Jason Line Takes NHRA Pro Stock Win At Seattle

Jason Line Wins Seattle, Reclaims Points Lead

KENT, Wash., August 7, 2011 – Jason Line and the Summit Racing team made an impressive return to the winner’s circle on Sunday, taking home the Pro Stock title at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash. Starting from the second position, Line eliminated Ron Krisher, Vincent Nobile and Rodger Brogdon in the early rounds before squaring off against teammate Greg Anderson in the final.

Although Anderson was able to gain a slight four thousandths of a second advantage at the starting line, Line used a 6.553-second, 210.87 mph pass to edge his teammate, who covered the quarter-mile in 6.567-seconds with a top speed of 211.13 mph, at the stripe. It was Line’s fourth win of the 2011 season, second at Pacific Raceways, and allowed him to regain the lead in the Full Throttle Championship standings.

“Today was just a great day for the entire Summit Racing team, said Line. “All weekend long, my team gave me an awesome car to drive, and I came into Sunday feeling that if I did my job and didn’t screw things up, we’d be standing in the winner’s circle at the end of the day, and that is exactly what happened.

“Just before the final, Greg came up to me and gave me this sad story about how much faster I was, and how much better I was driving, but I wouldn’t have any of it. After all, he is the best, he’s the champion, the one with the big number one on his window, so I knew I couldn’t cut him any slack.

“As it was, he had his best light of the day (a .016 to Line’s equally strong .020), and it took a really great run to beat him. He is so tough in the final round that you can never count him out, but today we were fortunate enough to get the best of him.”

For the third time this season and the 26th time in their respective careers, the KB Racing teammates had been the class of the field in qualifying, capturing the top two starting positions, which historically has been a good omen for race day, as they had combined to win 19 of the previous 25 races where they had started 1-2. However, the clouds that had covered the Kent quarter-mile were replaced by bright sunshine and warmer temperatures on Sunday, requiring a completely different set-up.

In the first round, Line ran unopposed as Ron Krisher suffered a mechanical malfunction during his burnout. Even so, the Minnesota native set the tone for the day, scorching the quarter-mile in 6.531-seconds with a top speed of 211.06 mph to reset the track elapsed time record.

Jason Line

Photo by: Ted Rossino

It was a similar story in the second round against promising rookie Vincent Nobile. Once again, he was awarded the easy victory, as Nobile red-lit, but Line still recorded the low elapsed time of the round at 6.561-seconds to earn lane choice for his semifinal matchup with Rodger Brogdon. Although the two left the starting line at precisely the same moment, Line pulled away for the relatively easy win, with his 6.553-second, 210.24 mph lap outdistancing Brogdon’s 6.586-second, 209.62 mph pass, sending Line into the 52nd final round of his career, fourth of the 2011 season and his 17th final-round meeting with teammate Anderson.

“We made a lot of changes to my Summit Racing Pontiac after last week, including putting in a different engine, and we obviously went in the right direction, because it was extremely happy here this weekend,” said Line. “For example, it ran well in either lane while others had trouble in the right lane. In fact, I would say this was the best car I have ever had, and I’m very happy we were able to take advantage of it. I just want to thank Rob, Tommy, Jeff (co-crew chiefs Downing, Utt and Perley), as well as everyone else on this KB Racing team, for all their hard work. It’s great to see it all start to pay off.

“I’d also like to thank the people who make this all possible, including Ken and Judy Black, Summit Racing Equipment, Red Line Oil, Cometic Gaskets, Mac Tools, PAC Valve Springs, Wilson Manifolds, Diamond Pistons, K&N Filters, Wiley X and all the great companies who support us. I had a chance to speak to Ken right after the final, and I told him I couldn’t wait for him to be back out here with us, because we’re certainly having a lot of fun, and we want him to be a part of it.

“Going into the Countdown we have two really good Summit Racing Pontiacs, and the crew’s mindset is exactly where it needs to be, so I believe we are putting ourselves in a good position to win this thing. Hopefully, it will come down to Greg and I duking it out for the title, but there is still a lot of racing left, and a lot of work to do, so for today, we’ll enjoy this win, but tomorrow, we’ll start focusing our attention on Brainerd. That’s a big race for me, and I’d like nothing more than to back up this win with another in my home state.”