But just because the team\u2019s multi-car operation \u2013 including Anderson\u2019s HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro \u2013 is 2,800 miles away doesn\u2019t mean Anderson can sit idle at the shop. There\u2019s always something to work on when you\u2019re tasked with creating horsepower for several of the most competitive cars in a class where, as Anderson says, \u201chorsepower is king.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy day-to-day is to get here as soon as I can every morning and work as long as I can on trying to find one more horsepower, two more horsepower,\u201d Anderson says from the KB Titan Racing shop, just around the corner from Mooresville Dragway. \u201cYou think about it nonstop, and anything you think about, you show up at the shop the next day and you\u2019re trying to build that widget to try and find yourself another horsepower.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a mindset Anderson has developed over the course of a career that stretches back decades. He spent 12 years racing with \u201cThe Professor,\u201d Warren Johnson, where Anderson focused on the firewall back. When he went out on his own with team owner Ken Black in 2001, he hired Rob Downing to be his crew chief, freeing him up to learn how to work on engines. Jason Line, a past NHRA Stock Eliminator world champion, joined the team and further accelerated Anderson\u2019s engine education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since 2001, I turned in that crew chief or mechanic\u2019s wrench, and I became an engine builder,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cNow it\u2019s been 20-some years and I\u2019ve learned a ton and I\u2019ve really enjoyed it. It\u2019s been two different careers, one as a car guy and the next as an engine guy, and I don\u2019t know which one I like better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pursuit of even miniscule gains in horsepower is never-ending for Anderson and his colleagues at KB Titan Racing, which has grown and evolved just like Anderson has. It started as a single-car team with Anderson as the driver and expanded to a two-car program in 2004 with Line earning Rookie of the Year honors and a second-place finish to Anderson. The team later started leasing engines and complete Pro Stock operations to other drivers. Line retired from driving at the end of the 2020 season and gradually stepped away from the team to pursue his own business. A new chapter for KB Racing began when KB merged with Titan Racing Engines to form KB Titan Racing with partners Eric Latino and Jim Whiteley.\u00a0<\/p>\n KB Titan is now home to five house cars and two engine leasing customers. That roster includes Anderson, Latino, 2024 championship runner-up Dallas Glenn, 2023 U.S. Nationals winner Matt Hartford, five-time winner Deric Kramer, and former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider turned recent first-time Pro Stock winner Cory Reed. The lineup also includes two rookies: Matt Latino, Eric\u2019s son, as well as Cody Coughlin, who came to Pro Stock after success in the circle track world.\u00a0<\/p>\n At this point in the season, KB Titan drivers occupy nearly all of the top 10 spots in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Pro Stock points standings. Anderson and Glenn met up in the final rounds of the first three races of the 2025 season, with Glenn winning the season opener in Gainesville and Anderson taking back-to-back wins at Phoenix and Pomona. Glenn then won both Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas and Charlotte, while Anderson finished third and second in those final quads, respectively. Anderson added back-to-back victories at Epping (over rival Erica Enders) and Bristol (over Glenn), then Reed scored his first career Pro Stock win at Norwalk with Glenn in the other lane.\u00a0<\/p>\n That performance is Anderson\u2019s reward for the hours he puts in at the shop between races. He\u2019s there from 7:30 or 8 in the morning to around 7 p.m. six days a week. And that\u2019s not counting all the hours he spends thinking about racing while he\u2019s away from the shop. It\u2019s an effort bordering on obsessive, but it works.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a sport and a class where you can control your own destiny,\u201d Anderson explains. \u201cIf you don\u2019t put that effort in, you\u2019re probably not going to get much back out of it. If you do put a heck of an effort in, you\u2019ve got a good chance of getting more out of it. I look at that as sort of being able to control your own destiny. If you find five horses this week, you\u2019re going to make your chances to win next week a heck of a lot better. The more you can work at it and the more effort you can put in, usually the luckier you get, as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n Around 50 percent of Anderson\u2019s time at the shop is spent on the engine dyno. He took over the dyno operator role from Line when he stepped away. Anderson also machines a lot of the parts that go into the engines and handles most of the piston work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very busy role, but I love every bit of it,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cBut pretty much everybody that works here in the KB Titan engine shop can do anything from top to bottom of the engine. They\u2019re not necessarily the specialist that they can only do this part or that part. There\u2019s three of us here that can run the dyno. There\u2019s five of us here that can build an engine from oil pan to fuel injection system.