Life in the Show Lane: Greg Anderson Detroit Autorama Q&A
As a 60-time NHRA national event winner and the current Pro Stock top speed record holder, Summit Racing Equipment driver Greg Anderson is most usually associated with fast-moving vehicles. However, this past weekend, the three-time champion took advantage of an unusual break in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series to experience a drastically different segment of the motorsports industry, heading to Detroit, MI for the 58th annual Detroit Autorama, one of the major stops on the Summit Racing Equipment Show Car Series.
While at the show, Anderson signed autographs and took part in the ISCA Student Career Day on Friday, where he joined a panel of experts offering advice on opportunities in the automotive industry. Upon returning to the team’s North Carolina headquarters, the straight-line star took time to answer a few questions about his experience.
Summit Racing: What was your overall impression of the Detroit Autorama?
Greg Anderson: This was my first experience with a professional car show, and I have to say I was impressed. The first thing that hits you is the sheer size of the event. It might be the middle of the winter in Detroit outside, but inside the convention center you had wall-to-wall custom cars and incredible crowds. Someone told me there were over 100,000 people attending over the course of the weekend, and I believe it. To give you an idea, I started signing autographs at around noon on Saturday afternoon, and didn’t finish until sometime after 9 pm that night. It was quite a show.
SRE: Your Autorama weekend started with Student Career Day on Friday – what was that like?
GA: I always enjoy having a chance to speak to the kids that come out to these events--after all, they are the future of our industry. In this case, I was absolutely amazed by the number of kids in attendance, which was estimated to be around 3,000. I was part of a panel of about 15 people, which ranged from teachers and car builders to other people in the industry, including Tony Merritt, the Sports Marketing Manager from Mac Tools, and fellow Team Summit racer Pete Berner. We all spoke about our experiences in getting to where we are today, as well as taking questions from the crowd.
We were there for the better part of the morning, and I when I spoke, I talked about the value of a good education. I told them that they probably came to the show and saw cars built by people like (noted custom car builder) Chip Foose, or went to the drag races and saw drivers like John Force or Greg Anderson and thought they might never be able to achieve as much as we have in our respective careers.
However, I pointed out that neither Chip Foose, John Force nor Greg Anderson had the education available to them that they have at their disposal right now, which puts them ahead of the curve. As long as they stick with their education, they could be better than all of us, so grab that bull by the horns and go for it.
SRE: What other activities were you involved with during the weekend?
GA: “I was able to attend the Circle of Champions Brunch on Saturday. (Veteran NHRA announcer) Dave McClelland was the emcee for the event where they inducted people into their Circle of Champions as well as introducing the finalists for this year’s Ridler Award, who are known as the Great 8. They had started with 25 or 30 cars and trucks that were being shown for the first time that weekend, and somehow pared them down to eight on Friday morning. From what I understand, it’s one of the most-prestigious awards given in all of street rodding, which you could tell just from the reactions of those involved. It was interesting to see it all unfold.”
SRE: As a racer, what did you think of the competitive aspect of the show?
GA: To be honest, I don’t know how they do it, either as competitors or judges. In our sport, everything is pretty cut and dry. You qualify based on a time, and in eliminations, the first car to cross the finish line wins, plain and simple. At the Autorama, they naturally have guidelines but every vehicle is so different.
You can have a roadster, a coupe, and a pickup truck competing against each other, each one prepared to the max to where they are almost works of art more than they are cars and worth more than anyone can imagine. How they are able to distinguish between them and decide which one is best is beyond me. I’m just glad I don’t have to do it, because each one looked like a winner to me.
SRE: Finally, there is one part of having a car in this show that you admit would give you trouble.
GA: Absolutely. As a racer, my world centers on how a car drives, and getting it to perform at its maximum. I know that every car in the show this weekend is one-of-a-kind and worth an insane amount of money, so more often than not, they are hardly ever driven, if at all. I respect and admire what these people do--after all, they are car guys just like the rest of us. However, if I put that amount of time, money and effort into a car, I know I would have to drive it. That’s why I’m happy my hot rod is my Summit Racing Pontiac.
