Test sessions have Anderson amped about start of the Countdown
(9-13-2012) MOORESVILLE, NC – This weekend, the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will begin its six-race Countdown to the Championship with the 5th annual NHRA Nationals in Charlotte, N.C., and as far as Summit Racing driver Greg Anderson is concerned, the playoffs could not start at a better location. Known as the “Bellagio of Drag Strips”, zMAX Dragway is a short drive away from the KB Racing shop in Mooresville, offering team members a respite from their hectic travel schedule as well as extra time to prepare for this first of four consecutive races.
“I believe it is a huge bonus, not only for Greg Anderson, but the entire Summit Racing team, to have the Countdown start here at zMAX Dragway,” said Anderson. “We love this race and this track. It is a tremendous facility where we’ve spent quite a bit of time testing there and have developed a huge comfort factor. It’s a place that we’ve either learned so well or it just seems to suit our program that we definitely seem to run well there.
“Everything about this race is tremendous. We’ll have a lot of our shop employees and their families who don’t normally come out to the track on hand to cheer us on, as well as (team owners) Ken and Judy Black who made the trip out from the West Coast. Their presence always puts a smile on our faces and we love nothing more than to do well in front of them. We’ll also have a lot of friends and neighbors coming out, giving us our own personal cheering section.
“So as you can see, we have a lot of reasons to look forward to the weekend. Best of all, it’s playoff time, where the stakes are higher, and everything seems to ramp up. We feel like we’ve upped our game, so we can’t wait to let the clutch out on Friday and see what we can do, starting the Countdown on the right foot.”
The one question mark seemingly facing Anderson and his KB Racing teammate Jason Line entering this year’s playoff was their race cars. As the newest chassis among any of the competitors who qualified for the 2012 Countdown to One, the talented tandem had admittedly struggled to get a handle on the tune-up for most of the summer. However, having finally had a chance to get in some extensive testing over the last few weeks, Anderson is confident their sleek new Camaros will now have the performance to match their looks.
“We tested at zMAX last week with our Summit Racing Camaros and ran very well, so we are expecting to run just as well when we go back there this weekend,” said Anderson. “I know it’s been a battle to get these new cars up to speed, but we’ve been running the wheels off these cars since coming home from the West Coast, and I believe we’re starting to see the fruits of our labor.
“We feel like we’ve made progress and gained some performance to where we think we’ll have our best chance in the last 3-4 months to win an event. Are we going to go out and dominate the race? Probably not, but we are definitely going to give AJ, Mike, Erica and everyone else a run for their money. Of course it takes some racing luck and proper execution with the car as well as the driver being perfect, but I think we’re finally getting close to getting back in our groove. Let’s just say we’re expecting a big weekend.”
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