Life's A Drag - Greg Anderson - Potomac Nationals Review and New England Preview
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Term
funny car
Funny Car is a drag racing class featuring short, wide-bodied cars with powerful engines and a distinctive rear-hinged body design. They’re built for maximum acceleration and are known for dramatic performance and frequent attention-grabbing runs.
Term
sportsman classes
Sportsman classes are drag racing divisions for non-top-level competitors. It’s a way for more people to race under rules that are simpler than the pro categories.
Term
sea level
“Sea level” means the track is close to the ocean, not high in the mountains. Cars often run better there because the air is denser, which can help the engine produce more power.
Place
Gainesville
Gainesville is a drag-racing track the hosts are talking about. They’re saying their record there was very close to what they got at this event, and that weather and track conditions matter a lot for drag racing.
Term
air temp
“Air temp” is how warm the air is outside. Cooler air usually helps engines make more power, so even a few degrees can change how well a car runs.
Place
epping
Epping is another drag strip they’re comparing to. They’re saying it’s at sea level, and that helps cars run better and more consistently when the weather is right.
Concept
pro stocks
“Pro Stock” is a type of drag racing class. It’s where teams build cars to compete under rules, and the goal is to run the track as fast as possible. The host is saying that when conditions are good, it makes Pro Stock racing even more exciting.
Term
scoreboard
In drag racing, the “scoreboard” is where you see the official results from each run. The host is saying that even small differences in time can decide who wins, especially when the track conditions are good.
Concept
conditions like that
“Conditions like that” means the track and weather were set up in a way that helps the cars go faster. In drag racing, the surface grip and air conditions can change how consistently you can launch and run quick times.
Term
655 to a 645
Those numbers are drag-racing times—how many seconds it takes to finish the run. Going from 6.55 to 6.45 is a small change on paper, but it’s a big deal because it means the car is quicker and the whole run feels faster.
Place
pesky Dallas Glen
This sounds like the name of a rival racer, mentioned in the context of points standings. The host is saying they’re behind that person in the championship race.
Term
fuel classes
“Fuel classes” are drag racing categories that use special fuels that let the cars make a lot more power. Fans sometimes prefer these classes over the more production-based Pro Stock style.
Place
English town
“English town” refers to a drag racing track in New Jersey called Englishtown. The host is saying it was one of the most popular Pro Stock tracks they visited, and shutting it down was a big loss for that racing community.
Place
Rockingham
Rockingham is a famous race track in the U.S. The host is saying it’s the kind of track fans really like because it has history and a classic feel, and they’re excited to see a big event there again.
Term
throwback track
A “throwback track” is a race track that feels old-school—more like the classic days of racing. The host is basically saying Rockingham should feel nostalgic and special because of its history.
Term
tuned
To “tune” a race car means adjusting how the engine and controls are set up to make it run its best. Small changes can make a big difference in how fast it goes.
Term
ET
ET is drag-racing shorthand for how many seconds the car takes to go from the start to the finish. A smaller number usually means the car is quicker.
Place
ebbing
They’re talking about a specific race track where they ran last weekend. Different tracks can make the same car feel faster or slower, so it affects how you tune for the next event.
Car
Prado / Meru
The Prado is a type of SUV made for both everyday driving and rough roads. The Meru is a work-oriented 4x4-style vehicle based on a pickup platform. People talk about them because they’re built to handle tough conditions and carry people or gear.
Term
top fuel
Top Fuel is the drag-racing category with the quickest, most powerful cars. They use very specialized engines and race down a straight track where even small differences can decide the winner.
Person
Doug Coletta
Doug Coletta is a Top Fuel drag racing driver. The host is saying he and Sean Langdon kept showing up as the top competitors, and this final was decided by a hair.
Person
Sean Langman
Sean Langdon is one of the drivers in Top Fuel drag racing. In this segment, the host is talking about how he and the other top driver were dominating the class and making the final race exciting.
Term
one inch
In drag racing, the winner can be determined by a tiny distance at the finish line. Here, the host is saying the cars were separated by only about an inch.
Term
330 miles per hour
330 miles per hour is how fast the Top Fuel cars are going near the end of the run. The point is that even at that speed, the winner can still be decided by a tiny distance.
Term
NHRA TV
NHRA TV is where you can watch NHRA drag races. The host is saying they re-watched the race because it was unbelievable.
Term
999 feet
999 feet refers to how far down the track a driver was ahead at nearly the finish line. In drag racing, the last portion of the run is where tiny timing and traction differences show up as a winner at the stripe.
Term
sportsman racers
“Sportsman racers” are regular drag racers who compete in organized NHRA-style events, but they’re not the top pro teams. They’re still serious competitors, just not in the highest pro categories.
Company
NHRA.com
NHRA.com is the official website for NHRA, the organization that runs and sanctions a lot of drag racing in the U.S. They post lists and event info there.
Term
204 98
“204.98” (spoken as “204 98”) is a speed figure—typically miles per hour—measured during a drag strip run. In drag racing discussions, speeds like this are used alongside elapsed time to judge how hard a car or motorcycle accelerated and how well it stayed in its power band.
Term
national record
A “national record” is the best official time or speed in that racing class in the whole country. Saying it was almost one means the run was right near the top mark.
Person
Clayton
Clayton is the racer the hosts are talking about in this moment. They’re saying people were really excited for him, especially after he won his first round.
Concept
starting line
In drag racing, the starting line is the staging area where cars/motorcycles line up before the run. It’s also where interviews and announcements often happen because it’s a focal point for competitors and fans.
Concept
first round
The first round is the first head-to-head race in the elimination bracket. If you win it, you move on to the next round.
Person
Richard Gatson
Richard Gatson is a well-known motorcycle racer in Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing. The hosts are saying he’s usually a big contender and a major part of the competition story.
Term
pro stock motorcycle
Pro Stock Motorcycle is a motorcycle drag-racing category. Racers compete with very specialized bikes designed to go as fast as possible in straight-line drag races.
Concept
points leader
The points leader is the racer who’s currently winning the overall season standings. It means they’ve earned the most points so far, so they’re the one to beat in the championship race.
Place
New England Dragway
New England Dragway is a place where drag races are held. It’s been around for decades, so it’s considered a classic drag-racing venue.
Place
Bristol
“Bristol” is a drag-racing stop they’re talking about as part of a run of tracks. The point is that it’s also been around a long time for drag racing.
Topic
three in a row
They’re talking about going to three drag-racing events back-to-back. It’s basically a tour schedule for the season.
Person
Sean Langdon
Sean Langdon is a pro drag racer. The hosts are saying he’s likely to keep winning in the Top Fuel class.
Person
Joe Castello
Joe Castello is a guest on the podcast. He’s joining to give his take and predictions for the upcoming drag races.
Person
Lea Pruitt
Lea Pruitt is a pro drag racer. In this conversation, she’s presented as the one who might stop Sean Langdon from winning.
Person
JR Todd
J.R. Todd is a pro drag racer. The host is saying he already proved he can win this event, so he might do it again.
Person
Greg Stanfield
Greg Stanfield is another professional drag racer mentioned as a possible winner. The hosts are basically saying he’s in the mix with the best drivers.
Person
Greg Anderson
Greg Anderson is a professional drag racer. Here, the hosts are talking about how well he’s doing in Pro Stock competition.
Person
Aaron Stanfield
Aaron Stanfield is another top Pro Stock driver being talked about. The hosts are praising his driving and saying he can run well when it matters.
Term
biofuel
“Biofuel” means a fuel made from renewable materials instead of regular gasoline. The hosts are saying the cars using it have been going faster lately.
Term
foamy steering wheel
It’s a steering wheel with a soft, grippy surface. In drag racing, that extra grip can help the driver hold the wheel steady when the car is trying to pull or wiggle during acceleration.
