NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

When Greg Anderson drove to victory at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, he collected Wally No. 85, tying legend Bob Glidden for second on the all-time Pro Stock wins list. Anderson and Glidden are two of the top drivers on that list — who else joins them in the top five? We look at that in this week’s Fast Five.

No. 1: Warren Johnson, 97 wins

They don’t call him the “Professor of Pro Stock” for nothing — Johnson proved time and again he was one of the best to ever climb behind the wheel of a factory hot rod, racking up an amazing 97 wins, not to mention six world championships. W.J. collected the first of his record 97 Wallys at the 1982 Englishtown event, where he bested another legend, Lee Shepherd, in the final. Johnson’s 97th win came in St. Louis in 2010, where, after a bizarre race day during which he quipped he could have staged backwards and probably still won, he defeated Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the title round.

No. 2 (tie): Bob Glidden, 85 wins

A true innovator who loved to tinker to find ways to make his cars go quicker and faster, “Mad Dog” was a dominating force in the Pro Stock class for many years, most notably during the 1978 and 1979 seasons when he all but shut out his competition. In those two seasons, Glidden advanced to 18 of the 19 final rounds, winning 14 times. Nine of those wins came in a row, widely considered by many to be one of the most impressive winning streaks in the history of the sport. Glidden, who holds the record for most Pro Stock championships at 10, earned his first victory at the sport’s biggest race, the U.S. Nationals, in 1973 against Wayne Gapp. The 85th came 22 years later when he defeated Jim Yates to earn the 1995 Englishtown Wally.

No. 2 (tie): Greg Anderson, 85 wins

Anderson’s career began behind the scenes crewing on cars, most notably for this list’s No. 1 driver, Johnson. He made the transition from wrenching to driving (though, in fairness, he does still work on his team’s cars) in 1998, running initially on a part-time basis. Though it took a few years for Anderson to win his first — that coming in 2001 in Bristol — he has been a winning machine pretty much ever since. The bulk of his victories came in 2003 and 2004 when he won 12 and 15 events, respectively. This season, the four-time world champion is potentially on pace for another double-digit win total having already earned seven victories, including the one in Sonoma that tied him with Glidden.

No. 4: Jeg Coughlin Jr., 58 wins

All told, Coughlin has 76 NHRA national event wins in seven different categories. The bulk of those wins have come in Pro Stock, a class in which Coughlin also has five world championships. Coughlin made his Pro Stock debut in Dallas in the fall of 1997 and found almost immediate success, winning in his second event, in Houston. Coughlin has steadily won races in every full season in which he has competed since, including a high of 10 in 2000, his first championship season. Coughlin’s most recent victory in the class was in Englishtown in 2014.

No. 5: Jason Line, 44 wins

Like his teammate, Anderson, Line has tallied seven wins during his 2016 campaign, and that strong showing has moved him into the top five of the Pro Stock wins lists. Line, who, like Coughlin above him, cut his teeth in the Sportsman ranks and earned a couple of victories there, made his Pro Stock debut in 2003, then collected the first of his 44 class Wallys the following year in Chicago. That was one of four wins during the 2014 season, and it began a string of Line winning at least one race every season. The most recent of two-time world champ Line’s seven wins this year was in Norwalk, where, like on his first career victory, he defeated teammate Anderson for the event title.