Pro Stock

National Dragster, Jan 30, 2004

After recording the most wins (12) and points (2,217) in Pro Stock history during his championship campaign, Greg Anderson is enjoying the challenge of a title defense.

"I can't predict 12 wins again, but we are in better shape than we were at this point last year, when we couldn't do any engine R&D because our new shop was being constructed," said Anderson. "Our program is as solid as ever, and I have all the faith in the world in this team and our ability to successfully defend our title.

"We'll certainly spend a lot of time working on the new bead-lock wheel and larger tire combination that's required this year," added Anderson. "After testing them in early December, we think it will initially slow the class down about .02- to .03-second. Pro Stock cars run best when they're loose going down the track, so we'll have to find a way to free up the cars from the extra bite. The learning curve will be like the one Top Fuel and Funny Car teams went through with the 90-percent-nitro rule."

Anderson will pick from a new Jerry Haas-built Grand Am and his two Bickel cars from last season for this year's two-car operation. Team driver Jason Line is slated to run the entire 23-event schedule.

The unprecedented success that Anderson enjoyed in 2003 has sparked many rumors about how he gained his performance edge.

"I've heard stories like we changed the angle of the cylinder banks, had special gold-plated cylinder walls that were done in Europe, and even sending our data to NASCAR experts, who'd give us tune-up tips for the next round," said Anderson. "That stuff is so farfetched that it's unbelievable. We're just taking them as backhanded compliments."

Though Kurt Johnson's career- best season (in terms of points earned) netted him only a second-place finish in 2003, he's optimistic about the upcoming year.

"We'll start with a new Jerry Haas-built ACDelco Cavalier that's very similar to last year's car," said Johnson. "The old car was running as good as ever at the end of last season, but new stiffer tubing always seems to be faster."

As for the new wheel/tire rules, K.J. said, "Everybody's going to be fishing around at the beginning. We've run bead locks and bigger tires before but not this particular combination. Dad [Warren Johnson] has already done some testing with it, so we'll start with data from him. The tire will be safer, so we'll just apply as much power as we can to it and go. The new car should be done soon enough to let out the clutch a few times before Pomona. We've accumulated a pretty good database on the Haas cars, so we should get it up to speed pretty quick."

Johnson thinks he'll enter the 2004 season with more momentum than he did a year ago, after winning only one race in 2002.

"Our program is right on track, and we're glad to be where we are, but this category is getting so crazy that the bookmakers can't make any predictions," he said. "About the only thing you can expect is that everybody who finished in the top 10 last year should be fighting it out."

The primary goal for two-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughhn Jr. will be to avoid his uncharacteristically slow start; he struggled at the beginning of 2003 after dominating the final half of the 2002 season.

"We made a series of errors as a team at the beginning of the year, and when we tried to overcompensate for some items, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot," said Coughlin. "But Pop, the great leader that he is, was able to corral the team, and from the fourth or fifth race on, we used our resources better to get back on track."

Coughlin's team has a new Jerry Bickel-built Cavalier that it will begin testing in late January.

"The car is set up to deal with the new tires and wheel rules that NHRA has implemented, and our team has a good track record of getting new cars sorted out pretty quickly," he said. "We plan to test for two or three days, then decide what to do after that based on the initial results. We certainly made some horsepower gains in the last half of 2003, and that has fortunately carried over during the winter. We've added a new crewmember, Paul Lavoie, from George Marnell's team, and we're excited about the upcoming season."

Coughlin feels the experiences that the Jeg's operation went through in last year's third-place finish will help its efforts in 2004.

"This category has gone through a major evolution ever since we started racing Pro Stock full time in 1998," he said. "Even a two-time champion continues to experience a learning curve, and I'll bet you that [six-time champion] Warren Johnson will tell you the same thing."

The 2003 season was one of mixed results for veteran Warren Johnson. Though he began with an impressive victory at the season opener and scored twice more during the 2003 campaign, extending his NHRA Pro Stock career wins total to 92, he suffered the indignity of two non-qualifying efforts, a first since he began campaigning in the category in 1971.

The crafty "Professor" is upheat about the 2004 campaign and is probably Pro Stock's biggest advocate of the new rules requiring bead-lock wheels and larger tires.