Greg Anderson in Victory Lane with his belt after winning the Pro Stock All-Star Callout with the NHRA at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL (Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)
JOLIET, Ill. — The NHRA headed to Route 66 Raceway to take part in the Route 66 Nationals. But this week’s festivities included another event: the Pro Stock All-Star Callout.
The callout is a race between eight drivers and each driver gets to call another driver out until there’s two left. Those two automatically get each other. The picking order goes by seeds as well, Erica Enders got to make her pick first.
“We [my team and I] met in the lounge this morning and we made a decision,” said Enders about her first round pick. “It’s going to be fun.”
Enders then chose fellow competitor Greg Anderson.
“I’m pretty sure this is what we both wanted and if I had first pick I would’ve done the same thing,” said Anderson.
Since the driver who was scheduled to pick second had already been picked, the man next in line, Dallas Glenn, came out on stage next.
“We’ll probably be sticking with the team versus team theme here,” said Glenn about his pick. “I’m also pretty good friends with him.”
Glenn’s pick was none other than Troy Coughlin Jr.
“Time’s going to tell,” said Coughlin Jr. “We can’t wait to get out there and I’m going to let the driving do the talking.”
The next man to walk up on the stage was Aaron Stanfield.
“I didn’t think I’d be making a pick but I’m going to go for a good race,” said Stanfield.
Sanfield chose Matt Hartford to be his dancing partner down the dragstrip.
“We were good at hot tracks [before] and it’s hot here,” said Hartford. He then looked at Sanfield and pointed his finger at him. “We have some scores to settle and you’re going down, pal!”
Since there were only two drivers remaining, that meant that Christian Cuadra was going against Deric Kramer.
“It was exciting to be in Charlotte [and see my dad race], but now we’re here to win,” said Cuadra.
Kramer on the other hand was surprised that he was one of the drivers who was left.
“There were seven drivers who could’ve picked me and coming to the end was a surprise,” said Kramer. “The money is the farthest thing from my mind. I just want to get some win lights.”
Troy Coughlin Jr. and Dallas Glenn competing in the Pro Stock All-Star Callout with the NHRA at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL (Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)
Finals Round 1
Kramer and Cuadra took to the track first. As soon as the tree changed to green, both drivers shot off the line, but then both of them smoked their tires. As they limped to the finish line, Kramer found a little bit more speed and momentum to beat out Cuadra to go to the next round.
Next up was Stanfield and Hartford. Although Stanfield was quicker off the line and both messed up slightly by getting just a little bit loose, Hartford beat Stanfield to the end and was able to make his way to the semifinals.
Glenn and Coughlin Jr. were up after that. They had the closest race of the event so far as they were nearly identical as they raced down the 1,000 foot strip side-by-side. It was so close that Coughlin Jr. only won by 16-thousandths of a second. This matchup had followed the previous one though with the person who had been called out winning over their opponent.
Finally, the fourth and final matchup was up. Enders and Anderson each got in their respective lanes and got ready to race each other. This match would follow the pattern that seemed to be going on and Enders lost to Anderson. She started off really well and was ahead of Anderson, but then she got loose and shook all the way down the track.
Second Round Picks
Because Anderson had won and he was the highest sitting driver of the bunch, he was the one who was able to pick the driver of whom he would race against, also deciding who the other two would be who got to race against each other.
“There’s only one bad guy left,” said Anderson.
That bad guy was Troy Coughlin Jr. who said that he was “going to club the tree, bang gears and get there” in response to being picked by Anderson.
With Anderson picking Coughlin, that left Kramer and Hartford to go against each other.
Semifinals
The latter pair were up first. Kramer was quickest off the line, but following the other pattern that seemed to be happening, his tires shook. This automatically decreased his speed and practically handed the win to Hartford, sending him to the final round.
Anderson versus Coughlin Jr. was basically the exact same thing but with two different cars. Coughlin Jr. was ahead of Anderson at the start, but then he spun his tires losing speed and momentum and sending the winningest driver in Pro Stock to the final round.
Final Round
“We need to turn on one more win light,” said Hartford about being in the final round. “I just want to thank everyone involved. We haven’t been running as good as we could [be], but hopefully that’ll turn around.”
Anderson was happy but knew that only one thing matters.
“It’s been an awesome day so far,” said Anderson. “But nothing matters if you don’t get that checkered flag.”
Anderson and Hartford got all lined up to go and Hartford took off first. It looked like Hartford was going to overtake the veteran, but then he faded just enough that Anderson was able to get by him to win the Callout, a belt and $40,000.
“We’ve had a great run lately and my car has been bad to the bone,” said Anderson. “How about that belt!?”
