from him was,“ Well, maybe when I turn 50. That seems to be a sport that you can do when you get old.” I’ m like,“ You little smart ass.” He goes,“ No, I’ m not ready yet. I’ m still kind of at the top of my game in what I do and maybe when I turn 50 I’ ll try to add drag racing.”
There’ s probably some truth to it, but still, they don’ t have that. They can’ t be doing it over in NASCAR or IndyCar or whatever at 50-plus. We can in drag racing. I guess I picked the right sport.
A lot of people see you or know of you as Greg Anderson, the Pro Stock driver, but you obviously also have a major behind-the-scenes role. What did you learn about managing people and running a team from Ken Black?
Yeah, he was the best quarterback you could ever imagine having. He didn’ t micromanage. He didn’ t try to step in and say,“ Here’ s what I want you to do. I want you to do that,” or“ I don’ t want you to do this,” and he pretty much let us run our own deal. All the years with Ken Black, we had to figure it out how to run this team, what was the best way to run this team, obviously financially, and trying to find ways to win races.
I learned a lot through all those years, basically because he pretty much opened the plate and said,“ Here you go, boys. I’ m going to be back here if you need me, and if we get into any problems, then I’ ll start to make a decision, but other than that, you’ re going to have to make the day-to-days and figure out what you want this race team to do and how you want it to look and where you go with it.”
How did that prepare you for Ken’ s departure and the merging with Titan Racing Engines in December 2022?
It wasn’ t necessarily a new experience when Ken moved on. We don’ t have that great quarterback in Ken Black anymore, but I’ ve got two great new guys in Eric Latino and Jim Whiteley. In my opinion, they’ re just as great a quarterbacks as Ken Black was. I got very lucky for a second time in my career with the new ownership
Anderson hit the 100-win milestone when he won the 2022 NHRA U. S. Nationals, and he’ s added 11 victories to that total since then. here, and the team has gotten better ever since we’ ve done that.
We merged with the Titan team and gained some great employees there and we’ ve flat gone forward. We put our egos aside and it wasn’ t,“ Well, you’ re going to do it my way or I’ m not going to do it,” or“ I’ m going to do it my way, I’ m not going to do it your way.” There was none of that. We all pretty much just said,“ Each of us can learn from each other and it’ ll put a better product out in the end,” so the team just flat got better.
You’ ve been partnered with a motorsports icon in Rick Hendrick these last few years. How has working with him helped your program?
The first thing is people don’ t realize he started out drag racing, so he’ s got roots in it and he’ s got memories of it. Before he went NASCAR racing, he drag raced, and then he drag boat raced, so he certainly knows all about the sport and he gets a big kick out of it.
He loves to win. The man is not a guy that just wants to put his name on there because he likes to see his name on the side of the car or whatever. He likes to win. He loves trophies. He loves winning races. He loves teams that are run well. His ship is run very, very, very efficiently over there. His complex is beyond belief – the quality and just the way that all the employees act and operate, the way they talk about him. It’ s just a fantastic organization and it’ s incredible the magnitude of it.
Probably one of the biggest things he’ s done for me is he’ s offered any assistance. We can walk in the door over at the Hendrick complex any day, any time we want, and ask for help. Things that we don’ t have here at KB Titan, obviously they have over there. They’ ve got way more resources than we have. It’ s been a great deal as far as resources. Anytime we get in trouble or we have a problem that we can’ t solve, we can run right across town and get with all the engineers that he has on staff over there and hopefully solve our way through that problem. The open-door policy that he’ s had with us,“ Everything I have over here is yours to use,” has been a huge help to me.
But on top of that, the guy’ s just probably the coolest guy I’ ve ever met. He’ s really a neat dude and I love the fact that he loves to win. That’ s me. I don’ t do this just to go out there and have fun. I don’ t get the biggest kick out of driving a race car down the racetrack and don’ t care whether I win or lose. I care if I win or lose. That’ s everything to me and it is to him too. It’ s been a great partnership and I’ m just proud to wear that brand on the side of the car. It just means a ton to me.
You’ ve talked about your role as a teacher for some of these young drivers coming in. Did that come naturally for you or is that
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