At this weekend’s NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals, World Wide Technology Raceway joined NHRA’s 75th anniversary season with the launch of a special program recognizing professional-category competitors who have made their mark at the facility originally known as Gateway International Raceway. Six-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro and the owner of an astounding 116 national event wins, was honored for having won four times at the esteemed facility.
“This is a special place; it’s just a neat, neat racetrack with a great team behind it,” said Anderson, shortly after resetting the World Wide Technology Raceway track record for elapsed time – one that he himself set in 2015 – with a powerful 6.482-second pass. “I can’t thank Curtis Francois [WWT Raceway Owner and CEO], Chris Blair [Vice President and General Manager], and their whole team enough for this cool honor. Thanks, guys. We’ve had a lot of great moments here my whole career, starting in 2000 when I got to my first St. Louis final round, and we’re not done yet.”
Anderson’s 2000 final next to event winner Ron Krisher was followed by another final-round finish in 2002 next to Jeg Coughlin Jr. before he finally broke through with a coveted St. Louis win in 2004 – it was Steve Johns in the other lane that year, and the following season, 2005, Anderson logged yet another St. Louis final next to event winner Kurt Johnson.
In later years, Anderson established a pattern: with every St. Louis final would come victory, and in 2017, 2023, and 2025, he recorded respective wins over Jason Line, Aaron Stanfield, and Matt Hartford.
On Friday at World Wide Technology Raceway, Anderson was in good company among eight drivers honored for earning four or more wins at the racetrack that sits in the shadow of the St. Louis arch: Gary Scelzi, Ron Capps, Steve Torrence, Matt Smith, Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta, and Erica Enders were also part of the inaugural class of Gateway’s Greatest.
World Wide Technology Raceway stands as one of 24 NHRA national event racetracks on which Anderson has raced to victory, and the next stop on the 2026 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour will be Texas Motorplex, where he has won six times.
“Every track holds memories — some good, some not so good — but to leave this great facility and get to go to Dallas, then Las Vegas, and finally Pomona to finish the season is a good feeling,” said Anderson, who left St. Louis paused at fourth in the Pro Stock standings. “These last few Countdown to the Championship races are very important, they’re going to mean a lot. It was an honor to stand on that starting line and become part of the history of this great place. Now we’re going to go and try to leave our mark on these next three racetracks and finish the season strong.”
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex, Oct. 9-18, 2026.
This story was originally published on October 5, 2026.
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