Brand
Pappas wheel
They’re talking about a specific steering wheel setup called the “Pappas wheel.” The idea is that the right wheel can help the driver control the car better so it stays straight.
Term
PBRC race car
“PBRC race car” refers to a particular drag racing car or program associated with the PBRC acronym. The host is saying the driver’s setup is a combination of that race car’s characteristics plus the Pappas wheel, implying the car’s baseline behavior and the steering interface work together to keep the car exceptionally straight.
Person
Dave Richards
Dave Richards is a racing person who’s part of the drag racing world. In this story, he’s new to the event and gets introduced to John Force before they race each other.
Person
John Force
John Force is one of the biggest names in drag racing. This segment is about meeting him for the first time and getting ready to race at Epping.
Term
fire suit
A fire suit is a special protective racing outfit made to resist flames. Drag racers wear it because their cars can be extremely dangerous if there’s a fire.
LIVE
This is WFO Radio.
Hello, happy Wednesday.
You're all checking out Life's a Drag with me,
Elon Warner, and my trusty partner in crime.
Abby Warner, what word?
There you go.
So we are excited to be on the WFO Radio Network.
Thanks, Joe Costello and all our listeners.
So please start sharing the show.
And, you know, buy some merch.
Think about it, Father's Day is coming up.
Exactly.
But we're excited to be the beginnings of three in a row.
I mean, we're in the three in a row.
We're in the three in a row.
We're amongst it.
So we'll be on the road tomorrow to Epping.
Yep.
I was flying solo in Maryland,
which everything about that event was a banger.
We're going to get into that hot and heavy today,
but we're going to be joined shortly by a super special guest,
the great Greg Anderson is going to jump on top of the show and
talk about his dominant weekend.
But Abby, did you miss being at the racist FOMO?
So much, so much FOMO.
I go to about 15 out of 20 of them.
So this was one of the five that I just work remotely.
But yeah, it looked great on TV.
I was watching on an HRA.TV and DC has a special place in my heart.
I interned there in college and I have a lot of friends who live in the area.
So seeing all like my drag racing people,
like taking advantage of the proximity to DC.
I was like, this is one I definitely have to go to next year.
That way I can invite some of my DC friends to come to the race.
And really it was a brand new event.
So I didn't really know what to expect.
Yeah.
So we're, they had a really nice tower.
There was room to work.
Good local media coverage.
So I think in, you know,
next year for sure, we'll get you there.
Oh, all good.
All good.
It was a really cool event.
We'll get into a little of the nuts and bolts, but it had a real,
for me, a real.
Reading vibe, English town, like going out to the track.
Yeah.
Everything seemed to be 15 miles away,
but it took you 30 minutes.
Okay.
It's just constant stop lights.
Like all their major roads have lots of stop lights.
You know, it was just so much fun to go to a new place,
try to find your way around.
You know, it was just, just a good, good, good vibe.
And they had, finally, it took a seven races to get a race where
it was three great days of weather.
I don't think we're going to get that an epping,
but we'll celebrate it here in Maryland.
One race in a row.
And you said the fan fest went really well too.
So they had a great fan fest on Thursday night.
It was called, it was a place called the barn at Meadow Brook,
which was just kind of right outside of mechanics bill.
It's like a multi-use facility, brand new, tons of parking.
When I pulled up, there was a line, probably 200 people long.
That is awesome.
All the way to the street.
And they had, I mean, they had probably 20 drivers there.
They had junior dragster drivers there, which is always cool.
They had a little car show.
They had a live band.
Like the local convention of visitors, bro, put it together.
I, I feel like I saw more social media content out of this race from
like the visit mechanics bill page, or it might not have been visit
mechanics bill, but like whatever that visit page, like I,
I saw like a really good Kelly Klontz social media piece,
a really good Jordan Vandergriff piece.
So that makes me excited because that means the local community is
truly like buying in to this new event.
Totally bought into it.
And it was really cool.
Like this was Kelly Klontz's home race.
Yes.
So she was super involved.
They got there early.
You know, she was our guest last week, but it was cool to see all the
stuff she was doing.
And then, you know, just that whole vibe, but she was so proud.
I mean, that was, it was really cool.
How wonderful it was to see her getting highlighted.
And it was funny talking to a, to Richard Gadson.
He texted me after the, he texted me yesterday and was like,
am I crazy?
Or was that event really awesome?
Like he was just like wanting to make sure he wasn't like totally
since he has a ton of history there.
And I was like, dude, I go, it was a crazy good event.
We'll get into it a little bit after we talk to Greg,
but really solid racing sell out crowd on Saturday.
I saw.
Yep.
Was the vibe good on Friday and Sunday too?
Yeah.
The vibe was great every day.
You know, weather has a lot to do with that.
The people coming out and the layout was really cool.
They actually have like a playground and a grass area in the
middle of their pits, which was kind of blocked in by trailers.
But I think that'll get kind of worked out in the future.
Okay.
But like, again, it's everything was like on one side of the race
track, kind of like Bristol and a lot of tracks, but,
and again, it was new deal.
So they didn't have a lot of the sportsman classes.
Gotcha.
And my hot sports opinion is they had top sportsmen there.
But those guys take along.
I would have rather had seen like super comp or super gas or
something like that.
They can get through those guys super quick.
Right.
So that was good, but they had all the mission guys.
They had out call drags or out call funny car and then a
handful of sportsman classes.
So I'm not going to waste any more time because six X pro stock
world champion Greg Anderson is in the green room.
So we're going to bring him on and Greg, we're going to bring
you in early if that's okay.
That's great.
I know you're very busy man.
I'm dying to win.
Hurry up.
All right.
Greg Anderson, 114 time pro stock winner, 1000 round win club
member.
Thank you.
One of the handsomest men.
Also, I believe he finished fourth in the international Tom
Selec lookalike contest last year.
Your eyes are getting brown.
Great.
How are you doing, buddy?
I'm good.
Are you?
Man, we're doing fantastic.
Are you, are you doing the interview?
Yeah, it's me.
It's our show.
I mean, I do the show.
How do we not know that?
Did we not make that clear?
We've created the show just specifically so I can talk to
you.
This is really just a one time deal.
Exactly.
It's all a ruse.
All right.
Keep the language clean.
Yeah.
I mean, it depends.
You know, it's a kid friendly show.
Kid friendly.
Okay.
But it depends on how wild your kids are.
I mean, if your kids are feral, go ahead and say whatever you
want to say.
Kids are from New York.
It's no big deal.
Right.
Let's, let's dive right into your dominant weekend.
Like what we talked about a little bit in the press room,
but getting the three in a row started with the wind like that's
got to be, got to feel pretty good.
Yeah, it's cool.
You know, obviously it's, it's our first three in a row of the
year.
Just like we do.
Well, how we used to, we don't even do it anymore.
We used to go out West and do the Western swing.
You got three in a row.
You'd shoot through the sweep and that was very hard to do.
And I'm sure this three race swings is going to be very hard to do,
but there's only one person that's got a chance to do it and that's
me.
So I'll see if I can not squander that.
Obviously got off to a great start.
It was great weather conditions we raised in and now we're going to
go to epping and you're going to have a little bit of both.
You're going to have a little bit of heat on Friday,
Saturday, and then it's going to get cool on Sunday.
So it's going to be just like epping on Sunday.
So kind of an eight deal.
Then we'll roll onto Bristol and have altitude track and you won't
have that great of air.
You won't make that much power, be more of a finesse deal.
And you'll also have a brand new race surface.
So three completely different race tracks,
just like when we would go out West.
So yeah, if you can get the sweep out of this deal,
makes you feel pretty good.
Yeah.
