Fri, 19 Nov 2010, 03:14 PM Greg Anderson's Race Transporter Severely Damaged by Fire in California

By Jon Knapp

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- For the second time in less than a year, Summit Racing driver Greg Anderson has been the victim of a fire. As the 2010 NHRA Pro Stock champion flew home yesterday from the season finale in Pomona, CA, the massive transporter that serves as the team's headquarters at the race track caught fire on the I-10 freeway shortly after leaving Auto Club Raceway, severely damaging the trailer and much of its contents, including Anderson's championship-winning Summit Racing Pontiac.

This latest incident comes just ten months after Anderson was displaced from his Concord, NC home by a fire started in a neighbor's house, with the family only recently moving into a new home. Despite the extensive property damage suffered in each instance, the four-time champion was primarily grateful that there were no injuries and quickly gathered his KB Racing team at their shop in Mooresville to determine their plan of action moving forward.

"That certainly wasn't the welcome home I was looking for," said Anderson. "When I got off the plane in Charlotte last night I had all these urgent messages on my phone, so I knew something was wrong. Although it's a severe blow, things could have been a lot worse. The most important thing is that our driver Keith Smith and his wife, who were in the truck when it happened, were unhurt.

"We're still in the process of determining the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage, but know it's pretty extensive, with preliminary reports telling us the TrailBlazer, our golf carts and scooters as well as my Summit Racing Pontiac were severely damaged. We also had a lot of our personal belongings in there, as Kim (Anderson's wife) and I had put a couple suitcases on board after the awards banquet on Tuesday, including items she had just replaced after our house fire. I hate that she has to go through this again, even in a small way.

"It's hard to believe this has happened to us for the second time in under a year, but we'll deal with it and move on. In fact, we're already working on a plan to get everything back to North Carolina. It's a lot of extra work that we really didn't need, but we have the entire off-season to get ready, so I'm confident we'll bounce back as strong as ever. It's just another challenge this KB Racing team will have to overcome. I'll tell you one thing - fire is most definitely a four-letter word in the Anderson household."

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