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a group that wears many hats, and Anderson is the prime example of that. At times he\u2019s a team leader tasked with making the numbers make sense. Other times he\u2019s a world-championship race car driver signing autographs for fans at the ropes. He\u2019s also a teammate, a mentor, and a rival. But of all the hats Anderson wears in his role in the sport, it\u2019s the engine builder hat that brings out something special in him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn Pro Stock drag racing, the engine is king, and that\u2019s what I love about it,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly three main ingredients that go into trying to win a race with these race cars. The driver has to do a great job, the car has to be perfect, and the engine has to run real good, but probably still the most important part of those three is the engine. That\u2019s why I love Pro Stock.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson, now one of the most accomplished drivers not just in Pro Stock, but in the history of the sport, became just the second driver in NHRA history to hit 100 national event wins when he won the 2022 U.S. Nationals and most recently hit the 1,000-round mark on his way to winning the Thunder Valley Nationals this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this candid conversation, the Anderson reflects on those accomplishments, the state of Pro Stock, and the passion that still drives him after decades in the sport.<\/p>\n You\u2019re only the second driver to hit 1,000 round wins behind John Force, who did it in 2008. How does that achievement represent your career in the sport?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I guess it tells you I must be getting old to be around that long to do that\u00a0(laughs)<\/em>. I never really kept track of anything like that. I never even thought of it, and I didn\u2019t know anything about it until a couple of races before it happened. People started saying, \u201cYou\u2019re getting very close to a thousand round wins.\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cWhat? A thousand\u00a0what<\/em>?\u201d I didn\u2019t really understand. And now that I think about it, that\u2019s a lot of damn round wins. That\u2019s pretty impressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anytime you get in a rare record book alongside John Force, you\u2019ve done something well, obviously. We all certainly consider him the guy that\u2019s done the most for the sport, and no one will never get to the records that he\u2019s had. So anytime I can be mentioned with him, that\u2019s obviously a heck of a feather in the hat.\u00a0<\/p>\n But like I said before, it\u2019s great, it\u2019s fantastic, it\u2019s wonderful, but I\u2019m not necessarily worried about the numbers like that. I worry about next week. Can I get to 1,002, 1,003? Just whatever it takes to win the next race, that\u2019s what I live for. I\u2019m kind of an instant gratification guy. I don\u2019t look that far down the road, and I\u2019ve said it a million times, your last win could always be your\u00a0last<\/em>\u00a0win. You never know when you\u2019re not going to be able to win again, so you\u2019ve got to cherish every one of them. You\u2019ve got to make them special and feel like they mean everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n And that does for me. I still feel great. Every single race win I get, no matter what racetrack it\u2019s at, I feel fantastic. That\u2019s what does it for us and that\u2019s what moves you on to the next one and takes you home and makes you work harder to try and make a better product so you can go back to the next race and have a chance to win that next one.<\/p>\n Being in that exclusive club with John Force, perhaps the most iconic drag racer of all time, how surreal is that?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s absolutely crazy. There\u2019s so many things that I don\u2019t even consider myself even close to being on the same level as John Force, but people start talking when you do things like this, \u201cYou and John Force, you and John Force,\u201d and I certainly don\u2019t consider myself an equal, no way, no how, and I probably never will, but it\u2019s still cool. It\u2019s still something I can talk about when I finally do step out of the car and stop doing this. Then I can think about this stuff more and it\u2019ll probably mean a lot more to me then. But as I\u2019m still doing it, it\u2019s just part of the deal it takes to win that next event. And that\u2019s everything to me.<\/p>\n How rewarding is it to hit that thousand-round mark while competing in this modern era of Pro Stock with so many tough, young competitors?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it\u2019s definitely different now. I know it sounds like a clich\u00e9 \u2013 this class gets tougher every year \u2013 but it does. In my opinion, it does. I was certainly around through all the days when Warren Johnson would win a lot, when Bob Glidden would win a lot, but the difference to me to back then is you had those two or three guys in the class that could win. Nobody else really could win, so it\u2019s not like that anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bob Glidden or Warren Johnson didn\u2019t rent engines and race cars the same as they were driving to guys that were 20-30 years younger than them. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing nowadays. We\u2019re renting the same exact equipment that I\u2019m racing, the same exact equipment that Erica Enders is racing. Her teammates all have the same car, the same engine, the same capability to win that she does, that I do, and that wasn\u2019t the way it was years ago.