When you think about like Maryland, you know,
going back to like Houston, that was at sea level and good conditions.
Were the conditions for you guys just about perfect this weekend in
Maryland?
They really were.
You know, when we, when we set the record a year ago on Gainesville,
it was very, very close to what we had this weekend.
Maybe, you know, another couple of three degrees cooler on air temp up
there.
We would have matched the weather conditions we had in Gainesville
when we set the record.
So that's how good it was.
You could get the same thing at epping because that's another sea level
racetrack, you know, so you never know.
You don't expect to get that this time of year.
That usually happens in the spring or the fall,
but here we are almost in the summer and you're getting a couple of
chances at that.
So that's as gravy for us.
That's cool for us.
That's neat for us.
And I can't lie.
I'm a racer, so I like to go fast.
And when you go to a place that you're able to run fast,
it's just, it adds another level and it's,
it's what we live for in pro stocks.
So that was pretty doggone neat.
And we all love seeing the, I should say big numbers,
but we're looking for the little numbers to come up on the scoreboard.
And you only get those in conditions like that.
So pretty neat deal when that happens.
And it's just a lot more fun to drive the race car.
You know, you don't, you don't necessarily notice a complete
difference from a 655 to a 645 fast, but you definitely feel it.
It's absolutely, everything's going by faster.
Everything's, you know, just everything's sped up and the engine
sounds better.
Everything sounds cool.
So that's, that's what we enjoy racing in.
And we got a taste of that last weekend.
And maybe we'll get another taste this weekend.
So you're currently 11 points behind Dallas Glen at pesky Dallas Glen.
How dare he?
I don't know if anybody's noticed, but that cat's hard to beat.
He is really hard to get around.
He, I've said it before.
He's a win waiting to happen every weekend we go.
And you just got to try and hope and pray and find a way that you stop it.
And you stop that train because the confidence is through the roof.
The race car, you know, obviously does a great job all the time
and always cuts a great light.
So it's just a tough combination to beat.
And there's more people in the class these days that are doing a Dallas
looking like driving like Dallas and got race cars getting better just like him.
But he's always one of them.
He's one that I know exactly what the engine is under that hood.
And I know what I've got to go up against.
And then when I, you know, think about it well now, you know,
I know he's going to be double over some teen on the light.
How do I do that?
So I have to try and find something out of my norm and out of my, you know,
real capability to when I race him.
And, you know, he just made a mistake or he didn't make a mistake,
but the car made a mistake last week.
Otherwise he don't want that race without a doubt.
So, you know, you take them when you get them.
And it's, it's not always who you race.
It's when you race them in Dallas.
The right round when, when his car made a mistake.
So, you know, had a lot of, a lot of good fortune there and you can't,
you just can't win one of these events anymore without luck.
I don't care how good your car runs and how good you drive.
You still have to have luck to go along with it.
So they're hard to win.
And, you know, I just, you got to appreciate it, man,
because they're really, really tough to win.
Speaking of appreciating a round win.
This is a little removed from you,
but Kenny Delco getting a win with KB Titan Power racing.
How cool is that to see a guy out there that's grinding, you know,
go, go some rounds.
Well, it was really cool.
And that's not KB Titan Power.
That's Frank Iconio.
That's 100% Kenny Delcos.
I guess they get their motors from him.
Is that how he was getting help from Matt Hartford.
Matt Hartford was helping him with tuning advice on how to tune the race car,
how to tune the chassis.
And obviously Matt did a great job for him.
He did a better job than he did on his own car.
So kind of funny.
And I think that was like a feel good moment.
When you saw that happen, I heard the grandstands erupt.
I would think I was in the water box when it happened.
I could hear the grandstands erupt.
So he's got a lot of people up in that neck of the woods pulling for him
and pull off a big round win like that.
I'm proud of him.
And yeah, it could happen to a nicer guy.
He's a great dude.
He keeps coming out.
He keeps pounding.
He keeps trying.
And obviously he shows he's got great equipment.
It's just, you know, these things, I've said it before,
the race cars got to be perfect.
The drivers got to be perfect.
And the engines got to be perfect.
Otherwise they don't run good.
If you've got any one of them three off, you don't run good.
So that's, you know, Kenny Delco in a nutshell right there.
He just was missing on one of those three ingredients.
He didn't have the car performing like Carney did to perform.
So, you know, it's Matt Hartford did a great job for him.
So, you know, thank you to Matt.
And it certainly probably, you know,
where Matt's all a little bad about himself,
about the whole deal.
Cause he just flat did a better job on Kenny's car.
And he did on his own, but that happens.
We go through it.
You guys do this occasionally?
It happens.
It absolutely happens.
So you just got to grit your teeth and learn from it.
So what you got to do.
Like you were talking about people just getting super excited about Delcos
when I thought the attention that was paid to pro stock,
pro stock motorcycle this weekend really added a cool element to the race.
You know, what was, what were your ropes like, you know,
between rounds for you guys?
They were, they were great.
And I've said this a million times that it seems like all up and down the
east coast, people love pro stock and it's like you cross the Mississippi
and you go out west and, you know, it's all about the fuel classes.
And I don't know what that is.
I have no idea what the, what the difference is in, in, in people's thought
process or people's likes, dislikes, but it's always been the way it is.
The pro stock is very popular, especially over the northeast, not,
not even so much in the southeast, but the northeast, any track we can go to
up there.
So that's why I cried the day that they shut down English town in English town
was probably the most popular pro stock track we go to.
And they locked the gates on that place and it was just a sad day for pro stock,
but great to have a couple new ones up the east coast now on the schedule.
And yes, people don't leave the grandstands after the fuel cars.
That's the first thing you see.
And that's a big difference from, like I say, when you cross the Mississippi
and go out west, you don't see that.
So you got to take advantage of that and appreciate that.
And yes, the interaction at the ropes with the fans is completely different.
They're knowledgeable about pro stock.
They know everything about it.
And actually want to watch you work on the race cars.
And not only that, but they know you.
It's like an older, an older generation of crowd.
And they know all about the class.
They know all about the racers and they follow it.
So it's pretty neat deal.
And I thought it was interesting that there were the kind of older cars,
but you know, I thought there were a lot more younger fans at Maryland
this past weekend, like younger families.
And I don't know if that was just me kind of projecting on hopefully the growth
of the sport, but I just thought that there were, you know,
it was a good mix of people from all over.
Probably just because you're getting so old.
That's also why they all look younger.
That is also I see the same thing, you know, is what it is.
It was a little bit of everything up there.
You know, obviously the fans were very knowledgeable.
And just because they're knowledgeable, that doesn't certainly doesn't mean
they're over.
They're just they're knowledgeable about the race cars up there.
And that's pretty darn cool.
You don't have to really explain things.
They get it.
They understand.
And, and, you know, they're very, very appreciative to have that race there.
And it took over many years, 30 years or whatever to get there,
but they're very appreciative to finally came back and same way.
They all used to go to English town too.
And that was a sad day when that went away.
So hopefully this is the new English town.
And I enjoyed it for the first time.
That's for sure.
And hopefully we keep going back for many years.
So is the race that you're most looking forward to now,
like looking ahead for the rest of the season,
probably Rockingham at this point?
You know, honestly, on our, all of our new ones,
I think Rockingham is going to be a absolute home run as a,
as a throwback track, as you would say,
and it's got a lot, a lot of history and it's got a lot of people that have
been starved for a national type event over there.
So yes, it's going to happen.
And I don't think that anybody is going to be let down.
I don't think that anybody that, that thinks, you know,
I wonder if I should go to that one the first year you need to go.
It's going to be quite the experience.
I'll guarantee it.
You can just feel it when you go over there.
You can feel it with the people that are over there that they really
appreciate racing.
