POMONA, Calif. — Greg Anderson’s eyes beamed after he became the No. 1 qualifier in the Pro Stock class Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
“Win the race and win the championship,” Anderson said. “If I can pull that off, it might be the biggest thing I’ve done in this sport.”
He had cut the points gap to 48 markers behind leader Aaron Stanfield. Anderson’s path to a sixth Pro Stock world title was simple — win. The ball was clearly in his court. He didn’t have to rely on others to be crowned a champion.
On Sunday, Anderson’s HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro was on rails as he earned low ET of the event in the semifinals against Stanfield, where he topped the Elite Motorsports driver with a 6.488 ET at 211.43 mph.
Anderson’s victory and a Dallas Glenn round win over Erica Enders ensured the title would be headed back to KB Titan Racing. While Glenn out-gassed Anderson by 0.013 seconds in the finals, Anderson got the better of Glenn with another consistent run at 6.501 ET at 211.43 mph.
Anderson had pulled off what he described Saturday as perhaps his biggest accomplishment in NHRA drag racing — and that consists of more than a quarter-of-a-century of achievements which includes a category-best 106 victories.
He needed to win the event to secure the title… Greg Anderson did JUST THAT 🏆
— SPEED SPORT (@SPEEDSPORT) November 18, 2024
He’s now a SIX-TIME NHRA Pro Stock Champion!
📸 Steve Himelstein#NHRA #NHRAFinals pic.twitter.com/QX8R5rFxLZ
The 63-year-old proved that while youth is beginning to take over the sport, the old guard is still thriving.
“Our class is in great shape. That’s the good news,” Anderson began. “We’ve got so many young guns that can drive the wheels off these race cars and race for wins, race for championships. Yes, they’re trying to push me out the door when I’m dragging my feet.
“People ask me, ‘When are you going to quit?’ I’m going to quit as soon as I can’t win anymore. Apparently I can’t quit yet. So we’ll see. It’s not going to be tomorrow, maybe three days after that, but it’s not going to be tomorrow.”
Much of Anderson’s success despite a youthful wave within the sport comes from having to push himself every run, even if the effort exerted into it is more than when he started 26 years ago.
“They’re relentless, it’s effortless for them,” Anderson said. “They’ve got double O and teen lights like it’s nothing to it. I have to dig down and try and find a way and I usually can, but I have to come up with an out of body experience, basically, to do that. So, it’s crazy.”
Anderson’s confidence level was apparent throughout the weekend despite much of the attention going to Stanfield and Glenn leading up to Pomona.
Anderson hadn’t won a race since the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at North Carolina’s zMAX Dragway in April. However, he remained consistent throughout the Countdown to the Championship with three straight semifinal appearances before two consecutive final-round losses set the stage for Pomona.
All Anderson wanted was a chance. He got it.
“I have not been able to close the deal, have not been able to win a race,” Anderson began. “I’ve had a great, great car and something crazy has happened every weekend and it it’s like a slug to the gut. You gotta take it, you gotta go home, but you gotta pick yourself up and go back to work and figure it out for the next race.
“We kept doing it we kept doing it. Kept dreaming that maybe one day God will shine on me and things won’t happen wrong and today was that day. It was really flawless all day long. My race car, my Hendrick’s car was just flawless all day long.”