Saturday of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta.
"It's been a tough couple of days," Anderson said. "We did a lot of preparation for the race and kind of sprang back on Friday, but everything changed yesterday. After Scott's accident you kind of lose focus on what you have to get done at the track – it's no longer important. It was a tough deal to come out here and race today, and I don't know how we did it, but right now we're praying for the family."
"God bless Connie Kalitta," Wilkerson said. "I hope that we can all be there for him in the future months because he's going to need it. That win was for all the fathers out here, John Medlen included. I know they have a lot of faith and every one of them are teaching me. Hopefully we can all learn to get through this, and with some faith, I think we will."
Anderson came into today's Pro Stock eliminator with his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP qualified in the No. 1 position after running low elapsed time of the weekend at 6.599 seconds. The three-time POWERade champion defeated Johnny Gray in round one with a 6.641 e.t. at 207.88 mph, Larry Morgan in the closest contest of the day (only one inch separated the two cars at the finish line) with a 6.644 second run at 207.91 mph, and Mike Edwards in the semifinals with a 6.665 e.t. at 207.91 mph. In the finals against Dave Connolly's Chevy Cobalt, both cars shook hard off the line. Anderson got back in the throttle and struggled to the finish line making it there first with a 7.578 e.t. at 200.23 mph. Connolly couldn't recover in time and coasted to the stripe with a 20.285 second run.
"I don't know how I won in the finals," Anderson said. "Obviously something happened to the race track there – we missed it bad but Dave (Connolly) did too. I owe that win to Jason Line. He stuck his head into the cockpit right at the starting line and said, 'If it shakes, get back in it. Don't lift.' I did that a few races and gave one up. It was a pedal fest, and it was ugly, but I got the win."
"Two or three races ago the same thing happened where Dave and I were racing. I aborted the run, he got back in it and won. I forgot about it until Jason gave me a heads up before the final round. He told me if you have to get back in it, pedal it and get down the racetrack. If Jason hadn't said that, I'd probably still be sitting there. Things worked out for the best and somehow the Summit Racing Pontiac is in the winner's circle."
It was Anderson's third victory this season and his fourth overall at this venue. Connolly advanced to his third final-round appearance in just six races this year, and posted his second career runner-up finish at this event (he was runner-up to Jason Line in 2006).
"We won some close races and luck was with us," said Connolly. "And any day we can get to the finals is a good day for us. We picked up a lot of points. The points battle is pretty tough right now but hopefully we’ll get it all straightened out. We have a good race car again and it’s getting down good and back tracks. We picked up three rounds on Warren (Johnson) in the countdown and any time you do that makes it a good day."
Anderson's third win of the season now moves the 47-year-old Mooresville, N.C., resident into second place in the POWERade standings, 26 points behind first-place Kurt Johnson. Summit Racing Pontiac teammates Anderson and Jason Line have also combined to win the last seven races at this event (Anderson in 2002-03 and 2007-08, and Line in 2004-06).
"Maybe it's easier to block out all the distractions when something like this happens," Anderson said. "Your body is numb, and your mind is numb but you come through it. We were fortunate to be able to get the win today."
Tim Wilkerson drove the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala to his third victory of the season. In an impressive performance that saw the Illinois native's Funny Car perform with the consistency of a bracket racer, Wilkerson's Chevrolet posted the quickest elapsed time in the final three rounds of eliminations and the second quickest e.t. in round one.
Wilkerson's march to victory started on Saturday when he qualified the LRS Chevy in the No. 9 spot with the quickest run of the day at 4.863 seconds. On Sunday, he defeated Bob Tasca in round one with a 4.887 e.t. at 316.01 mph, Gary Densham in round two with a 4.902 second run at 312.35 mph and Del Worsham in the semifinals with a 4.933 e.t. at 303.50 mph. In the championship heat against Mike Neff, Wilkerson's car continued its stellar performance and rolled to a winning 4.877 second run at 319.29 mph. Neff's Ford followed with 4.883 e.t. at 316.75 mph. The margin of victory for the Chevrolet was .03 of a second.
"I had a good car today, no doubt about that," Wilkerson said. "Jeff Jacobs and Rich Schendel, my two key guys on my team, have really made me look good all year long. The alliance with Don Prudhomme, I talk about that every time I win because it's been very important to the performance of our car. We've learned a lot over at his place and it's showed on the racetrack. My guys are doing a tremendous job and that's about all there is to it.
"We've been lucky enough this year to make calls at the right time that actually had some validity to them, and the car shows it. It runs well and I've been fortunate to do okay driving the thing, but it's a team effort, believe me – a serious team effort. If I were to lose one guy, I think you'd see us struggle immensely. I think we need to keep that in mind every time the car runs, along with the Prudhomme thing. I hope that never goes away either."
It was Wilkerson's eighth career victory, his first at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, and he extended his lead in the POWERade standings to 132 points over second-place Ashley Force. Wilkerson has also advanced to the final round in four of the last seven national events.
"So far we've had pretty good weekends and haven't hurt a thing," Wilkerson said. "We haven't lost a rod all year or blown up one motor, and I don't think we've had any oil downs. We had that fuel leak in Chicago when we blew a line off, and I about did my Sammy Swindell on the wall there. So far we're doing well, our attrition's good, but the normal cost on these things are high. We continue on, though."
The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the Second annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on June 27 – 29, at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
PRO STOCK
Winner – Greg Anderson (Pontiac GXP), 7.578ET/200.23MPH
Runner-up – Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 20.285ET/36.59MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Greg Anderson (Pontiac GXP), 6.599ET/209.23MPH
Top 10 – 1. Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 792; 2. Greg Anderson (Pontiac GXP), 766; 3. Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Chevy Cobalt), 730); 4. Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 719; 5. Mike Edwards (Pontiac GXP), 601; 6. V. Gaines (Dodge), 595; 7. Allen Johnson (Dodge), 559; 8. Ron Krisher (Chevy Cobalt), 554; 9. Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP), 520; 10. Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP), 501.
FUNNY CAR
Winner – Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 4.877ET/319.29MPH
Runner-up – Mike Neff (Ford), 4.883ET/316.75MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Jim Head (Toyota), 4.803ET/320.51MPH
Top 10 – 1. Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 807; 2. Ashley Force (Ford), 675; 3. John Force (Ford), 629; 4. Tony Pedregon (Chevy Impala SS), 598; 5. Robert Hight (Ford), 592; 6. Cruz Pedregon (Toyota), 572; 7. Gary Densham (Chevy Impala SS), 529; 8. Mike Neff (Ford), 517; 9. Ron Capps (Dodge), 503; 10. Bob Tasca (Ford), 439.
TOP FUEL
Winner – Tony Schumacher, 4.589ET/325.06MPH
Runner-up – Brandon Bernstein, 4.562ET/323.04MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Antron Brown, 4.502ET/326.24MPH
Top 10 - 1. Tony Schumacher, 1009; 2. Antron Brown, 765; 3. Larry Dixon, 756; 4. Rod Fuller, 668; 5. Hillary Will, 652; 6. Cory McClenathan, 633; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 609; 8. Doug Herbert, 499; 9. Doug Kalitta, 483; 10. Dave Grubnic, 480.
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