After making the two quickest passes in the Pro Stock category on Saturday, Summit Racing driver Jason Line was cautiously optimistic heading into Sunday’s final eliminations of the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas. Starting from the second position, he continued to pace the field, posting the quickest time of the first round at 6.665-seconds to eliminate veteran Kurt Johnson.
This set the stage for a second-round meeting with sophomore runner Shane Gray. Using a quick .023 reaction time, Line was able to get the jump on Gray at the starting line by fifteen thousandths of a second. Unfortunately, his car shook the tires almost immediately and headed towards the center line, and even though he was able to reel it back in, the resultant 6.690-second, 206.83 mph run fell two thousandths of a second shy of holding off his opponent’s 6.673-second, 206.64 mph charge. Although naturally disappointed to have missed scoring his first national event win at Heartland Park Topeka, he took some consolation in his car’s performance, as well as leaving Kansas with the Pro Stock points lead.
“I didn’t get as good of a burnout as I needed to in the second round, and, as a result, we didn’t make a very good run,” said Line. “It shook and went sideways and just didn’t have enough to get to the finish line first. I guess I’ll just have to wait another year to get my first Topeka Wally.
“But there are certainly some positives that we can take from this weekend. Our Summit Racing Pontiac is a fast hot rod, and we ran better here this year than we have in the past. We just didn’t do what we needed to win. I have said it before, to win in Pro Stock, you have to be error-free. If you’re not, you’re a spectator, which is where we ended up today. What’s important is that we learn from this experience. We’ll go back to our shop in Mooresville and get to work making sure we’re ready for whatever they throw at us in Englishtown.”
This set the stage for a second-round meeting with sophomore runner Shane Gray. Using a quick .023 reaction time, Line was able to get the jump on Gray at the starting line by fifteen thousandths of a second. Unfortunately, his car shook the tires almost immediately and headed towards the center line, and even though he was able to reel it back in, the resultant 6.690-second, 206.83 mph run fell two thousandths of a second shy of holding off his opponent’s 6.673-second, 206.64 mph charge. Although naturally disappointed to have missed scoring his first national event win at Heartland Park Topeka, he took some consolation in his car’s performance, as well as leaving Kansas with the Pro Stock points lead.
“I didn’t get as good of a burnout as I needed to in the second round, and, as a result, we didn’t make a very good run,” said Line. “It shook and went sideways and just didn’t have enough to get to the finish line first. I guess I’ll just have to wait another year to get my first Topeka Wally.
“But there are certainly some positives that we can take from this weekend. Our Summit Racing Pontiac is a fast hot rod, and we ran better here this year than we have in the past. We just didn’t do what we needed to win. I have said it before, to win in Pro Stock, you have to be error-free. If you’re not, you’re a spectator, which is where we ended up today. What’s important is that we learn from this experience. We’ll go back to our shop in Mooresville and get to work making sure we’re ready for whatever they throw at us in Englishtown.”