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the reason I think it\u2019s tougher now, and obviously add on the extra years that I\u2019ve got going for me and the wisdom or whatever you want to call it, that\u2019s great, but I\u2019d sure click my fingers in a minute and go back to that young attitude and that ability to be able to go out there and cut .00 lights and .010 lights like it\u2019s nothing like these young kids can. I\u2019d give anything to go back to that. I don\u2019t necessarily have that in my playbook anymore. They tell me, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to do it with experience and wisdom.\u201d Well, what does that really mean? That doesn\u2019t get you a better light. That doesn\u2019t really get you much, I guess.\u00a0<\/p>\n But a couple times this year, I\u2019ve raced Dallas Glenn, one of the new young guns that\u2019s just effortless at cutting great lights and being able to win races and he\u2019s in the same equipment as me, but he\u2019s got something in his book that I don\u2019t necessarily have. He can actually go up there and red light. He can see that light that well and actually let the clutch out and be too amped up, too excited, and red light. And he\u2019s lost twice to me this year in final rounds via just barely red lighting. And I\u2019ve kind of chuckled at the finish line. That\u2019s not a problem I have. I can\u2019t necessarily red-light unless I just flat screw up. I can\u2019t necessarily red-light.\u00a0<\/p>\n I guess it\u2019s a good problem, but at the same time it\u2019s cost him two races too, so it\u2019s a double-edged sword. I guess that\u2019s the wisdom and the experience play. Just make sure you do the best you can and go down that racetrack. And a couple times this year it\u2019s worked out good for me where he\u2019s gone over the edge and he\u2019s been red-lighting.<\/p>\n You talked about some of the guys you\u2019ve raced over the course of your career \u2013 multiple generations of greats that you\u2019ve raced against in Pro Stock. Who was your toughest rival or the one who pushed you the hardest?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n There was so many over the years, but there were so many years of the Summit vs. JEGS deal, the me vs. Jeg Coughlin deal. I can remember so many just huge, huge races between the two of us. Obviously things change year after year, and Jeggy, he\u2019s raced a long time, but he\u2019s also taken breaks and stepped out for a year or two at a time and then come back.\u00a0<\/p>\n In those years that he hasn\u2019t been around, there\u2019s been other people. I spent a lot of years trying to find a way to beat Dave Connolly. And then came along Erica Enders, and she got to the top of her game and got great equipment and I had a hard time beating her. So there\u2019s been a few different nemeses, whatever you want to call them \u2013 tough competitors, ones that mean more. The latest one, obviously, has been Erica, without a doubt, but there\u2019s been a lot of years over my career that Jeg Coughlin was that guy.<\/p>\n It changes as you go. The cool thing on my part is I\u2019ve been through it enough to have several different arch enemies or nemeses \u2013 people that I felt could take care of me no problem, and I really feared when I went up there. That must tell you you\u2019ve had a long career, and I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be another one.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe Dallas Glenn is the next one that I\u2019m just going to get to the point where I struggle more than I can beat him and he\u2019s going to beat me. You\u2019ve just got to stay out there as long as you can, and that\u2019s the beauty of drag racing. It seems that you can do it into your upper years.<\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of funny, I have a teammate over there at Hendrick Motorsports in Kyle Larson, and we talk about it all the time, \u201cMan, we need to get him in a Pro Stock car.\u201d Tony Stewart is racing Top Fuel now. Kurt Busch has tried some Pro Stock. I need to get [Larson] in my Pro Stock car and see what he thinks of that. I floated the idea out there a couple times and the answer from him was, \u201cWell, maybe when I turn 50. That seems to be a sport that you can do when you get old.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou little smart ass.\u201d He goes, \u201cNo, I\u2019m not ready yet. I\u2019m still kind of at the top of my game in what I do and maybe when I turn 50 I\u2019ll try to add drag racing.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s probably some truth to it, but still, they don\u2019t have that. They can\u2019t be doing it over in NASCAR or IndyCar or whatever at 50-plus. We can in drag racing. I guess I picked the right sport.<\/p>\n A lot of people see you or know of you as Greg Anderson, the Pro Stock driver, but you obviously also have a major behind-the-scenes role. What did you learn about managing people and running a team from Ken Black?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, he was the best quarterback you could ever imagine having. He didn\u2019t micromanage. He didn\u2019t try to step in and say, \u201cHere\u2019s what I want you to do. I want you to do that,\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t want you to do this,\u201d and he pretty much let us run our own deal. All the years with Ken Black, we had to figure it out how to run this team, what was the best way to run this team, obviously financially, and trying to find ways to win races.\u00a0<\/p>\n I learned a lot through all those years, basically because he pretty much opened the plate and said, \u201cHere you go, boys. I\u2019m going to be back here if you need me, and if we get into any problems, then I\u2019ll start to make a decision, but other than that, you\u2019re going to have to make the day-to-days and figure out what you want this race team to do and how you want it to look and where you go with it.