The most winning driver in Pro Stock history. Holy wow.
I’m so grateful to have worked with Greg Anderson since 2007, first reporting on his racing as an Associate Editor at National Dragster, then writing about him after our dear friend and his then-writer, Jon Knapp, passed away in 2012 (Jon’s wife and my sweet friend, Joanne, brought me on board to assist her PR efforts).
Each night of every event for the better part of a decade, I made my way to Greg’s trailer to get the driver-perspective and download of what had gone right or wrong for the day. Sometimes, the walk to the trailer wasn’t fast enough; I couldn’t wait to hear what he would say. Other times, though, it was a walk I didn’t actually want to take for questions I didn’t really want to ask. He has ALWAYS, always been gracious to me, in every interaction I’ve ever had with him. But it stinks to have to ask tough questions that you know couldn’t possibly be fun to answer.
On the really fun side of things, though, I have written more Greg Anderson stories than just about any driver I’ve worked with, and a good lot of those were win stories. The one on Sunday was the most meaningful of all that I’ve been so fortunate to write about this legend of a driver. Learning about and telling the history of drag racing — specifically Pro Stock — is kinda my thing, you know?
To have had the incredible honor of writing Warren Johnson’s biography (which was released this past May) and then seeing Greg, someone I’ve worked with for so much of my career, go out and break the record previously held by WJ …. I’m not sure how to explain the complex emotions that are tied into this for me. All I can say is that their respective accomplishments have been extraordinary, I respect them both SO MUCH, and I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to get to know them both personally through our work together. If my career is a dream, please do not wake me up.
Greg Anderson has an intense work ethic and is laser-focused and unperturbed in that racecar like no driver I have ever seen – with one exception: The Professor. When you look at their respective records and recognize the level of intensity and focus they each possess, the records and trophies makes sense. That, ladies and gents, is the formula. Work hard, stay focused, be the best.
I didn’t know how to put into words what I was feeling when I saw Greg win that race on Sunday in Texas. It wasn’t that I was speechless, it’s that there were so many words all tumbled up inside. They were good words, but none of them wanted to come out for a little while.
I had a lump in my throat, and the backs of my eyes burned, and maybe I had a tear or two. Those were tears of happiness for our sport, for the longevity and future of this great class we call Pro Stock, and for a driver and family that has been part of my world for a long while now.
Sometimes, I wish I could turn down the volume on how much I feel all of this, how much it all matters to me. It’s just racing, right? Except it isn’t. It turns out that this is so much more than a sport. It’s fuel and fire and victory and defeat, yeah. But it’s also living and loving and friendship and family.
It’s just the very best sport filled with the very best people doing the most extraordinary things on the daily, especially last Sunday at Texas Motorplex.
Congratulations, Greg. On to 100.
Leave a Reply