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KB Titan Racing, Pro Stock powerhouse nurturing the next generation

16 Apr 2025
Kelly Wade
KB Titan Racing

NHRA

The story of KB Titan Racing began more than two decades ago, when Las Vegas businessman Ken Black tapped Greg Anderson to lead a brand-new Pro Stock team. Since that time, the team has grown and shifted and merged with another powerful group to form KB Titan Racing. Today, the team is part of a complete overhaul in Pro Stock where providing horsepower to your competitors is commonplace, even when it hurts. It isn’t just the norm now, it was a necessity in order to grow the class, and KB Titan Racing jumped right in. 

Black was the original team owner, but he placed the responsibility of selecting the team squarely on the shoulders of Anderson. Over the years, wise decisions in terms of personnel, including the early addition of crew chief Rob Downing, contributed to a tremendous amount of wins – nearly 200 to date – and 10 championships. But those wins and championships don’t all belong to Anderson. Many of the team’s successes are owned by customers, some of whom are provided not just a competitive engine built in the KB Titan race shop, but also the complete car, setup, and crew. 

“I never could have imagined this. In the early days, I just thought it would be cool if we could get to run a full season of racing. I had never done that before,” said Anderson, now a six-time world champion and the most winning driver in the history of the class. “That was the first goal, and when we started to form the team with some of the incredibly talented people that I was able to surround myself with, all of a sudden, we looked like a pretty serious race team. We started showing it on the racetrack, and we had a lot of success.”

The success has been shared as the state of Pro Stock has shifted. During a time when car count dwindled and the cost to run a race team steadily increased, fewer and fewer were making the call. KB Titan Racing and the Elite Motorsports group agreed to open their doors and offer programs that would suit a Pro Stock racer on a budget, and in doing so, the class began to grow all over again. In addition to the original house cars driven by Anderson and Jason Line and now Dallas Glenn, Matt Hartford, Deric Kramer, Bo Butner, Sweden’s Jimmy Alund, Camrie Caruso, and Vincent Nobile have all won under the team’s banner. 

Fresh talent has also crossed the threshold this season, with NHRA Rookie of the Year contenders Matt Latino and Cody Coughlin already exhibiting skill on the dragstrip in cars powered by KB Titan Racing. 

For decades and through the change from carbureted engines to electronic fuel injection, the team raced with Black at the helm. When he retired, the team formed anew.

“For 20 years, we raced with Ken Black and had a helluva run, and when that chapter came to an end and Ken stepped back, Jim Whiteley and Eric Latino stepped in,” said Anderson. “It was like this team had won the lottery again. When that happened, we were able to make the team stronger yet as we merged together with Titan Racing, a group that built engines for Tanner Gray when he won the championship. They brought a lot of knowledge, and together, we’ve started to show the fruits of our collective labors.”

Greg Anderson

Merging the two teams and increasing support for competitors hasn’t exactly been an easy path. Whereas Pro Stock was once a single driver or perhaps two under the awning, the KB Titan and Elite Motorsports groups now have nearly 10 drivers each running their engine programs. The competition is heated and close to home, and it is labor-intensive for the teams who must stretch and continue to grow for the greater good.

“It’s a team sport now,” said Anderson. “Before this, there was no avenue for young people to jump into Pro Stock and go right to the top. Now, we’re not just worrying about Greg Anderson or Erica Enders. We’re leasing the same equipment that I drive, Elite is leasing the same equipment Erica Enders drives, and all of a sudden, the young guns came running with a lot of talent. That sped up the curve for them; they can go right to the top and are able to win races and championships. 

“It came down to: I have to stop being selfish about winning every race and find a way that others have the opportunity to win,” he added. “It doesn’t mean I stand down and let other people win, and I certainly never will. But they have the same equipment that I do, and that means they can beat me. It’s a different way of racing, but it absolutely made the class better.”