\u201d<\/p>\n How did that prepare you for Ken\u2019s departure and the merging with Titan Racing Engines in December 2022?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t necessarily a new experience when Ken moved on. We don\u2019t have that great quarterback in Ken Black anymore, but I\u2019ve got two great new guys in Eric Latino and Jim Whiteley. In my opinion, they\u2019re just as great a quarterbacks as Ken Black was. I got very lucky for a second time in my career with the new ownership here, and the team has gotten better ever since we\u2019ve done that.\u00a0<\/p>\n We merged with the Titan team and gained some great employees there and we\u2019ve flat gone forward. We put our egos aside and it wasn\u2019t, \u201cWell, you\u2019re going to do it my way or I\u2019m not going to do it,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m going to do it my way, I\u2019m not going to do it your way.\u201d There was none of that. We all pretty much just said, \u201cEach of us can learn from each other and it\u2019ll put a better product out in the end,\u201d so the team just flat got better.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been partnered with a motorsports icon in Rick Hendrick these last few years. How has working with him helped your program?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The first thing is people don\u2019t realize he started out drag racing, so he\u2019s got roots in it and he\u2019s got memories of it. Before he went NASCAR racing, he drag raced, and then he drag boat raced, so he certainly knows all about the sport and he gets a big kick out of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n He loves to win. The man is not a guy that just wants to put his name on there because he likes to see his name on the side of the car or whatever. He likes to win. He loves trophies. He loves winning races. He loves teams that are run well. His ship is run very, very, very efficiently over there. His complex is beyond belief \u2013 the quality and just the way that all the employees act and operate, the way they talk about him. It\u2019s just a fantastic organization and it\u2019s incredible the magnitude of it.<\/p>\n Probably one of the biggest things he\u2019s done for me is he\u2019s offered any assistance. We can walk in the door over at the Hendrick complex any day, any time we want, and ask for help. Things that we don\u2019t have here at KB Titan, obviously they have over there. They\u2019ve got way more resources than we have. It\u2019s been a great deal as far as resources. Anytime we get in trouble or we have a problem that we can\u2019t solve, we can run right across town and get with all the engineers that he has on staff over there and hopefully solve our way through that problem. The open-door policy that he\u2019s had with us, \u201cEverything I have over here is yours to use,\u201d has been a huge help to me.<\/p>\n But on top of that, the guy\u2019s just probably the coolest guy I\u2019ve ever met. He\u2019s really a neat dude and I love the fact that he loves to win. That\u2019s me. I don\u2019t do this just to go out there and have fun. I don\u2019t get the biggest kick out of driving a race car down the racetrack and don\u2019t care whether I win or lose. I\u00a0care<\/em>\u00a0if I win or lose. That\u2019s everything to me and it is to him too. It\u2019s been a great partnership and I\u2019m just proud to wear that brand on the side of the car. It just means a ton to me.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve talked about your role as a teacher for some of these young drivers coming in. Did that come naturally for you or is that something where you\u2019ve had to learn how to be that teacher?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, if you go back to when we first started this KB team and I first got the opportunity to drive Pro Stock full-time with Ken Black, the first year or year-and-a-half, I was alone and it was all about Greg Anderson. Then came along Jason Line and he became my partner in our second operation. I won a lot of races over the years, but so did he. I basically had to learn to share the limelight and share the resources we had here. People said it a million times, \u201cYou hired your own assassin,\u201d because he beat me regularly, and now it\u2019s kind of the same deal.<\/p>\n Now I\u2019ve got several of them around me that are all a whole bunch younger. They\u2019re a whole bunch hungrier. The new generation could give a crap less that I got a thousand round wins or six championships or 110 race wins. They could care less. When they pull up alongside of me, they expect to and they know in their own head they\u2019re going to wear me out and they\u2019re going to kick my ass, and it\u2019s just a different deal to race with these kids now than it used to be.<\/p>\n But on the flip side of it, when they don\u2019t achieve that and when I do beat them, whether it\u2019s from experience or whatever it\u2019s from, it\u2019s a pretty damn good feeling because they\u2019re tough, they\u2019re good, and they\u2019re in the same equipment I\u2019m in and they\u2019ve got all these things that I don\u2019t necessarily have. They\u2019ve got the young reflexes, they\u2019ve got the attitude, they\u2019ve got the equipment that you couldn\u2019t get 10 or 15 years ago. You couldn\u2019t just walk into Pro Stock and step into a car that was just as good as the guy that\u2019s winning most of the races in the class. You couldn\u2019t get the same equipment. Now they can.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve put them in the same equipment I\u2019m in and now I\u2019ve got to find a way to beat that now. I ask myself, \u201cAm I nuts? What are you expecting out of your 64-year-old self?