Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Opponents catch up to Anderson in series opener

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 | 9:37 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.

Greg Anderson's worst fears were realized at the NHRA's season opener in Pomona, Calif.

Anderson, the two-time defending Pro Stock champion and winner of 15 of 23 national events last season, expressed concern last month that his Pro Stock competitors had made gains during the off-season and were poised to end Anderson's stranglehold on the category.

Not only did Anderson suffer a second-round loss to Kurt Johnson, his No. 7 qualifying effort in Pomona was his worst effort since the 2003 season opener.

As he prepared for this weekend's national event at Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix, Anderson was not in panic mode -- but he certainly wasn't happy with his Summit Racing Pontiac Grand Am team, which is owned by Ken Black of Las Vegas.

"I'm not satisfied with anything right now -- whether it's the car or the engines or the drivers, to be honest with you," Anderson said. "You add it all up and you're not going to go anywhere in this class. You need to have everything perfect and regardless of how many times we won last year, it wasn't because one thing was great; everything worked together, everything was good and that's what it will take to win in 2005.

"We won one round but committed too many errors. We have to go back, settle down and get our game face back on. I guess they ruffled our feathers and we can't let that happen. The pieces are all there, we just have to get all the round pegs in the round holes and the square pegs in the square holes."

Dave Connolly earned his fourth career Pro Stock victory by defeating Warren Johnson in the Pomona finale and holds the NHRA Pro Stock points lead going into this weekend's race.

NICE START: Scott Kalitta opened the season at Pomona with his 16th career Top Fuel victory (17th overall) and his first since the Mopar Mile High Nationals last July.

"That was a huge win for this team," Kalitta said. "I can't overstate that. We struggled last season with getting our racecar consistent. To begin the season with a win ... could not have been any better for us. We definitely sent a statement to our competitors that we're back and we're ready to play hardball.

"I've never won the Phoenix race so hopefully we can carry our momentum from Pomona into this race and have a great finish."

SLUMP BUSTER: By defeating Phil Burkart in the Funny Car final at Pomona, Tommy Johnson Jr. earned his first victory since the 2001 spring race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The victory also was the 99th career title for car owner Don Prudhomme, who posted 49 wins during his driving career and now has 50 as a team owner.

Like Kalitta, Johnson is hoping to take some momentum to Firebird.

"Now that we got that win, we can't get too excited or complacent with just one win," Johnson said. "You've got to put it behind you and move on to the next race. Hopefully, this will give us a lot of momentum and confidence and we can keep it going all season long."

THE STRIP HONORED: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was named the best racetrack facility of the year in a "Best of 2004" feature in the current issue of Drag Racing Action magazine.

Chris Blair, the senior director of drag racing operations at The Strip, was noted as one of the sport's best promoters in the same issue.