They really appreciate, appreciate coming over.
It's not an old track.
Not a new track has been there forever.
Just hasn't been on the NHRA circuit for a lot of years.
We used to run the Winston invitation over there.
If you guys remember, and it was very popular going there and doing that
and guarantee it's not going to lose anything as far as popularity.
When we go race there over the Charlotte racetrack,
it's probably going to have a huge crowd.
It's going to be a neat experience for all the racers,
all the fans that come because it's a cool, cool facility.
And it just, you feel like racing when you go over there.
So yes, I think that's going to be a huge hit with both the fans and the
racers and I'm really looking forward to it.
We're two weeks away from heading back to Bristol where you had some
significant history last year, winning your thousandth round win.
Has it sunk in or do you even think about joining the thousand round
win club?
It's only you and John Force right now.
And like being back there to kind of celebrate that a little bit.
Yeah, I certainly celebrate.
I appreciate it.
I see it on the back of my helmet every time I put my helmet on.
And that reminds me and you know, I don't know how close to the next.
I think round caps is next in line.
Is that who we talked about?
Yeah.
And I don't know when that'll happen yet.
I don't know if that's within the next year or, or it's going to take longer
than that, but it is one heck of a milestone.
So, you know, when you think about that, it's just a huge, huge number.
Obviously the hundred 14 race wins is huge also, but a thousand round wins
is, is incredible.
You saw, like we just talked about the, the eruption with Kenny Delco
winning a round up there.
That's how hard it is to win rounds in this class and to win a thousand of them.
That's a real feather in the cap.
So it certainly is not lost on me.
And as I say, I get reminded every time I, I pick up that helmet, you know,
my helmet painter did a great job and he got that big 1000 painted on the back
of that thing.
And I appreciate the heck that he did that because it reminds me, you know,
what a, what a deal it is and what a great accomplishment that is.
So I struggle sometimes to think about those things.
I blow past everything and I, I live for today.
You know, don't worry about yesterday and I don't worry about tomorrow.
I live for a day, but it's a nice reminder for sure.
And, and, you know, I don't know where that number can end up.
We talked about it last week after the race.
You just, you got to appreciate these things because you never know when your
last one could be your last one.
Last one.
And I hope I got many more to come and those numbers continue to climb,
but I don't have crystal ball.
I don't know.
I don't know what tomorrow brings going to dig all as hard as I can,
as long as I can.
Is one of the highlights for you so far this year getting to race with Cody?
Yeah, it's, it's been quite, I did it twice so far.
And the only thing that's been missing quite so far is I haven't had his car
exactly performing like mine.
And that's what I want.
I want his car to perform exactly like my car and have an even shot when you
go up there and lock horns.
And so far the two times that I've got to meet him, you know,
his car has been a couple of hundreds behind mine.
And, you know, it's tough.
We've got six cars under the umbrella here.
And for whatever reason, we've been able to get my car to run better than
most at most racetracks we go to, not all, but most racetracks we go to.
And it's not for lack of effort.
I tuned Cody's race car, you know, and the same crew chiefs that tuned mine
tuned his, tuned his car.
So the engine is just as good.
So he's got just as good, but we just haven't been able to get all the pieces
just perfectly yet where it's able to run that same ET as mine.
And that's, that's what I look forward to.
I don't want him to have to go up there at a disadvantage and find a way to
beat me and all of that's what these kids are going to do anyway.
But I want to be on the same level playing field and go out there and
just, just send me packing.
That's what I want.
I'm not going to let it happen.
I'm going to try as hard as I can to not because I want him to feel good when
he beats me.
I want to feel like he earned it, but it's coming.
But I think it's going to take me getting his race car just a little bit faster
first.
And hopefully this weekend I can get that car as good as I can make mine run.
I had it close last weekend at ebbing.
Just, you know, one little, one little adjustment away, I think.
So hopefully we can get that better this weekend.
Force always talked about his brain trust, you know, Austin and Bernie and
Jimmy and Neth and everything.
Can you talk a little bit about the KB Titan brain trust?
I mean, when I, when I stick my head up in your lounge, I mean, it's a who's
who with you and Rob and Dave Connelly, but just how exciting is that for
you when you throw out an idea or they thought an idea to realize these are
some of the smartest guys doing this that are working on our team is
honestly pretty impressive.
And yeah, you've seen our lounge before and there's six of us up there.
Right.
And I look around the room and there's a lot of talent surrounding me up there.
And I've said it before, you're only as good as the people you surround
yourself with.
And I have surrounded myself with a bunch of extremely talented people,
both on, on, on car tuning and car management and what we call our crew
chiefs and on engine tuning people that tune the engines on these fuel
injected, you know, Holly, Holly fuel injected monsters.
So you got to have it all in sync.
And the six of us absolutely, you know, being in the same room up there.
We all talk together.
We all work together.
We all bounce ideas off each other.
If it's a car problem, maybe, you know, that the crew chiefs are struggling
with, you know, they'll ask one of our, one of one of us engine tuners,
what do you think it needs this way to help this?
And we work back and forth.
So it's a cool deal.
And it's as good as we've ever had.
As much talent as KB racing, KB Titans ever had.
The team's just incredible right now.
And you certainly see the results, the results show on the racetrack.
We've got the best group, the best brain trust we've ever had.
And not only that, but we work well together.
And if you don't work well together, you got nothing.
And that's something we've learned over the years to work together.
And, you know, nobody's any more important than the other guy.
Those six people we've gotten that lounge, everyone's just as important.
And it doesn't stop there.
You've got guys that are constantly out working on the racetrack,
on the middle of the car, taking the clutch in and out,
taking the rear ends in and out, changing the tires.
All those things got to be perfect too.
So I've got a great group right now on all six cars taking care of the cars.
And anyone has a great chance to win because of that.
So lucky guys.
Yeah.
Let's talk about some of your other teammates.
And these are some of the smaller people that travel with you.
These two little dogs you have that have become so much prettier.
It's a little sad.
I mean, we always want to see you in the press room,
but I will say when you came in Sunday without your little buddies.
Are you going to turn in my man card?
Is that what you're asking?
No, no.
It just adds a whole new element of the winnings,
driving pros like history.
The only dog that I'm terrified I would actually step on
and lose my Greg Anderson.
We are very pro dog in the press.
Yeah, I definitely am a dog lover.
And, you know, in my younger year, I always love big dogs.
I love German shepherds.
I had big dogs.
And then eventually, you know, when you, when you start traveling a lot,
it's hard to take a big dog like that on the road and leave behind all time.
So, you know, when, when, when the time came to move on and get new dogs,
we, we elected to go with little ones.
It was certainly my wife's idea.
It wasn't mine, but, and I fought it.
I definitely fought it because that's not a real dog.
You know, it's half an, not even half a dog.
That's it.
I don't know what it is.
So I thank a biter.
So anyway, I went along with it and I'm telling you,
these dogs after a little while, they take on your personality.
They take on your movements, your thoughts.
It's, it's crazy.
It's like having kids and you treat them like kids.
They are like kids and they become so close to you.
You know, when you do have to go and put one down,
it's absolutely like losing a kid.
So I'm not going to lie.
We're very close to them and we love bringing them along.
You know, Kim doesn't go anywhere without them,
but I'm proud of it.
I love it too.
I love that they're around and I love their little personalities
and their little look and, you know, they're definitely
a different chapter for me.
Yes.
Because we saw, we saw, where was it?
Chicago when you got up and went to do a phone call and you left
and they, they, they perked right up as soon as you got away from them.
They were like, where, where did dad go?
Yeah.
They want every minute of every day to be with mom and dad.
No doubt about that.
So it's, it's neat.
And every time you walk in the door at home,
it's like you've been gone for months.
You've been gone for three hours.
