Fourteen races came and went during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season before Greg Anderson visited the winner’s circle.
And that fact didn’t sit right with the five-time Pro Stock champion, who was beginning to wonder if he’d lost his touch after failing to make it past the semifinals nine events in a row.
“It goes through your mind several times when you don’t win for a while, ‘Is it time to step out? Is somebody trying to give me a hint here?’” Anderson explained.
The 62-year-old hopes he’ll recognize the hint when the time comes and that retirement from the driver’s seat will be a black-and-white decision.
Anderson doesn’t believe the end has arrived just yet.
“The older you get, the more thoughts creep into your head, ‘Can I really do this stuff?’” Anderson recalled. “I can’t lie, those thoughts went through my head plenty, but you’ve just gotta stay the course.”
Though he wasn’t reaping much success at the beginning of the season, the KB Titan Racing driver noticed a few small things were beginning to click around the midpoint of the Pro Stock schedule.
He made his first final round appearance of the year at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kan. — race 10 of 18 — and finished second to reigning champion Erica Enders.
But as Anderson says, “Until you win, you don’t win.”
The runner-up in Topeka certainly lifted the team’s spirits, but it wasn’t until a month later at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., that the HendrickCars.com driver tasted victory with a final round defeat of Dallas Glenn.
“I’m proud of the run we had, disappointed we didn’t win it all, but it was still a great fight, great recovery and that’s probably all I can ask. It convinced me to come back and do it all again,” Anderson said.
At the season finale at California’s In-N-Out Burger Drag Strip, Anderson finished second in the standings for a second straight year while Enders wrapped up her sixth Pro Stock title.
Though the 103-time national event winner would’ve liked his late-season comeback to result in a championship, Anderson was somewhat content with the way things ended.
“If you can promise any one of us at the beginning of the year that it’s gonna go down to the final race, that you’ll make it to the final with a chance, we’ll all sign up for that. Every one of us,” Anderson said. “That’s all we could ask, and that’s what we had.”
As Anderson closes the book on his 2023 season, the blank page ahead feels a little more ambiguous than usual.
Why? Many of the items in Anderson’s “career goals” column have been crossed off already.
He’s a five-time champion. He’s won 103 national events and 939 rounds of competition. He’s made 15 playoff appearances. He’s attended 534 races. And he’s been doing it for 26 years.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever said a number of what I need to have or anything that like. Certainly didn’t set 100 wins as a goal or anything,” Anderson said. “I just wanna race when I can still win, I wanna keep going and I don’t care what the number ends up being.
“If it ends up being 104 or 103 (wins), I guess I’ll have to live with that. If it ends up being 150, I’m fine with that, too. If it ends up being five championships or seven, I’m fine with both of those. But I’m gonna keep doing this until I cannot win — until I don’t have a chance to win.”