\u201d But it\u2019s a neat challenge. I just have to try and find a way every weekend to reinvent myself and find a better way because the level just goes up. Month after month, the level it takes to win, it just goes up every race and every month. I\u2019ve got to keep looking, I\u2019ve got to keep searching, I\u2019ve got to try and find a way to be better. Obviously, I don\u2019t have the young genes anymore to rely on, so it\u2019s been a challenge, but it means a ton when you beat these kids anymore. It\u2019s a He-Man challenge, but it sure is fun.<\/p>\n One of the biggest success stories out of the team has been Dallas Glenn. The way that he came up working as a crew member and then getting that opportunity to drive, does he remind you of a young Greg Anderson?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Absolutely. That\u2019s absolutely the path that I took. All those years that I worked for Warren Johnson, I never had any thoughts or even desires to drive a race car. That all happened because one day, Warren got angry with myself and his son [Kurt Johnson] for critiquing his driving and he sent us both to Roy Hill\u2019s Drag Racing School to basically learn how difficult it was to drive one of these Pro Stock cars. Before that, I had zero plans of being a driver.<\/p>\n Dallas, on the other hand, he\u2019s raced bracket cars all his life and knew he always wanted to be a driver, but never really pushed the issue. He worked for me for a lot of years and he does every single job that you ask of him. He\u2019s just a great mechanic and he\u2019s got a great attitude. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen him have a bad day. Eventually when Jason Line stepped away and the opportunity presented itself, Dallas went out and found money and found a way to get in a Pro Stock car for the first time. And right from the first race he ran, you could see the talent he had.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a neat deal for me to watch his development, and it does remind me a lot of where I came from and how I did it, except he\u2019s a hell of a lot better driver than I ever was. I watch all these bracket racers and they understand the driving bit a hell of a lot better than I do. I\u2019m a car guy. I\u2019m an engine builder now, but I used to be a car guy. I\u2019ve never been a driver per se, but somebody\u2019s got to drive these things and show the work that you put into it and what you\u2019ve made with your race car and your engine. Somebody\u2019s got to drive the car to the finish line, and that\u2019s kind of where it was for me.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never once in my life sat back and said, \u201cI\u2019m a better driver than this guy or that guy.\u201d I don\u2019t necessarily feel that way, but I\u2019ve been an average driver and I\u2019ve been able to put myself in pretty good equipment. And as I say, you control your own destiny. I\u2019ve had a lot to do with the equipment I\u2019ve been in over the years. I tried to do everything I can to make sure it\u2019s great equipment to make this driver look good, but as far as pure driving talent, shit, Dallas Glenn is a mile ahead of where I ever was. And 10 years from now, I have no idea what we\u2019ll be saying about Dallas Glenn, how many race wins he\u2019s got, how many championships he\u2019s got, but he\u2019s the real deal. He\u2019s got it all and it\u2019s going to be cool to watch when I step back. But in the meantime, he\u2019s a headache. He\u2019s hard to beat.<\/p>\n What\u2019s something that you see in this younger generation of Pro Stock racers that excites you or maybe even makes you nervous as someone that has to race against them?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, there\u2019s different ones. You\u2019ve got a guy like Dallas Glenn who can work on every inch of the race car. He drives the transporter up and down the road, he drives the race car, and he takes his clutch in and out of the car at the racetrack. He\u2019s his own car chief, basically.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then you\u2019ve got other young guns that\u2026well, I don\u2019t know what they do between runs on the racetrack, but they don\u2019t work on a race car and they don\u2019t work on stuff at the shop. They just come in and drive the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u2019re all good in their own way. It\u2019s a heck of a mix, a heck of a different group that we\u2019ve got out there, but I certainly relate to the Dallas Glenns more. That\u2019s more like what I was. I was a guy that pretty much knew every inch of the car inside and out.<\/p>\n If I\u2019m betting on the future, when these young guys start winning championships and stuff like that, which is going to happen very soon, I\u2019ll put my money on Dallas Glenn because he\u2019s the well-rounded guy of all these newcomers out there, and I think there\u2019s something to be said for being able to work on them as much as you are able to drive them. I think he\u2019s got a leg up on the competition because of that. If I\u2019m betting on the future after I get out of the way and turn it over to these young guys, I\u2019m betting on a guy like Dallas Glenn.<\/p>\n You may have just answered this question in a different way, but are today\u2019s new, young drivers at a disadvantage in a way, being able to come in and step into a proven car without having to learn some of those lessons that you or even Dallas had to learn on the way up?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I think there\u2019s definitely an advantage that we have that they\u2019re not ever going to have. They can\u2019t necessarily come back and provide a lot of feedback to the crew chiefs. We all have onboard computers in the cars, so it\u2019s not like a driver can lie anyway, but there\u2019s still certain things that you feel as a driver that the computer doesn\u2019t show.