Rockingham Dragway has long been a special place for Greg Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. The six-time world champion in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock category and the most winning driver in the history of the class with 116 Pro Stock trophies has been coming to this facility his entire career. Incredibly, it’s where it all started for the Minnesota-born-and-bred racer who now calls North Carolina home, and as the racetrack sits just two hours from his KB Titan Racing shop in Mooresville, Anderson and his hard-hitting, relentless team visit regularly to test their racecars, always in pursuit of bringing the best possible product to every national event on NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour.
And now, for the first time, they have the opportunity to race for an NHRA 75th Anniversary Diamond Wally on a dragstrip that they’ve been down thousands of times. The race is the second of six in NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship, and although their comfort level here is set to max, the competition is rising – both inside and outside of the KB Titan camp. The challenge will be great, which makes the reward that much more valuable.
Anderson will start from the No. 4 position and race KB Titan Racing-powered Deric Kramer, driver of the Get BioFuels Chevrolet tuned by veteran crew chief Michael Hiner, in the first round of eliminations. The action is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Just before the third qualifying session at Rockingham Dragway, Greg Anderson, the most winning driver in the history of the class and second-most winning driver in any class in NHRA history, was presented with a diamond-shaped commemorative award honoring his inclusion as one of NHRA’s Top 75 Drivers.
“The original list was full of legends who were heroes of mine, and I certainly never considered myself to be in that category,” said Anderson earlier this year, upon learning he was cemented as one of NHRA’s Top 75 Drivers of all time. The original list was released 25 years ago to mark NHRA’s 50th anniversary and included the Top 50 Drivers, and this year, 25 more legends were added in honor of their 75th anniversary season.
“I’m still just having fun trying to do this,” Anderson continued. “I’m not worried about what’s happened in the past or the numbers or anything like that, but when I get done, that’s when I know I’ll look back at it and say, ‘That’s really awesome.’ I’m shocked and honored to be part of this. It’s fantastic to just be mentioned with those kinds of guys.”
“This racetrack has a special place in my heart,” said Anderson. “I came to Rockingham for the first time by accident. I worked for Warren Johnson as a crew chief, and one day he got angry with myself and his son Kurt and said, ‘I’m going to send you two to Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School. You’re going to get in one of these Pro Stock cars, and then maybe you’ll have a little bit more respect for what I do in these cars and stop hacking on my driving.’ Spent a couple days in the classroom and on the racetrack here and earned my Pro Stock license, and I spent the next couple of years just hoping and dreaming I could get a chance to drive a Pro Stock car competitively. While working for Warren Johnson, they had the Winston Invitational here – the Allstar race – and Warren gave me my first opportunity to go out in front of everybody and try to drive a Pro Stock car. It really wasn’t pretty, but it’s where it all started for me. This place has a lot of memories for me, and here we are a whole bunch of years later to race an NHRA event. I’ve been very fortunate to compete in this class for 20-some years, rack up a lot of wins and championships, and now to get to come back here and race is really special.”