It's like you've been gone for months.
They, they're happier and happy to see you.
And apparently people need to be a little more like that.
Cause us people don't quite do that.
And the dogs have it figured out.
They appreciate you when you, when you do show up,
when you've been gone for a little while and you show back up,
it's like a long lost friend and they just hope you never leave.
So it's probably something people could learn from.
Yeah.
We got a great question about the 20th anniversary of the summit racing
equipment nationals company.
Can you believe it's been 20 years?
That is hard to believe.
That is really hard to believe.
What are, yeah, what are some of your favorite nor,
I mean that, that race is summit on top of summit.
Yep.
How, how much fun do you have there when you go there?
Well, the best part of it is, is having all the employees and the VIPs,
the brass out of the racetrack and it starts before that.
We go up on Wednesday or Thursday and have a picnic with them.
They have their big company picnic that week for all their employees.
And we go up and we have a big picnic with them and we serve food to them.
And, and, and we just appreciate the employees because you can't thank them
enough for what they do for us.
It's, I couldn't race without these guys and without their support.
If all the employees that work at summit were against the race teams they have,
we'd have a hard go.
So it's great that they're behind us and, and you have to make sure they realize
you're behind them and you appreciate them.
And that's what it's all about.
So we'll go up there a couple of days early again this year and we'll have a
picnic with them.
We'll celebrate all the great employees and we'll love having every one of them
out of that racetrack.
And then when you get them all out the racetrack, it's like,
ooh, better not screw this one up, right?
You're, you're racing in front of your, your big sponsor and your,
your longtime sponsor and all your, your great friends better not screw it up.
So there's a lot on the line, a lot of, a lot of pressure, but I love that.
I've said this before, I love racing under pressure.
I think I need that.
So I love going there with all this extra pressure on and trying to show off
in front of the bosses.
So a great group of people, great company, great group of people.
And I'm just very fortunate to have been associated with them for as long as I
have.
And I want to keep that going as long as I possibly can.
Perfect.
Well, Greg, we really appreciate it.
Obviously congratulations on continuing to win.
Keep giving the heisman to those young guys.
And we cannot wait to see you in Epping.
And hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll get, get everything in.
But yeah, I think it is going to be a really exciting weekend and just,
you're going to have some weather changes.
You're going to be hot on Friday and Saturday and a big chance to rain on Sunday.
But if that rain does go away, it's going to be 60 degrees and Katie bar the door
then you're going to have performances like you hadn't seen all weekend.
So looking forward to that and going to be a crew chief challenge.
No doubt about that, but I've got three of the best.
So ready for it.
Awesome.
Greg, thank you so much.
Have a great rest of the day and see you in a couple of days.
Thanks guys.
Thanks.
All right.
The great Greg Anderson and we'll go ahead and address one.
I believe that was Greg's phone.
Yes.
Going off with the clown horn, which is so great.
Cause that there's a couple of guys on tour that have that.
That's also Tim Wilkerson's text notification sound,
which is funny because that apparently is a crew chief.
Favorite.
Favorite.
Yeah.
I keep my phone on do not disturb when we're doing this because we're doing
important work here.
We are doing important work.
We're getting to the bottom of dogs.
Can I, can I put you on the spot?
Yes.
So this is a question that the Kelsey brothers ask on their podcast a lot,
like for various things.
What is your Mount Rushmore of drag racing?
I think I can pick two of them, but like generally I'll limit it to generally in
the current era for the most or like when you've been working, I guess.
Okay.
So that's within the past 30 years.
If I had to pick four people and you're a drag racing Mount Rushmore for
drivers, who would you put?
So are these drivers that I have had to seen race?
Just like in like, I mean, I guess.
Cause well, cause of course snake is, I think snakes should be on.
Okay.
I haven't seen him race.
For people that I've seen racing's like since I got in and 94.
Okay.
I will say for sure.
John force.
Okay.
Caps.
Greg Anderson.
And this is where it gets really, really tricky of who else.
You know, I would say Doug Coletta.
Okay.
That those, those four guys for me, I've been the most interested in their
career and they've had the most, they've found, they've had the success.
They've won championships.
They've won the U S nationals.
I think they're arguably the driver's driver.
Fan beloved.
I mean, you know, now.
I think Doug definitely gets on because now he's two time world champion.
Yes.
Um, you know, and just, you know, I was lucky enough to be with Coletta
when he won the U S nationals for the first time.
Cause I mean, up until re, I mean Doug had done all these things,
but hadn't really checked the key boxes of winning the U S nationals or
winning the top of your world championship.
So to be there when he won the U S nationals, that was awesome.
Um, just missed being around the team when he won the world championships.
But I think that those four guys are really like my Mount Rushmore.
If you have to limit it to four.
Okay.
I've, I've had this question in my mind with you for a while.
Cause you're such a Greg Anderson and Ron caps fan boy in particular.
Oh yeah.
That I figured those two were for sure on it, but yeah.
And it gets trickier when, I mean, you know, when you're getting a chance to
say, okay, what about Don Prado?
What about, you know, garlics?
You know, what, you know, what about some of these other luminaries?
Surely well down, you know, it gets hard, you know, but if you're just saying
for me, I feel pretty confident that I could, you know, those, those would be
my four.
So, but it's always great, you know, to talk to Greg, you know,
and just hang out with him.
It's, it's been funny.
Also funny that he didn't realize we were hosting the show today.
No, I guess we, I guess we should clarify.
I hope that was like a positive surprise.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was, oh, you're going to be asking the questions.
Oh, that's, that's terrible.
I don't know if I would have agreed to that was never mind.
Hard out.
Okay.
So Greg obviously won pro stock and we touched on that.
Let's, let's pay some bills.
Yes.
And then we will talk about the other three categories.
Also surprising hot takes on the food situation in Southern Maryland,
but let's appreciate everyone's support in the show.
And we'll be right back after a few messages from our sponsors.
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Totally jumbled up the commercials again just to keep you guys on your toes.
Exactly.
Always keep them guessing, always keep them guessing.
When you did red-line oil in the middle, I had a moment
where I was like tweeting about the show.
It's like, oh my goodness, are we about to go back again?
I'm not quite ready.
Nope.
Just keeping everybody guessing.
So thanks so much, Greg Anderson, for joining the show earlier.
Please, you know, share the show.
If you missed it, go back and watch it on any of the WFI Radio Network archive shows.
Let's talk about some of the other classes that just were completely,
those all had elements that were spectacular.
Like we can go top fuel.
How about we start with top fuel?
We'll build up to probably the biggest news of the year so far.
But top fuel, honestly, as things were going on on race day,
I didn't, I was kind of, didn't think the top fuel final of Sean Langman
and Doug Coletta again was going to be that exciting.
It was just kind of, I appreciate their dominance.
Yes.
They're both kicking ass.
Yeah.
You know, it's got to be a quality final as far as the racing,
but it's a little bit like, oh yeah, these guys again.
Yeah.
But they decided to say, oh yeah, we saw some cool stuff,
but now let's go ahead and have a race decided by one inch,
the second closest margin of victory in top fuel history.
I mean, at 330 miles per hour.
I went back on NHRA TV and watched it like another two times
just because it was so insane.
So I can't imagine experiencing it in person.
Yeah.
I think from the camera angle,
Doug Coletta led that race for 999 feet in like 10 inches.
And Sean Langdon just shot past him in the last two inches of.
It's like in cars when Lightning McQueen like finishes by sticking
out his tongue.
He's sticking out his tongue.
Yes.
The craziness of that race.
And then just Sean in the press room, he's basically beaming.
He's so happy to be racing with Brian Hughes and they have a long history.
He's arguably got the best car he's ever had.
He's got the best team he's ever had.
He's racing for Connie Coletta.
