Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Anderson makes it 2-of-3 in Pro Stock series

Thursday, March 25, 2004 | 9:51 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Just when the rest of the NHRA Pro Stock field may have started thinking Greg Anderson actually was beatable, the reigning champion went out and won last weekend's Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

That's two victories for Anderson in the first three races of the 2004 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series season and five in the past six races, going back to last season.

Anderson, who won 12 times in 23 races in 2003, now has held the Pro Stock points lead after 16 consecutive races going into next weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The only blemish on Anderson's season to date was a semifinal loss to Kurt Johnson earlier this month at Firebird International Raceway.

"It seems like everyone caught up to us in Phoenix but I actually had the quickest car there, also," Anderson said. "I just slipped up against (Johnson) and he beat me. I'm not a machine, I'm human; I make mistakes and those things are going to happen."

Anderson, who drives the Vegas General Construction Pontiac Grand Am for Las Vegas businessman Ken Black, scored his second victory of the season by defeating Jeg Coughlin in the final in Gainesville. Anderson's reaction time of .045 seconds topped Coughlin's .048.

"I'm very proud of the light I had in the final," Anderson said. "I knew Jeg would be tough. He had been three or four hundredths better on the (starting line) tree all day and if he had done that in the final, it would have been way too close. I was up for it and I'm glad I pulled one out."

Anderson has to be loaded with confidence as he comes to Las Vegas, where he won both the spring and fall events last season.

The fifth annual SummitRacing.com Nationals begins Thursday, April 1, with Sportsman and Comp Eliminator qualifying. Pro qualifying sessions will be Friday and Saturday and Sunday's final eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Worsham will spend part of next Thursday at Shadow Ridge High School, where he will participate in an assembly with students to warn of the dangers of illegal street racing. Worsham will be joined at the assembly by Chris Blair, senior director of drag racing operations at LVMS, and Angie Wolf of the Nevada Highway Patrol.

"Too many people don't understand the power of an automobile," Worsham said. "But if something breaks, or something goes wrong, the last place you want to be is on the street.

"The NHRA has programs at tracks all over America. They check out your car, show you how to race and give you a time slip so you can see how your car's running. You won't have to worry about hurting yourself or some innocent bystander and you won't have to worry about getting arrested."

Blair, who was instrumental in developing LVMS' highly successful "Midnight Mayhem" program as a safer alternative to illegal street racing, will invite all of the students at the assembly to attend an upcoming "Midnight Mayhem" at The Strip.

The next "Midnight Mayhem" for street-legal cars and motorcycles will be this Friday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission is $10 for racers and $5 for spectators.

The eight Funny Car drivers who have earned the most points during qualifying in a 23-race span will compete in the Skoal Showdown at the 2004 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis in September. A race-day purse of $147,000 is available for the eight drivers competing and the winner will earn $100,000.

Drivers started earning points for the 2004 season at the 2003 Indianapolis event and will continue to accumulate points through the 2004 NHRA national event in Brainerd, Minn., on Aug. 15.

Force, a five-time winner of the Showdown, holds a 60-point lead over Gary Densham and a 185-point advantage over Gary Scelzi in the Skoal Showdown standings. Whit Bazemore, Tony Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson, Del Worsham and Tommy Johnson, Jr. round out the top eight.