\u00a0<\/p>\n I think when you\u2019ve been on the inside, working on the equipment and on the race cars and on the engine, there\u2019s certain things we hear in the engine going down the racetrack that they don\u2019t necessarily know what the difference is. If we happen to lose an engine partway down the track or a part fails, we can usually hear it. There\u2019s an audible change, and half the time, we can get out of the throttle and save that engine. Some of these new guys, they\u2019re not going to have that in their playbook. They\u2019re just going to be either on the throttle all the time or it\u2019s going to blow up, one or the other. That\u2019s something that\u2019s valuable.<\/p>\n There\u2019s probably times where it\u2019s better where you don\u2019t have all that experience because there\u2019s so many things that can go through your head. When you roll into that stage beam and you\u2019re trying to concentrate on cutting that light, there better not be anything of any kind going through your mind. You better not be talking to yourself and you better not be listening or you\u2019re not going to cut a good light. These guys that don\u2019t necessarily understand why the engine sounds different here or there or what the car did here or there, that\u2019s not a problem they have. They probably can get to that concentration level of \u201cnothing but the Christmas tree\u201d a whole lot easier.<\/p>\n So there\u2019s pluses and minuses. Obviously I\u2019m voting for the guy that\u2019s got the well-rounded experience because that\u2019s me, but on the other side, I can see benefits to the other way too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your son, Cody, has gotten really involved over the last several years. What do you enjoy most about working with him and showing him the ropes?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s been around the racetrack for a lot of years and he\u2019s certainly been a great fan and watched what his dad does, but he didn\u2019t love drag racing at the young age that I did. He was a golfer. He wanted to golf. That\u2019s what he wanted to do with his life, and pretty much every race we went to, he\u2019d just leave on Friday, Saturday, and find a golf course to go to.<\/p>\n What I really got a kick out of \u2013 and I certainly didn\u2019t push him at all \u2013 but I gave him the opportunity to work on the car, and I try not to be his boss. I let the car shop guys handle his daily schedule and treat him just like a normal employee. But he\u2019s pretty much learned to do every inch of that race car just like I had to do. He\u2019s not a guy that can only do one thing. He can now do a lot of different things. He can wear a lot of different hats. He can work on different cars, different teams. He can do different projects on the car. I love watching that growth, and I know it\u2019s going to continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n He definitely has an itch \u2013 he doesn\u2019t have that burning desire yet \u2013 to drive a car, but he\u2019s definitely got a desire. He wants to try it. And I keep saying when I finally get out of here and call it a career for me, I\u2019m going to let him show what he can do, and I have all the confidence in the world. He\u2019s a young kid. He\u2019s a talented kid. He\u2019s a natural-born athlete. I think he\u2019s going to do great at it. I\u2019ll look forward to that day when I get to stand on the starting line and watch him.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m absolutely trying not to force his hand or put any pressure on him and put a deadline on when he needs to get in a race car or do anything, but it\u2019s going to happen someday. He\u2019s going to take his shot at it. He\u2019s going to either sink or swim on that just like I had to do, but I look forward to that day. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s that far down the road.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a realist. I know that for me it gets more difficult every year to find a way to reinvent myself to try and hang with these young guys, and that\u2019ll continue as years go on. In the back of my mind, I\u2019ve got to be thinking in the next year or two at the most, it\u2019s going to be that time to hand the steering wheel over. I\u2019m definitely thinking about it. He\u2019s definitely thinking about it. That\u2019ll be the next chapter around here, hopefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n KB Titan and Elite Motorsports have had a rivalry for quite some time, but it seems to have escalated at various points this year as the Pro Stock pendulum has swung in KB Titan\u2019s direction. What do you think that rivalry does for both teams and for the class as far as generating some interest that maybe wasn\u2019t there in the past?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s great for the class. You don\u2019t have to love each other to go out and race against each other. You don\u2019t necessarily have to hate each other. You don\u2019t have to be best buddies. You don\u2019t have to go spend your off hours from the track together or anything. It\u2019s OK to not be the best of buds when you go to the racetrack and try and beat somebody, because let\u2019s be honest, even everybody that\u2019s on my team or under my umbrella, when you roll up to that starting line, you probably better not treat them like they\u2019re your best buddies or you\u2019ll probably go home.