He won three in a row.
Yep.
No one's run three in a row in a long time since Torrance did it.
You know, like in 2021 or something.
Now he's got a leg up on four in a row.
Yeah.
He said, it's good to be Sean Langdon right now.
Oh yeah.
You can tell he is just outright having fun.
Yeah.
And on the heels of that, he gets announced as one of the 50 greatest
sportsmen racers on NHRA.com.
Yeah.
Which I got to think he's one of the 75th greatest pro racers.
50th best sportsman racer.
I mean, the only other person I think of that's going to be on that list is Jag.
Yeah.
Probably.
But just what an all around and the cool thing not to get too off topic,
but that sportsman list was 100% made by sportsmen racers.
No, no input from National Dragster, from the NHRA, from track operators.
It was all like eight or 10 sportsmen guys picking who they thought are the
50 best sportsmen guys.
So Bruno Massel was on the list.
Go to NHRA.com.
Check that list out.
They released the first 10.
No problem.
They're breaking it up.
I think we fight week.
Like every two, I think every Tuesday they're going to release 10.
So top fuel final.
So pro stock motorcycle.
Was a mess this weekend.
I mean, Gianna Evaristo going, what was it?
Like 204 98.
Yes.
25 miles prior.
I think it was the second.
It was almost a national record.
It was the second fastest pro stock motorcycle run really cool for her.
And she went a few rounds this weekend.
So that was really exciting for her.
Chip Ellis.
I felt like held his own on performing for Matt Smith.
Yeah.
When he.
Yeah.
Had gallstone issues and gallstone issue and wasn't even at the track on.
Like Angie said.
That Friday morning they were talking about not even racing.
Yeah.
And then at 10 o'clock Matt.
Still in the hospital was like, oh no.
We're all good.
We're all four bikes are going to race.
We'll just sort it out.
And they did.
Yeah.
And I saw on social media that it was the first time in Matt Smith racing
history that they've ever competed without Matt being at the track.
And they still did awesome.
I mean, Angie qualified number one again.
And then of course went on to win the race.
Yeah.
And one mission.
Too fast.
Too tasty.
Yes.
Yeah.
She had a complete.
She won everything.
Weep of a weekend.
Before anyone tries to call me out.
That was Elon's computer.
Just for the record.
What.
The sound.
Anyways.
Um.
But yes.
Awesome weekend for Angie capping off winning the 200th.
Pro win for women.
Yep.
It was really cool.
Which if you look over my shoulder, this metal right here.
That's the metal they gave Courtney for winning the 100th.
Race for biofemale.
So middle yellow did that.
Not to throw shade on.
Not to throw shade on anybody, but Courtney got a metal.
For a hundred.
I mean, maybe she'll get a metal like after the fact.
She got a cool sign.
She got a cool sign.
You know, and she got a diamond Wally.
Yes.
Um.
Yes.
So, uh, but yeah, so.
She raced Ryan flying Ryan or in the final.
So I would have been happy with.
Either one of those people winning.
First final for Ryan in a while.
So that was really exciting to see him go.
And he's been creating horsepower.
That bike's going to be a bike to be reckoned with.
And Braden Davis.
Yep.
He's going to be great.
But racing for him is also doing really well.
So they're going to be like another lethal combo within the
class. I, I definitely think.
Clayton Howie's running good.
And how he's running good. That was, it was so,
it was so fun to see how excited Kelly was for Clayton.
Um, they interviewed her on the starting line after he.
Uh, won the first round, I believe.
Um, that was exciting.
Um, it's the first time we're not going to have Richard Gatson
and a pro stock motorcycle mission too fast, too tasty
challenge next race.
Right. And like,
Which is wild.
He's still the points leader, but.
But yeah, I mean, that was, you know, he engage.
You know, Hey, sometimes, sometimes you're the bug.
Sometimes you're the windshield.
Gages bike breaking on the starting line was a little.
So yeah, pro stock motorcycle.
Just one entertainment factor after the next.
And the fans love him. That's a huge, that's a huge motorcycle.
Could you feel the love?
Yes. Oh, you totally could. I mean, you could divide there,
having a Ricky Gatson, um, in the, in the PA booth,
talking it up about big money, grudge races.
And, you know, Richard Gatson has a big history there.
And, um, you know, it was just a big, it was just a big, big deal.
So yeah, so shout out to the pits podcast.
They're going to have Clayton on, um, you know,
and Clayton has an amazing vibe.
I've just only interacted with him a couple of times,
but he, his whole look, he's got a great vibe.
He's a great addition to the class.
So that's going to be great.
Um, exciting stuff. And then finally, funny car.
You know, I feel like Michael Jordan,
when he retired and he came back, he, he sent back a two word
press release announcing his return that just said, I'm back.
And I feel like Austin proc easily could have done something similar.
Yes.
Winning his first race with task of racing.
Um, and I don't know how I'd say dominant fashion.
I mean, it was, I mean, he won mission two fast two days to challenge.
Yup.
But then on the flip side of that,
I think he was only like the 11th, number 11 qualifier.
Yeah. He wasn't really dominant.
They just figured out a way, but they were just what Jimmy does.
Jimmy does what Jimmy does.
Chipping away at it, chipping just getting, you know,
but where everyone should be, I don't want to say super scared,
but concerned if you are a pro stock or a funny car guy is they
knew they needed to step up in the final round against Beckman.
And Jimmy tuned it up and it ran like the proc rocket.
Yup.
That's a sign of a tunable combination that will be very
troublesome for a lot of people.
Yes.
A shout out by the way to the not bland show they had Angie Smith on
last night.
So speaking of energy, you should go back and listen to,
I just saw that comment.
So, but yes, this is a great, the proc rocket is back and.
So the planet's just aligned.
It's Austin proc on the final against the peak funny car of Jack Beckman.
All the JFR task erasing rivalry.
Everyone's going to get super jacked up and pick their sides and then
Austin wins and everyone's excited.
There was no like, you know, he was room that really was just kind of
like it was more there just like a resigned feeling of what we had
six races where this guy wasn't kicking everybody's ass.
And now he's going to start kicking everybody's ass again.
Maybe one off, but I don't think it's going to be a one off.
My hope is it's not an ass kicking to the level that it's been an
ass kicking the past two seasons.
Like it would be cool if they won like a couple more races this season,
but I've really appreciated how solid a mix we've had a funny car
winners this year.
And I hope that doesn't just completely evaporate.
Because I mean, I like seeing the Jordan Vander Riffs win the Ron
caps, the Chad greens.
Yeah, for sure.
It's I like it when it's not, I mean, not taking away anything like
when Sean Langdon wins three in a row.
That's also cool in its own way, but it's also fun to get new blood
coming through the press room holding their diamond wallies.
Yeah.
And you've got new guys and funny car that you're just like trying to
stack up, you know, Dan Wilkerson, Spencer Hyde kind of usual suspects.
Yes.
That we'd like to see get their first wins.
You know, it's always great when Hagen wins.
You know, JR Todd, you know, all these guys that that class is just,
you know, Paul Lee has a car that can win and Paul Lee was out there
this weekend.
It was great to see him out there racing.
You know, so I just, I just think, you know, seeing Austin win that
just, I think that helps the drag racing universe.
You want Ford to be happy.
You want them to see results.
You want task of racing to be successful because they're such a historic brand.
But that's, that was, but it was like, if you bought a ticket to Sunday,
I mean, we just went overall, all the stuff you saw, any one of those
things would have been worth your ticket price.
But to see all four of those things happen.
Back to back to back was pretty, and I was, I was trying to think,
and this may be a little of like a day of significant things happening
in all four categories.
When's the last time you had a day like that?
Where you weren't given somebody championship trophy at the end.
Exactly.
