Greg Anderson's Pontiac GTO Sets Track ET and Speed Record at Inaugural Summit Racing NHRA Nationals
Three-Time NHRA POWERade Champ Leads 16-Car Field Into Final Day of Qualifying
NORWALK, Ohio, June 29, 2007 - The first day of time trials for the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals were completed today at Summit Motorsports Park, and Pontiac's Greg Anderson leads the 16-car Pro Stock field after posting a track record e.t. and speed of 6.654 seconds at 207.59 mph, recorded during the first qualifying session. Anderson is looking to earn his eighth No. 1 qualifying award of the season and his sixth straight raceday pole going back to the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Atlanta in May.
During the evening session, though, Anderson staged his car, but stalled at the starting line and failed to make the second pass.
"Something happened in the ignition and the engine didn't want to rev up," said the three-time POWERade champ. "We have to get the MSD guys over here and figure out what's wrong. Darn it, the air was good and we felt like we could go faster, but by judging what the other car did, maybe we saved face.
"The first run just shows you how good it was. The rest of the field came back in better conditions and weren't able to get around it. That was a heck of a stout run and makes you think, 'I sure would've like to have had a shot at it tonight.' At the same time, maybe we saved wear and tear on the engine for one run, we've had a few issues with that lately, so maybe we're better off."
Anderson is coming off a recent win last week at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J., where he nailed down his sixth Pro Stock victory of 2007. Coming into this event, Anderson has 58 career No. 1 qualifying awards and ranks fifth on the NHRA all time list.
"Tomorrow, we'll be first up, it should be cool in the morning, so maybe this will work out for the better," said Anderson. "We'll see. The conditions will be better, the barometer is going up and we're going to have a high pressure system move in. I'm telling you, tomorrow morning it will be good, and it won't hurt running early in the session. We're disappointed we missed the run but maybe there's a bright side to it after all."
Qualifying coverage of the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, June 30, beginning at 10 p.m. Eastern. NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage on July 1, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and a three-hour telecast of final eliminations will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern.
