Reigning Pro Stock champion looking to reach milestone in 900th event of the class
DETROIT (Feb. 14, 2022) – Ninety days have passed quickly since Greg Anderson hoisted the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock championship trophy for a fifth time.
“I’m still smiling everywhere I go,” he said.
With ample reasons. Anderson passed his mentor, Warren Johnson, last October as the all-time class leader with 98 victories. He added win No. 99 in the season finale on the way to wrapping up his first Pro Stock world championship since 2010.
“It was a magical season in so many ways,” said Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro SS.
Seeking to join select company
Now, he’s looking to make more magic during the 2022 season that begins this weekend with the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.).
His immediate goal is 100 wins, which will put him in select company.
Sixteen-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, driver of the BlueDEF Platinum Chevrolet Camaro SS, leads all drivers with 154 career victories. Sportsman drivers Dan Fletcher (105), Frank Manzo (105) and David Rampy (100) have also reached the milestone.
“It’s far beyond belief. I’ve said it a million times that when I started this deal 20-some years ago I was hoping I could just win a race,” said Anderson, who piled up five wins in nine final-round appearances plus 12 No. 1 qualifier honors in 2021. “I didn’t have a plan of winning 50 races or 75 races or even 100 races.
“It’s been quite a run. I guess we’ve overachieved our goals, but as you go along you set goals like that, achieve them, and start raising them. Once we got to 75, it was like, well, the next mark is the wins record for the class, which was 97. We set our goal on that and finally achieved that last year and that was tremendous.
“To be honest, that 100 number just sounds a lot better than 97 or 98 or even 99,” he said. “We’ve got the record for the most wins in the class, but to get 100 is just a flat cool number, so I’m very much looking forward to it. I’m not thinking about it or worried about it because that’s the goal when you go to the racetrack is to win. I hope I can get it done at the first race out of the gate.”
Chevrolet domination in class
That would be serendipitous. This weekend’s opening round of competition happens to be the 900th event in Pro Stock history and the 498th entered by Anderson.
Pro Stock Eliminator was introduced as an NHRA national event in January 1970, emerging from the popular Super Stock, Modified Production and Factory Experimental battles of the previous decade. Bill Jenkins, driving his ’68 big-block Chevrolet Camaro, was the first of 70 drivers to claim victory in the class by defeating Ronnie Sox in the final round at Pomona.
Chevrolet has dominated the class with 347 wins, including 228 by the Camaro. The stout 2022 Camaro contingent is all but guaranteed to add to the total this weekend. Most Pro Stock drivers, including Anderson and his KB Racing teammates, tested last week in Arizona to get up to speed.
“Every year when you go into Pomona, at least me, I’m very apprehensive and ask myself, ‘What have the other teams found?’ We’ve had almost three months to find some gains – and we’ve worked awfully hard – but you have no idea until you get to the first race what the other teams have done,” said Anderson, who will tie Bob Glidden for most wins in class history at seven with a victory in the Winternationals.
“You can only control what you’ve done to prepare,” he said. “I know we’re going to be every bit as good or better than last year, and I have my hands full trying to beat my own team cars. The competition out there is incredible; the talent level is incredible. I’ll be looking forward to seeing how we stack up.”
Around the bend, Anderson will be chasing his 900th elimination round win (he enters the season with 881 – second only to Force’s 1,387) — and down the road he’ll seek to earn his sixth Pro Stock title to tie Johnson for second to Glidden’s 10.
“We had a great car all year long and I couldn’t have won if I didn’t have the horses,” Anderson said. “It’s a KB Racing team record. I wouldn’t be nothing without them. We’ll see what we can do this year, how we can improve.”
Chevrolet in Pro Stock
347 wins: Camaro 228, Cobalt 54, Cavalier 36, Beretta 11, Vega 11, Monza 6, Lumina 1
17 driver championships
103 wins in a row by a Camaro
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
