Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 | 9:55 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Greg Anderson's NHRA Pro Stock victory Sunday at Infineon Raceway proved to be a milestone event for a number of reasons.
Not only did his fourth victory of the season propel Anderson back into the Pro Stock points lead, it was his 35th career national-event victory and tied him with the legendary Don Garlits for 10th place on the all-time NHRA victory list pro professional categories.
It also marked the first NHRA Pro Stock victory for the new Pontiac GTO body style.
The lead in the Pro Stock points standings already has changed hands 11 times this season -- the most in the history of the category.
"The Pro Stock class is a dogfight right now," said Anderson, who drives the Summit Racing Pontiac for team owner Ken Black of Las Vegas. "We have five guys that can absolutely win this Powerade championship without any one of them being an upset or anybody wondering how it happened, and that's the state of Pro Stock racing right now."
Anderson, who has rebounded from a sluggish start this season and won four of the past nine races, leads Warren Johnson by 50 points and Kurt Johnson by 94 after 15 of 23 national events.
"We're back in first place and that's obviously a great place to be after the Western Swing," Anderson said. "We didn't have a good series of races out here and this one right here made us healthy. Now we can go home, regroup and have this car smokin' at Brainerd."
Anderson, the two-time reigning NHRA Pro Stock champion, said he is looking forward to competing in the final eight national events of the season in the new GTO.
"I think this Pontiac GTO is going to be the best car I've ever raced," said Anderson, who has won 31 races since the start of the 2003 season. "There's no question that we're still new with it yet, it's a little bit different from our old car, but it's positively going to best the doggone racecar I've ever had."
ON THE MOVE: Gary Scelzi moved from third to second in NHRA Funny Car points with his victory Sunday at Infineon and now trails Robert Hight by 16 points and is 70 points ahead of third-place John Force.
Scelzi, however, refused to be drawn into a discussion of the championship battle that is brewing.
"I'm just not going to think about it," Scelzi said of the championship. "I know how to win championships, I know how to shut my mouth and I know how to pay attention to what I've got to do -- and that's what I'm doing from here on out and whatever happens, happens.
"If they get ahead of us, they get ahead of us. If they don't, then they don't. They decide the champion at the end of the year in Pomona, not right now."
The victory was Scelzi's third this season and the 32nd of his professional career (25 in Top Fuel and 7 in Funny Car).
BACK ON TOP: Doug Kalitta regained the NHRA Top Fuel points lead with his victory Sunday over Doug Herbert at Infineon.
Kalitta had led the Top Fuel standings for seven consecutive races until his second-round loss to Morgan Lucas at Denver to start the Western Swing.
Kalitta, who earned his fourth victory of the season, holds a slim 16-point edge over Tony Schumacher. Larry Dixon is 126 points off the pace in third place.
AT THE STRIP: "Midnight Mayhem" for street-legal cars and motorcycles returns to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday night from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Admission to "Midnight Mayhem" is $10 for racers and $5 for spectators. The event is open to any licensed driver with proof of insurance.
From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, The Strip will be open for a test-and-tune session.
archive
