For the first time since the KB Racing team’s inaugural season in 2002, four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson took to the track last week in a Chevrolet-branded race car, shaking down his new Summit Racing Camaro at Rockingham Dragway in preparation for its debut at this weekend’s NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ. Over the course of two days, Anderson and crew braved the 90-degree heat in the North Carolina Sandhills, making a total of fourteen runs, posting elapsed times in the 6.5-second range with speeds topping 209 miles per hour. Despite the limited experience, the current championship points leader is enthused by the prospect of once again competing as a member of the Bow Tie Brigade.
“We are excited to bring out our Summit Racing Camaro in Englishtown,” Anderson said. “It’s a tremendous looking car that drives and feels great, with really good visibility. After two days of testing we’ve learned that it definitely has different performance characteristics from the car we’ve been running, but the one thing we can see already is that it has a lot of potential.
“It wants to run the big end of the race track as well as if not even better than our Pontiacs, and it’s just a matter of rubbing on it a little more to get the front half of the track right. We certainly expect a few bumps in the road as we sort out the chassis, but as far as this Camaro body goes they did a great job. I’ve won a lot of races and championships in Pontiacs, but I can’t wait to run this first event in my new Chevrolet, doing what we can to put them back in the winner’s circle.”
As if giving Chevrolet’s legendary muscle car its first Pro Stock win since 2001 was not enough, Anderson will have several other reasons to do well this weekend. Not only will his KB Racing team’s next victory be the 100th of its relatively brief ten year history, but beloved team owners Ken and Judy Black will also be in attendance for the first time since the Las Vegas event two months ago.
While Anderson debuts his new Camaro, teammate Jason Line will bid farewell to his Summit Racing Pontiac at the SuperNatationals before piloting his new Camaro at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN. Naturally, as the mount which carried him to numerous wins and the 2011 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series title, Line hopes to retire the venerable hot rod on a winning note.
“In all likelihood, this will be my last race in this Summit Racing Pontiac and I’d certainly like to send it out a winner,” Line said. “It’s been a great car, and in many ways I hate to park it, but I’m really looking forward to getting into the Camaro. reg will be racing his new car this weekend, so having my GXP run next to it will give us some sort of a benchmark, and we’re all excited to see what the Camaro can do.
For Line to achieve his objective this weekend, he will need to revert to the form he showed during his first three races at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, scoring consecutive wins from 2006-2008. Although a return to the final round has somehow eluded him since then, he believes a turnaround is in order this year, a belief buoyed by the tremendous performance his race car has shown throughout the season, with four #1-qualifying positions (the most in Pro Stock) and one win in two final round appearances, a showing that currently places him second in the championship standings.
“I’m looking forward to this race,” Line said. “We’re overdue for a win–I’m tired of watching everyone else have all the fun, so we’re going to do as much as we can this weekend to get it done. We want to give this car the winning sendoff it deserves.”
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