Line Wins for First Time in Phoenix
Jason Line
Defending champion Jason Line and the Summit Racing team continued their strong start to the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season on Sunday, capturing the Pro Stock title at Sunday’s 28th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.
Starting from the second position, Line defeated Jeg Coughlin Jr., Erica Enders and Greg Stanfield in the early rounds before squaring off in the final against his teammate Greg Anderson, who won the season opener in Pomona, California, just one week earlier.
Historically, the all-Summit encounters have been very close races, and the championship round in Phoenix was no exception. The two drivers left the starting line within a thousandth of a second of each other and rocketed down the quarter-mile as if welded together, with Line’s 6.558-second, 211.69 mph pass pulling out the narrow victory over Anderson’s 6.570-second, 211.06 mph run. This marks the 28th win of his career (which ties Darrell Alderman for 7th on the all-time Pro Stock wins list), first of the 2012 season and first at Firebird Raceway.
“It feels good to get my first win here in Phoenix,” said Line. “We’ve had one of the best cars in the class for the first two races, but weren’t able to close the deal in Pomona, so it’s great to get the job done today.
Jason Line (Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
“Of course, going into the final we knew a Summit car was going to win, which took some of the pressure off. Still, anytime you go up against Greg, you know you’re going up against one of the very best, so you have to be on your very best game if you hope to beat him. Fortunately, we were able to make a good run and get the win.”
Line’s pursuit of victory was challenged from the start, as he opened against former champion Coughlin. Although his opponent was able to gain the advantage at the start, the KB Racing driver used the quickest elapsed time of eliminations at 6.549 seconds to reel him in and advance to the second round. He then returned to form against Enders, leaving first and once again posting the quickest time of the round to advance to the semifinals, where another strong 6.556-second, 211.23 mph run propelled him into the 57th final round of his career.
“Going into the first round, I knew how good he can be on the tree, but I also felt we had a significant performance advantage, so I was looking for a safe light – just not that safe,” said Line.
“Fortunately, he had some trouble, we ran well and were able to pull out the win and move on. This car is absolutely phenomenal right now, and it’s taken a lot of hard work by everyone on this team, both here at the track and back at the shop to get us in this position, so I’m glad we were able to get this win for them today.
“I’m also happy to win this race for (team owners) Ken and Judy Black, as well as our sponsors, Summit Racing Equipment, Red Line Oil, Cometic Gaskets, Mac Tools, PAC Valve Springs, Wilson Manifolds, Diamond Pistons, K&N Filters, SpeedDawg Shift Knobs, Wiley X and everyone else who supports us.
“All in all, today was a really good day, but I’m looking forward to getting home and spending a little time with my family, who I haven’t seen since before Pomona.
“After that, it will be time to get back to work. We have a couple weeks before the Gatornationals and just like everyone else, we’re going to be spending some long hours looking to make these cars run even better. We’ve gotten off to a good start, and we want to keep it going.”