<\/p>\n It\u2019s OK that we have a little bit of a grudge against each other. That\u2019s good for the class, and obviously it kind of spilled out into the public there in Bristol. We did a pretty good job of hiding it over the years. But the simple truth is yeah, we go to each race wanting to demolish that group and they go to each race wanting to demolish us, and that\u2019s good. What people got to see there at Bristol probably made fans a little bit more engaged. Maybe we created a few enemies, maybe we\u2019ve created a few more fans, but it moved the needle. It made you have to think about it.<\/p>\n I think that probably divided up some of our fan base, but that\u2019s good for the class, I think. I think it\u2019s a good deal. We opened up a lot of eyes that maybe we don\u2019t necessarily love each other as groups, but that\u2019s OK. I\u2019m good with that. We still can be civil, and obviously you have to be to be professional about this, but both groups want to win that bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t steal my porridge, you know what I mean? We\u2019re fighting for our own piece of cheese and it means everything to us. This is our living. It\u2019s how we make a living. In drag racing, there\u2019s not a ton of money to go around for everybody. Everybody\u2019s certainly not getting rich, so you\u2019re all fighting for that same piece of cheese. Sometimes the emotions spill over. Yes, most of the time you try to keep a cool head about it, but if once in a while it spills over, so be it. That\u2019s OK, and it just tells the true story. You just really want to win that bad. There\u2019s a lot of guys and a lot of girls in this class that really, really want to win bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pro Stock has seen its ups and downs over the years. What\u2019s your take on where the class is today and where it\u2019s going?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s so different than it was years ago. These young guns can come in now and they can find sponsorship or find money on their own end and they can come in and they can join the Elite umbrella or the KB Titan umbrella or the McGaha umbrella and they can get great equipment and go out there, and if they have some driving talent, they can contend for wins instantly. That\u2019s something we didn\u2019t have years ago. That\u2019s the new Pro Stock and that\u2019s what I think has made it better.\u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know why, I don\u2019t know how, but over the last two or three years since this has happened where you have all these people that can win, we still haven\u2019t had that many different winners, but you look at the class from top to bottom and everybody can run within basically two hundredths, maybe three hundredths in E.T. That can be made up on the starting line every time you go out there. Everybody that qualifies in Pro Stock can win that race, and you didn\u2019t have that years ago. I think the class is better than it\u2019s ever been because of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like I said earlier, years ago, all I had to worry about was Greg Anderson and Jason Line, making our cars fast, and now I have to worry about seven or eight of them, making them all just as fast as my car. You had to swallow your pride a little bit, and it\u2019s just a new way. It\u2019s the new Pro Stock and I\u2019m good with it. I\u2019m all right with it because I think it\u2019s made the class better overall. I think the class is in a great place.<\/p>\n What do you say to the critics who call it \u201cPro Camaro\u201d?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n You hear the grumblings or whatever: \u201cI wish it wasn\u2019t all Chevrolet. I wish it wasn\u2019t all Camaros. I wish it was what it used to be with Chevrolets and Mopars and Fords.\u201d I do too. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I do too, but I don\u2019t have the fix for that right now. But that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t go back to that someday. I want to keep these OEMs as involved as we can, and I still think there\u2019s a hell of a benefit for them to be involved with this.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to say that it won\u2019t someday come back to that where you have at least three of the OEMs out there battling it out. I miss that. But let\u2019s be honest, when you sit in the grandstands and you watch a Funny Car race and you see one of them says Toyota on the windshield and one of them says Ford on the windshield, can you tell the difference that that car is the Toyota, not a Ford? No. And do they have a Ford or a Toyota or GM engine in them? No, they all have the same engine in them too.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still great racing. We still have great racing. I still think it\u2019s a great class, so don\u2019t give up on us and don\u2019t necessarily think that it\u2019s going to be like this forever. Five or 10 years ago, we didn\u2019t see that it would get to this point where it is all Camaros, so you never know what 5-10 years down the road will look from now. Maybe there\u2019ll be five different brands out there. Who knows? We\u2019ll keep trying for that. We\u2019ll keep digging for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n But in the meantime, it\u2019s still great racing and you\u2019re really getting to see the driver more than you have ever before. I think the driver\u2019s certainly become more important in this class than it ever was before, so that\u2019s cool too. I think that\u2019s what all motorsports strive for. They strive to where the equipment is close enough that the drivers decide the race, and I think it\u2019s more so that way in this class than it\u2019s ever been without a doubt. We\u2019ve got that going for it. Fans love that. So don\u2019t give up on us.<\/p>\n Does the class still have the same magic for you as when you started or has it kind of evolved into something entirely different?