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Pontiac GTO Sets National E.T. Record En Route to
Greg Anderson Completes Dominating Weekend with Ga
March 18, 2007

GM Racing Media

Whether you follow NHRA racing or not, or if you don't follow the current racing activities, you have to be impressed that a Pontiac set the first Pro Stock record of running the quarter mile at over 210 mph. If Pontiac is going to be the GM "Performance Division" it is wins like this that will make it happen. Congratulations to Greg Anderson and the rest of the Pontiac racing teams.

GAINESVILLE, Florida: March 18, 2007 On a perfect day for racing, Pontiac Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson was just that– perfect. The three-time NHRA POWERade champ drove his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to victory at the 38th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, and he did so in record-setting style. Cool, sunny weather provided ideal conditions for Anderson to earn the maximum 138 points available to a driver at a given NHRA race by claiming the event win, qualifying No. 1 and establishing a national elapsed time record. He scored his 45th career win by defeating Larry Morgan with an elapsed time of 6.577 seconds at 211.06 mph to Morgan’s 8.076 e.t. at 118.24 mph, giving him two wins in the season’s first three races after his season-opening win at Pomona (Calif.).

“I’ve always considered Gainesville and the Gatornationals to be one of the very premier races on our circuit,” said Anderson. “It’s always been tough for me to win down here and I’m not sure why. There’s just a lot of tough competition. This is the one everybody kind of waits for. You go to Pomona, you got to Phoenix and you get your season started, but then you usually get a two-or three-week break. Everybody has seen what they’ve got, and they go home and refine their stuff before they come to Gainesville, so usually everybody comes here with their guns loaded. It’s a tough one to win because it’s tough competition.”

Anderson entered today’s eliminations as the No. 1 qualifier with an elapsed time of 6.566 seconds at 211.20 mph, becoming the first Pro Stocker to ever exceed 210 mph. He went one better in today’s first-round defeat of Justin Humphreys with a national-record elapsed time of 6.536 seconds at 211.43 mph, and then proceeded to defeat Jeg Coughlin in Round 2, and newcomer Matt Scranton in the semifinals to face-off against Morgan in the final. Ironically, despite a first-round loss, teammate Jason Line leaves Gainesville with the Pro Stock national speed record at 211.69 mph.

“The track got better as the weekend went along,” said Anderson, “and we all got a better handle on it. It allowed you to put most of that power you had down to the racetrack and you got national-record-setting times. That’s fun, that’s great, that’s what we all live for and that’s what I love this class for. The speed, the e.t. we can run when the weather’s good. It’s a neat challenge when you go to places that the weather isn’t good and maybe you can out “crew chief” them, maybe you can outdrive them, but when you can come and show the horsepower that you built yourself with your own hands, that’s real rewarding to a Pro Stock guy. That’s what this class is all about. But it was a great weekend. I couldn’t have drawn it up any better for us. I came down here thinking maybe we’d get a chance to run 210 and get in the history books, and we surpassed that and went 211. I don’t know how we did it, but we did it, and I’m a happy guy.”

Three Pontiac GTOs comprised the Pro Stock semifinals as Mike Edwards in his Young Life Pontiac GTO and former Sport Compact racer Scranton joined Anderson in the third round of eliminations. Edwards defeated fellow Pontiac driver Greg Stanfield in Round 1 and V. Gaines in Round 2 before losing to Morgan in the semis. Morgan had an elapsed time of 6.646 seconds at 209.14 mph to Edwards’ 6.686 e.t. at 208.84 mph.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Edwards. “We made a good qualifying effort and went a couple of rounds. I didn’t make very good runs today and I’m kind of disappointed in myself with that, but hey, qualified well and went a couple of rounds, that’s tough to do in this class, so I’ll take it. You saw a lot of good cars that are usually there on race day go home, so we’re really happy. Hope we can go to Houston where we’ve had some success there in the past (Edwards is defending Pro Stock event winner at Houston) and build on this.”

Scranton is the 2004 NHRA XPlod Sport Compact Pro RWD champion and was making his NHRA POWERade debut in Pro Stock. The Florida native bought the year-old Jerry Haas-built Pontiac GTO that Anderson raced the first half of last year and also leased a KB Racing engine. After qualifying 13th, Scranton defeated Warren Johnson in Round 1 and Erica Enders in Round 2 before losing to Anderson in the semifinals. Anderson had an elapsed time of 6.569 seconds at 210.97 mph to Scranton’s 6.651 e.t. at 208.59 mph.

“I can’t thank the guys at KB Racing enough to trust us and give us some of that horsepower they just had laying around collecting dust,” said Scranton. “I can’t thank those guys enough. We don’t have any relationships with anybody out here coming from Sport Compact. We’ve seen a lot of these guys but don’t know them personally. But I would say we already know some of the nicest guys and have met the nicest guys over there at KB Racing. Ken Black, Jason, Rob Downing, they’re just awesome, awesome guys. They’re four-time world champions for a reason.

“This car is a little more temperamental (than a sport-compact car) and you’ve got to be on your toes, and Greg and Jason warned me about it. But it’s all about horsepower, and Jason, Greg, those guys are making a phenomenal amount of horsepower right now and it shows out there. We’re planning on going to about 10 races, and we’re just chasing funding like everybody else, but this is our main focus now.”

PRO STOCK
Winner – Greg Anderson (Pontiac GTO), 6.577ET/211.06MPH
Runner-up – Larry Morgan (Dodge), 8.076ET/118.24MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Greg Anderson (Pontiac GTO), 6.566ET/211.20MPH
Top speed: Jason Line (Pontiac GTO), 211.69MPH (national record)
Low E.T. Greg Anderson (Pontiac GTO), 6.536 seconds (national record)
Top 10 - 1. Greg Anderson (Pontiac GTO), 311; 2. Jason Line (Pontiac GTO), 208; 3. Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 180; 4. Mike Edwards (Pontiac GTO), 161; 5. Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GTO), 157; 6. Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 156; 7. Jeg Coughlin (Chevy Cobalt), 139; 8. Erica Enders (Dodge), 138; 9. Vieri Gaines (Dodge), 134; 10. Larry Morgan (Dodge), 117.

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