Greg Anderson sat in the familiar winner’s chair for his media interviews and glanced fondly out the window at picturesque Bristol Dragway in its dusky splendor following Victory No. 110 of his 112. It was the same racetrack where he recorded his first NHRA Pro Stock victory.
Earlier that day, Anderson had reached the 1,000-round-win plateau in the semifinals, becoming only the second racer, after John Force, to achieve that milestone. He also was the sport’s leader in victories among active drivers, now that 157-time winner and 16-time champion Force was on the sidelines.
Anderson called the moment “pretty magical” and said, “It’s probably magical enough that I could call it a day… bookend the deal… first win here, last win here… and ride off into the sunset. But I’m having too damn much fun.”
Not every day is as magical as June 8. But scraping to maintain his status, or striving to claw his way back to the top, never from too far down the order or standings, is what has driven him to 112 wins in 191 final rounds, or just over 70 percent of his 571 career races.
“Age is a factor,” Anderson said. “It’s always been a competitive class. There’s more talent, deeper talent, and everyone’s in great equipment. All these young drivers came in with a ton of talent, and they’ve got a great race car and a great engine underneath them. That never happened back in the day. I’m trying to fight them off as long as I can. It’s harder than it’s ever been, and somehow we’re still getting it done. It makes you feel fantastic. It makes you want to go back home and work harder. You want to dig hard. You want that feeling [of success]. We work so hard at this deal, and it’s so competitive. That’s why we do it, for days like this. I’m trying to hang in there.”
He continued, “I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great days like that, those special, special moments. Lucky man. These days are magical. But I still have to reinvent myself and find a better way of doing this, because what I usually bring up there [to the starting line] isn’t going to be good enough.”
Anderson acknowledged the challenge of keeping up with razor-sharp reaction times. “Everybody’s throwing up double-0 this and double-0 that,” he said. (A perfect light on the Christmas tree is .000 of a second.) “That’s not me. I’m not that guy anymore. If I can find a way to dig deep and get a .030 or even a .020 once in a while, I’m proud of myself.” The goal, he said, is to avoid cutting “clunker lights.”
He also recognizes reality. “This game really isn’t a physical sport, it’s a mind game. I can’t lie,” Anderson said. “The mind’s not as tight as it used to be. Father Time’s not friendly. I have to find a way every time I go out there.”
Long before now, Anderson has displayed an unflagging work ethic. Maybe it came from his Division 5 Modified Eliminator, racing father, or from Pro Stock mentor John Hagen while growing up in Duluth, Minnesota, or from watching boss Warren Johnson, who counted Christmas as his favorite workday because the phone didn’t ring, demonstrate how he won six Pro Stock championships. Wherever it came from, Anderson has leaned on it to earn six titles of his own.
That mindset is why he seldom fails to return to his Mooresville, North Carolina, shop after a race to burn the midnight oil. “I know if I don’t go back home from a race and try to get better by the time I go to the next one, I’m liable to get beat,” he said. “That’s the mindset. Every week, find a way to get better before the next race. I go home and get in that shop because I know the competition is doing the same thing.”
So what keeps Anderson and his crew working nonstop? Where did he find the extra power that allowed him to gap the field, set records, and reach so many final rounds? Announcer Joe Castello posed that question after one of Anderson’s six wins in 2025.
According to Anderson, the 2016 transition to electronic fuel injection produced several frustrating years of seemingly fruitless R&D across the Pro Stock class. “We went through four, five, six years where nobody really made gains,” he said. “We went home dejected almost every race, feeling like there was nothing left to find.”
But eventually, that changed. “The Elite Motorsports group got an advantage on us,” Anderson recalled. “And we looked at each other and said, ‘Apparently, we can still find gains in these engines.’ And we went to work.”
Those gains came in tiny increments. “Over the last two or three years, both my group and the Elite group have made a lot of gains,” he said. “Now we’re finally back ahead of where we were when we raced with carburetors. It took years of stagnation, then we broke through. Now it’s fun again, fun to go back to work.”
Still, Anderson remains realistic. “It looks like we had a better winter of development than the other group, but that won’t last,” he said. “That angers people, and it makes them work harder. You’ve got to ride that wave when you’re on top of it, because it’s going to crash down eventually.”
By season’s end, the wave had flattened, but Anderson never viewed it as a collapse. “The No. 1 goal for me is for KB Titan Racing to win,” he said, whether that’s Dallas Glenn, himself, or teammates Matt Hartford, Deric Kramer, Cory Reed, or Eric and Matt Latino. “I’m going to try to beat Dallas, but the odds are against me.”
Anderson had long been convinced of Glenn’s potential. Even that night at Bristol, he said Glenn “is a championship waiting to happen.” With pride, he added, “Now we’ve got a great one-two punch. They’ve got two horses to get around, not just one.”
When the season-ending Finals were washed out in November, Glenn was awarded his first Pro Stock championship based on points, denying Anderson a chance at a seventh title. Anderson wasn’t disappointed. “He’s a fantastic driver,” Anderson said. “He’s a win waiting to happen every damn weekend. You can’t hang your head when you lose to the man. He’s the class of the field now, and anytime I find a way to get around him, I’m pretty proud.”
Glenn later described the season as “me and Greg against the world,” a sentiment Anderson embraced. The rivalry motivates him.
“I don’t know how much longer I’ll race,” Anderson said. “But I’ll race until I can’t win anymore. I’ll know when that day is.” Turning to his wife Kim, he added, “If I don’t know, please give me the hook and get me out of there.” For now, he said, “It’s as good as any time in my career. I’m having a ball.”
Just before the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Awards Ceremony, Force and Anderson were inducted as the first members of the 1,000 Round Win Club. Each received a custom embroidered tuxedo jacket, along with a framed certificate marking one of motorsports’ most exclusive achievements.
Anderson called Force “the best, most winningest driver the sport’s ever going to see.”
History will declare Anderson one of the most prolific, industrious, and successful racers of all time, right alongside Force. And that, undeniably, is pretty magical.
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