I'm not sure.
You know, so that was great.
It was, you know, just a great day of racing, you know, all the,
all the things, but the only disappointment with the Potomac Nationals
was our inability to find local places to eat.
Kelly had a couple of suggestions, but they were like kind of far out.
Everything was just kind of far out, but then even like asking people in the area.
Where's the local place to eat?
You didn't really get anything like a good local place,
which I'm excited to be going to Epping.
Yes.
Because we have Brown's Lobster Shack for sure on the list for Friday or Saturday night.
And this will be my first foray.
I am not a huge seafood person, as you know, but I might have to make an exception
and retry some things while we're at Epping because I have heard some pretty knockout things.
Yeah.
I mean, lobster rolls.
Yeah, but they, I'll be honest.
I don't know if they have anything besides seafood, but there's other things.
I'll figure it out.
I'll figure it out.
I'm not worried.
So, but I'm really excited about Epping.
I think the thing I'm most excited for is this number one claw fire.
They're bringing it back.
I just loved, it was, it's a live lobster.
Yeah, it's a giant lobster.
It was Larry the lobster.
So you need, you need, people need to go to Brian Lones' Facebook page because he's running a little contest right now to rename the lobster.
Oh.
And I believe if you come up with the name, he's going to give you like a shout out on the broadcast.
So, yeah, so they give them a live lobster.
Now, I wish they would take the rubber bands off the claws.
I think they're kind of banded up.
I think that's all the ability.
But yeah, it was very funny last year when they handed Austin the lobster, he really did not know what to do with it.
Because it's a, it's a pretty good size lobster.
Yeah.
But yeah, so they do that.
They have a whole lobster trap chair that they sit on.
So.
Pro tip from lobster tastes like butter if you dunk it enough.
That is true.
All things I think can be improved upon if you just dunk with butter or bacon.
Exactly.
Or chocolate.
So yeah, so we're, we're very excited about getting to that thing.
It's, it's another old trek.
And I think Brian was talking, Brian Lones was talking about this.
So MRIs, MIR has been around for 60 years.
Okay.
New England Dragway has been around for 60 years and Bristol's been around for.
So this three in a row is like 180 years of drag racing history.
Awesome.
And I'm just, I was trying to think of, you know, we had the Western swing.
I guess this is kind of an Eastern swing, but they should,
someone needs to come up with a cool name.
If we're going to continue to have this three in a row.
A some kind of cool, cool name for it.
Yeah.
So another track that's a little bit get there early.
Stay for the whole day.
Because it is a little tricky to get in and out of.
But just a great, you know, just a quick trip up from Boston.
A great part of the country.
You know, it's going to be just love, I love back to races.
Yes.
Stay in the groove.
Yes.
No time, no, no time to lose any kind of momentum.
Right.
So it'll be a, do you have, do you have your predictions ready for this weekend
before we close out the show?
Yes, I do.
All right.
Top fuel.
I don't think anyone's stopping Sean Langdon.
Like I legitimately think he could sweep this little 33 in a row.
And then I mean, come out of this five in a row.
Stand by.
Stand by.
We're adding Joe Castello to the stage.
Joe, Joe coming in a hot sports opinion.
Well, I told you that I wasn't available, but I finished my seminar.
Early just in time to get Abby's picks, one of which I already agree with.
Yes.
I don't think anyone's stopping Sean Langdon.
I will say, I will say that Lea Pruitt is stopping Sean Langdon this weekend.
I tried to say that last weekend and unfortunately she did not deliver.
So I'm, I'm going, I'm sticking with Sean Langdon now.
Okay.
I think JR Todd, he won this race last year.
I think we could see him win again.
And he's, you know, I feel like that on the verge.
Um, pro stock.
If it's not Greg Anderson, I think it's going to be Greg Stanfield.
But I really, I think Greg Anderson once again has some momentum.
That's going to be pretty hard to beat.
I'm not picking anything adventurous clearly, but that's okay.
Yeah.
There's no pro stock.
Yeah.
I have to go back and watch the interview.
As I mentioned, I was, uh, you know, predisposed,
but the driving meh, right?
The car super fast Aaron Stanfield still driving like a champ.
Like they, they realize over there that they're a little down on a laps time.
And it seems that several of the team elite drivers,
Greg and Aaron Stanfield both can go double O if they need.
And so Greg could get clipped in one of those runs.
He hasn't like Dallas had him crushed,
but you got to go down the racetrack and they've got a car that seems to go down
the racetrack.
So I just find that to be interesting.
Um, it's been kind of cool.
You know, the, the get biofuel cars been a little quicker.
They, they had one of the quickest runs.
Yeah.
They just got to put together.
Um, but you know, Greg is never a bad, bad pick when number one 14.
But I don't know.
I think Aaron Stanfield is going to, going to keep, uh, keep it.
That, that would be, I was actually going to say Aaron or Greg Stanfield
because sadly Greg is susceptible when he said during our interview,
he got lucky in the final round because Dallas's car broke.
He said, if Dallas's car doesn't break, he's like, I don't win that race.
I mean, he had an 80 light in the final.
You're not going to win pro stock races with 80 lights unless you get some luck.
Yeah.
I love me some Greg Anderson, but luck is not a strategy.
114 times in his career.
It's not a strategy, but he did say it's very hard to win a race.
A thousand times on race day, he's been lucky.
No, I don't think so.
Right.
Um, and then funny car.
Spencer Hyde was also in the final last year's first final.
God dang it.
I want him to win so bad.
I'm going to pick Spencer Hyde.
I think he's going to go back to the final and get it done this weekend.
I would love that too.
As the person who writes his post stress press releases.
You guys with the hearts, man.
You guys the heart every week, Spencer.
Maybe you're the reason he's not winning.
Have you thought of that?
Like maybe it's you guys.
I mean, again, although, um, there was, um, subtraction from the task of racing
team that happened after the Chicago race.
And then all of a sudden.
Austin prox in the, in the winter circle.
So it could be a PR problem.
I mean, I have, I have tried various things.
Oh yeah.
The removal of Joe, the removal of Joey little may have been approving to, uh,
the success of the task of racing team.
Maybe he was always holding them back.
I don't think so.
We love Joey little.
Yeah.
Just like when you left Coletta, as soon as I left Coletta,
all of a sudden top fuel takes off.
Yeah.
That's not so much as a negative.
It's a positive for Rob Goodman.
It is.
It's huge.
If anyone.
Yeah.
Very happy for Rob Goodman.
Did you talk about Sean's steering wheel?
Did you notice that that that now is a public thing?
We did not, but he's got the, um, he's got the foamy steering wheel.
He's got the Pappas wheel and Brian Houston said it in an interview.
I did with him on the starting line because you've seen the car,
and you know, in drag racing, right?
You're supposed to go straight, but we often say like,
nobody's going straight.
It's hard to keep the car straight.
Langdon is keeping his car exceptionally straight.
Yes.
And it's, it's so impressive to watch.
And I spoke with Sean about it after Brian told the world that he's
using the Pappas wheel.
And I believe Doug is also, but I have to visually confirm it.
Um, the cars are going so straight.
And he said it's a combination of the PBRC race car and the wheel.
And, you know, he's driving well, but it's all those little things.
And we're talking to Greg about it.
It's just, and I was talking to Jimmy about it after the,
after the win on Sunday night in a Maryland.
Like I was like, was there an aha moment, you know,
going into Chicago, coming out of Chicago where the tumblers all clicked.
And he was like, not, there wasn't like one moment,
but there was a moment where like, okay, we've solved this problem.
And now we've got this, this deal.
And when we made this one change, it made a good jump.
And they were able to capitalize on that.
So they, you know, in the things of six things and you know,
you move one thing and it affects the five other things.
