Englishtown: GM Racing Saturday summary

Greg Anderson's Pontiac Grand Am Continues Qualifying Hot Streak

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., June 19, 2004 - Battling a strong combination of ssummer heat and sultry humidity, Greg Anderson continued his qualifying hot streak by driving his Pontiac SC/T Grand Am to his eighth Pro Stock pole of the season today at the 35th annual NHRA Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Anderson's Pontiac took low qualifying honors by negotiating the slippery racing surface with an elapsed time of 6.766 seconds at 203.89 mph.

"I'd say the heat is here for good," said the defending Supernationals champion. "We got our first real dose of it last weekend in Columbus and we saw some teams fall off. Now we're in the thick of it and even more guys are struggling. It's a challenge, but last year as it got hotter, our team did better and better, so I'm not overly concerned."

In addition to being Anderson's 25th career pole, it is the 22nd time in the last 34 national events dating back to the 2003 season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., that the Vegas General Construction Pontiac has led the Pro Stock field. Furthermore, in the seven previous events this season that the defending POWERade champion's SC/T Grand Am has qualified No. 1, Anderson has posted six victories and a semifinal appearance.

"I would say that our guys proved last summer that they're very good at adapting our Pontiac Grand Am to slippery racetracks," said Anderson. "I just hope we can continue that trend again this year. Certainly we did a good job in Columbus so there's no reason to think we can't pour it on again this year."

Steve Johns has the quickest Chevy Cavalier in the 16-car field, and is qualified in the No. 2 position by running 6.785 seconds at an event-best speed of 204.76 mph. Anderson teammate Jason Line is qualified in the No. 3 position in a Pontiac, Dave Connolly is fourth in a Chevrolet and Kurt Johnson is fifth in the ACDelco Chevy Cavalier.

"We have our work cut out for us tomorrow, that's for sure," said Johnson. "We have some heavy hitters on our side of the ladder, so we will have to be on our game from the start. we tried a few things today that I believe helped us, because we found our cra's boundaries. We will work on the tune-up for tomorrow and see if we can pick up a few hundredths. I think we can run in the 6.79 range, which puts our ACDelco Chevy Cavalier up there with the fastest cars. After that I'll just have to make sure and do my job on the tree."

Bruce Allen and Mike Edwards are qualified seventh and eighth - both in Pontiac Grand Ams. Ron Krisher is qualified in the 11th position, Jeg Coughlin is 12th (both in Chevy Cavaliers) and Jim Yates is 13th in a Pontiac Grand Am. The 16-car field was separated by .072 of a second.

The Funny Car category continues to see the Quaker State Chevy Monte Carlo of Tony Pedregon running at the front of the qualifying order. Pedregon's Chevrolet will start tomorrow's eliminator from the No. 2 spot after running 4.856 seconds at 305.01 mph. Tony's older brother, and teammate, Cruz Pedregon has a Chevy Monte Carlo parked in the No. 3 position with a 4.885 e.t. at 293.09 mph. Eric Medlen is the No. 1 qualifier in a Ford.

"The Quaker State Chevrolet continues to run strong, and considering the kind of conditions we faced today, I'm pretty pleased," said Tony Pedregon. "In that last session tonight we were on a 4.90 pass and our data showed we were way ahead of our first run today. But the car got out of the groove a little bit which caused it to slow down. Tomorrow it's supposed to be cooler so we should see some great racing."

In addition to the two Pedregon brothers, a total of seven Chevy Monte Carlos earned a place in tomorrow's Funny car eliminator. Ron Capps is qualified in the No. 5 position, Del Worsham is eighth, Tim Wilkerson is 12th, Phil Burkart is 14th and Tommy Johnson Jr. is 16th.

Television coverage of the NHRA Supernationals can be seen on ESPN on Sunday, June 20, beginning at 5 p.m. (ET).

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