NHRA News: Anderson makes history as he clinches 2004 Pro Stock title (9/26/2004)

Anderson makes history as he clinches 2004 Pro Stock title

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
9/26/2004

"We've proven ourselves to the world."
– Greg Anderson

Greg Anderson has closed out the most dominating championship chase in NHRA history by securing his second consecutive POWERade Pro Stock title in the opening round of the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas. Anderson mathematically clinched the $200,000 top prize from NHRA and POWERade when teammate Jason Line, his closest pursuer in the points, lost to Greg Stanfield. Anderson also lost in Round 1, on a holeshot to Kurt Johnson, but after the title was secured.

The history books show John Force clinching the 1996 Funny Car championship in the semifinal round of the fifth-to-last race on the season, which was the U.S. Nationals. Anderson beat that mark by two rounds.

"This is definitely the crowning achievement of my career," Anderson said. "The first one was great but this one is sweeter. I think we probably caught some people off guard last year but not this time.

Anderson collects the hardware.
Racers Edge Photography

"It's been a much harder struggle from the start. I absolutely feel like I have to be perfect every time down the track. People come after us. I can't seem to get in anyone's head and get them to give me a round every once in awhile. It doesn't happen. I've had to earn them all. I bet if you averaged out the reaction times of all of my opponents this year, that number would be better than whatever the top guy in the class has averaged."

Anderson becomes just the seventh Pro Stock driver to win multiple championships. However, none of his predecessors have garnered the hardware in such record-breaking style. With 18 races in the books, Anderson has already tied John Force with 13 national event wins, a single-season record. He also has raced to 15 final-round appearances, tying the Pro Stock class record he set in 2003, and is just four elimination-round wins away from the single-season mark of 67, which he also set last year.

"We've impressed ourselves," Anderson said. "We won 12 last year, which far exceeded our personal expectations, and everyone said we'd never do that again. This year we've already bettered that mark and we still could win a few more. If you consider today's race into the mix, we still have a shot at five more trophies. You don't dream this big.

"The second championship is huge for me. It's like any other sport; a second title validates the first one. When you back it up, you prove that you weren't a flash in the pan. I don't think our first title came from out of nowhere but people can always point at something as a fluke. Not now; now we've proven ourselves to the world."

Coca-Cola's Ben Reiling (left) takes the championship tour with Anderson and Bob Unkefer.
Racers Edge Photography

Throughout the first part of Anderson's 2004 campaign, as he won eight of the first 10 races with seven No. 1 qualifying efforts, the soft-spoken former crew chief was hounded by rumors that his talented team was somehow bending the rules. But countless teardowns by the NHRA technical department that yielded nothing suspicious finally convinced his rivals to work harder if they hoped to reel in the class leader.

"I take full responsibility for raising the bar in this class," Anderson said. "I think we pissed a lot of people off when we were out here running and we'd put four- or five-hundredths [of a second] on the next guy in line. But the smart teams figured out that the only thing we were doing different than everybody else was working harder than the next guy, and working smarter. I have a great group assembled over here and we've seen the results of talented guys working their tails off to be the best.

"Some people out here say it's all about money. I'm here to tell you that it's not. I know there are at least five maybe six teams that spend more than we do every year. We love our sponsors, and we work hard for them because you definitely need money to race at this level. But it's not everything."

As Anderson zooms deeper into the record books, the only thing he can't seem to figure out is what he'll do next.

"We've already surpassed everything we originally set out to do," Anderson said. "It's a dream to run like this. It's unreal. I guess the next thing to do is go for No. 3."

2004 News Archive
Return to the Home Page