Memphis: Greg Anderson final summary

Transmission problem ends day for Anderson at Memphis

MILLINGTON, Tenn. (August 21, 2006) -- Three-time and reigning POWERade Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson encountered problems in the second round of eliminations and made an unwanted early exit at the 19th annual NHRA O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals.

After one round of eliminations was run yesterday, inclement weather postponed the remainder of eliminations to today. Temperatures were in the low to mid-seventies at race time today, compared to the oppressive heat and humidity of the previous three days when the thermometer was registering triple digits.

Yesterday before weather settled over Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tenn., Anderson driving the KB Racing-owned, Summit Racing Equipment-backed Pontiac GTO turned back Greg Stanfield in the opening round. Today Anderson was optimistic going into the second round, but that optimism turned as transmission problems ended what was once again a promising weekend.

"The transmission just jumped out of third gear," said Anderson following the event. "It's just one of those things that happen once every hundred runs or so and it happened at the wrong time. You just have to hope it doesn't happen on race day, and it did. There's nothing you can do about it, it's just part of the game.

"We definitely did good (as a team), and (teammate) Jason (Line) had another good day and just about got him another win. We're performing well and I'm even driving better, so we're ready to win. Now we've just got to get rid of the gremlins.

"We'll go to Indy for the next couple of days and test, and get familiar with that track again. Indy's been a great place for me. It's been a very lucky place where a lot of good things have happened. I can't wait to get there because I need some good luck and I need some good fortune. We're right there; we're knocking on that door. This Summit Racing Pontiac is performing great, so hopefully maybe at Indy we put it all together and have good luck to go along with it."

Anderson's teammate Jason Line continues to hold the No. 1 spot in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock point standings. Line has 1,245 points and leads second place Anderson by 121 points. Anderson is 50 points in front of Dave Connolly in third.

-credit: kb racing