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Things have absolutely changed a bit. Back when I first started, at least in my situation when I met Ken Black, he came in and he said, \u201cHere\u2019s what I want you to do. Go hire who you want to hire. I\u2019ll put you in a nice shop. I\u2019ll put a bunch of equipment in there. We\u2019re not going to worry about sponsorship. I\u2019ve been fortunate in my business life and I\u2019ve been able to make a little bit of money, and as long as we don\u2019t spend just a crazy amount of money, it\u2019s my hobby and I don\u2019t mind spending a little bit of money,\u201d so when you had that situation, you could basically race worry-free. You didn\u2019t have to worry about paying the bills every day. You didn\u2019t have to worry about this or that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the years, that has changed where now I have to worry about all that. I have to make sure that we don\u2019t overspend and I have to make sure we bring in the right amount of money, whether it\u2019s from sponsorship or race car rentals or engine rentals or whatever. We have to bring in a certain amount of money or the team doesn\u2019t build forward.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lot different than it used to be, but it\u2019s still going strong as a class. It\u2019s the new Pro Stock model \u2013 how to survive, how to stay out there, and that\u2019s via all these race car rentals and engine rentals versus back when you used to be able to sign a major sponsorship that would maybe cover the nut for the whole year. You can\u2019t do that anymore. You have to find other ways to bring in that income. So that\u2019s what it\u2019s done, and all those things has made it harder for me, personally, I guess, to win races because I have not only a ton of competition across the country in the other group, but I have it internally also.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s just harder to win anymore, but still fun. Still having a blast with it. It probably is an even better feeling now because you know you\u2019ve made it this much harder for yourself to win because you\u2019ve surrounded yourself with competitors that basically have the same gun that you\u2019ve got and it\u2019s a whole different way of racing than I used to do. A lot more worries now, a lot more things that go into making sure you find a way to keep the team afloat, but I\u2019m not complaining at all. I\u2019m still very fortunate to do it and I\u2019m happy with what we\u2019ve got here at our race shop, with the team we\u2019ve formed, and with the employees I\u2019ve got that have been here for a lot of years.<\/p>\n I\u2019m very proud of the group we have, and that part of being like a proud papa with all these new young drivers, that\u2019s part of it too. I haven\u2019t become a grandfather yet, but everybody in the world tells me it\u2019s the best thing in life, better than having your own children. That\u2019s a little bit how I feel with all these young drivers that I\u2019ve taken on on my team that now go out and try to whip my ass. It\u2019s a neat feeling and it\u2019s a proud papa feeling.<\/p>\n Final question here, and it\u2019s something you\u2019ve touched on at various points in this interview, but after all you\u2019ve accomplished, all the boxes you\u2019ve checked, what motivates you? What keeps you going back to the track week in and week out?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The competition, the winning, the chance to win, and the level of competition. I love the fact that, in my opinion, the level of competition is the highest it\u2019s ever been. People ask me, \u201cWhy do you race this class? It\u2019s probably the hardest class to win,\u201d and that\u2019s why. That\u2019s 100% why I do it. I don\u2019t get that big of a thrill out of driving a race car, although I\u2019ll miss it when I stop driving them because I still enjoy driving them, but it\u2019s not because of the thrill of the speed or whatever. I\u2019ve certainly gotten used to that over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n I go into every Sunday thinking, \u201cMan, I just hope to hell I can get past first round.\u201d And then, \u201cCan I get past second round?\u201d I don\u2019t feel like a favorite when I go out there. I don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s a race where I have this race in hand if I don\u2019t screw it up. There\u2019s never a feeling like that anymore. You live in fear every Sunday anymore with all these guns, and every round is like a final round. It\u2019s crazy out there.\u00a0<\/p>\n But I love that. I love the level of the competition. That\u2019s why I race Pro Stock. The other classes, don\u2019t get me wrong, as far as Top Fuel and Funny Car, they\u2019ve come a long way too towards where they now have eight to 10 guys that can win any given Sunday. But in Pro Stock, in my opinion, we have 14 to 16 guys or girls that can win any given Sunday. It\u2019s still a step above competition-level-wise, and that\u2019s 100% what I love about it and why I race this class, period.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on October 23, 2025. The post DI Interview: The Many Hats of Greg Anderson<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s early on a quiet summer morning in rural North Carolina. The engine dynos spread out across race shops in the Mooresville Motorsports Center industrial complex have yet to start making noise for the day, but the gears in Greg Anderson\u2019s mind are most assuredly spinning. The six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion is getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Greg-Anderson_DI-RBPhotography-Anderson-10.jpg\")
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