Now Jimmy's in a position where he's making changes and it's not tipping
the apple cart over.
Do you consider them?
Jimmy was on WFO yesterday, so I spoke with him a little bit about it.
Great interview guys.
I encourage you all to go right after the show is over.
That's really the only reason I'm popping on.
As much as it is great to see Elon and Abby.
We've been promo on your show too, sir.
Go ahead.
That's, well, do you think they are in your opinion?
I had a schedule on schedule or behind schedule with this win in the seventh race?
I think they're on schedule.
I think if you told them, they, they wanted to get a win before the halfway
mark of the regular season and they're right there.
They nailed it.
Abby.
Agreed.
Yeah.
I gave him, I like wrote down at the beginning of the season,
it's going to be somewhere between race six and race nine that they get this win.
Yeah.
And they are in like basically Austin mentioned the pressure we probably
were standing there.
He's like, last year we spotted them 200 points and then we gapped them.
Now, you know, I'm spotting them 200.
So really Austin's mindset is he's in the top 10 now.
I bet he wants to realistically try to get to five and then he's going to look at
it and be like, okay, I'm getting, he's going to try to get mission food.
He's got three championship points now.
So he's going to just try to eat away at that.
So he goes in and five and then he's two rounds of racing out of the championship.
That's the beauty of the countdown.
I love the countdown.
Yeah.
That exact reason.
I love Austin too.
The chip on the shoulder.
Yeah.
We got a guy out there.
He's a two time champ who's got a chip on the shoulder.
You could see it.
He was bubbling over.
There was even, you know, dare I say it like an angry edge to it a little bit.
Like I told you, I told you.
Yeah.
And I think we need a little more of that.
You know, Jordan van de Griff is still just thrilled to be there.
Right.
And you could see he wants to do a great job for the Cornwell guys.
But it's, it's kind of interesting the way this is all going, you know,
Abby, I think a JR Todd victory would be really good for the storytelling
part of it.
Like let's get JR on the board here.
And going back into another different funny court winner this season.
Yes.
Because he hasn't gotten a win yet this season.
So real quick, before I, before I bounce out of here, before you wrap up the
show, you know, Elon, you're always full of these wonderful John force
stories.
Yes.
That's like kind of one of the sub threads of this show, like Elon
worked for John force.
He's got a thousand John force stories that just pop up.
I don't know if, you know, how many I have, but I have acquired a new one.
Okay.
This past weekend.
This past weekend, I have a John force.
You were almost a victim of John force thievery.
Well, I don't know if it's these thievery.
But the rings that we have, you know, the ring, the John force ring, John
had, had suggested that he wanted to be helpful in the promotion of renew your
tickets, get the John force ring.
And so he came over and we had a little talk and it was, it was going great.
And then he had the ring and he took the ring and he had the ring.
And I saw a couple of times he was like flirting with putting on the ring, but
he didn't put on the ring.
And so then of course me, I want that moment where he puts on the ring.
So I encouraged him put on the, put on the ring, ring.
And he put on the ring and he held up the ring and we got the moment.
I felt happy.
But then the ring became stuck.
Yes.
On John's finger and he couldn't get it off.
And you could see like my interpretation of the moment was that
John was freaking out a little bit.
Like, oh man, this thing is on.
It's stuck.
Nobody wants to become stuck no matter how insignificant it is, his cars
run.
So he let it go.
And we just let it go.
It's like, let's just forget it.
We'll work it out later.
So he watched the round, the cars one, he advanced.
And then he and Bob went back to the pit with the ring in the box.
And they were like, you know, we're stuck.
We got this ring on, you know, and he was, he was trying to like,
and the more you struggle.
Yeah.
It's the worst it gets.
And so I'm thinking, am I going to have to go Sean Reed on this thing?
That'd be a terrible thing to go.
Yeah.
I would try Lucian before we're going to Sean Reed.
A little WD, a little foggy, a little spray.
Yeah, perfect.
Boy, I bet a fog it could have come into play.
That would have been.
But anyway, so they returned the ring not long after,
but we did have an intense moment.
You know, it's not quite.
That raises the value of that particular thing.
I was just going to ask, where is that ring now?
It was that ring in someone's profession because it's now event worn.
John force worn.
Yes.
Ring.
Like, oh my gosh.
I had never considered that.
Wow.
You have to renew at least 15 tickets to get that ring.
You know, the ring, we just, we just don't know what happened to it.
It's unfortunate.
I think it might have been given to a small child.
Well, hopefully that small child realizes what a gift they were
given by WFO radio.
It's possible.
I don't even think I got, I lost track of it.
It's funny how that happens.
Yeah.
I mean, that's that's the event used.
I mean, this one, the 75th one worn by many from last year.
Yes.
It sits in the studio.
Everyone's loving those rings.
They are.
Would you not renew your tickets?
They're spectacular.
So yeah.
So I do the, I love, I love the John force story.
You know, my favorite John force,
Epping story is the, the Dave Richards experience of racing.
And it's kind of John force satellite deal of,
and Dave came to me.
This is the inaugural Epping race.
And Dave was like, Hey, can you introduce me to force?
Cause he had never met him before they, he and his brother had hauled
all their funding car stuff up from Florida.
It was their first race.
They qualify.
They're number 16 qualifier forces.
Number one.
And I take Dave over to meet John.
And I was like, Hey, John, this is Dave Richards.
And John is like, so gracious.
He's like, Oh, Hey, this is great.
You need me to sign anything for you.
We need to get a picture.
And I was like, No, this is who you're racing in the first round.
And he was like, Oh, Hey man, let's have a good race.
Let's scut there and go out there and get them.
And Dave Richards did not care that John had no idea who he was.
He was just so excited to be racing the 15 time funding car world
champion. Cause that was the year John was on his way to a 16th championship,
but it was just such a great moment that Dave was just so excited to meet
John force and John's first reaction was, and now Dave's in a fire suit too.
That's the other thing Dave was not in fan gear.
He was fire suited up and force was just totally.
That's his mindset.
If you're introduced, you know, if I'm introducing someone to him,
it's got to be a fan.
Got to be an autograph opportunity.
I think it's great.
And listen, there are people, we're fortunate media members, right?
We get to meet everybody.
We get to meet and know everybody, but drivers, there are people for years
and years, they don't know anyone other than in their own class.
Why would they?
Why would they need to go to another class, another racer, a more famous
racer walk in there and, you know, cry.
I'm somebody makes perfect sense.
Yeah, that is great.
All right, guys, I'm out.
I'll see you in a few days.
Thank you so much, Joe.
We'll look forward to seeing you here in a couple of days.
And thanks as always.
So Abby, let's go ahead and put a cap on this show.
I will.
I'll see you bright and early at the airport.
Yep.
Excited for it and getting ready for the New England National.
So please share the show like the show, go back and watch WFO radio
and tune into all our good stuff.
So thank you very much.
And also we'll be back live next Wednesday.
Recapping race to recapping, looking forward to Bristol.
So thanks everybody.
Have a great day.
This is WFO radio.
About this episode
Hosts recap the Potomac Nationals vibe—weather helped, the layout felt like Bristol, and the pits even had a playground—then talk Pro Stock with six-time champion Greg Anderson. They dig into what makes streaks and small timing margins matter, why luck still shows up, and how tuning, team coordination, and sea-level conditions affect performance. The conversation pivots to upcoming Epping and Bristol, plus an Eastern swing history angle, and wraps with lighter banter, including a lobster-themed Epping plan.
Original notes
Pro Stock winner and 6-time world champ Greg Anderson joins Elon and Abby to recap an amazing inaugural Potomac Nationals. Record runs, historic achievements and an overall spectacular event will be discussed and we will look ahead to racing at another historic venue New England Dragway.
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