[coverattach=1]After having one of the quickest cars during the final day of qualifying Jason Line and the Summit Racing team came into Sunday’s final eliminations as one of the favorites for the final win of the season. He opened in impressive fashion, matching the quickest time of the weekend at 6.562-seconds as well as posting the top speed of the event at 210.77 mph to easily defeat rival Jeg Coughlin in the first round. He continued his high-powered assault in the second round, once again posting the quickest time of the round at 6.571-seconds to trailer a tire-shaking Allen Johnson.
Running after his teammate Greg Anderson in the semifinals, Line had the opportunity to make it the third all-Summit final of the year. However, standing between the 2006 champion and his tenth final of the season was veteran Kurt Johnson, who was looking to score the upset. Although Line once again produced a jaw-dropping run, setting low elapsed time and top speed of the weekend with his 6.555-second, 211.36 mph pass, it fell an agonizing six-thousandths of a second shy of overcoming his opponent’s starting line advantage, as he used a .001 reaction time and 6.624-second pass to narrowly edge the hard-charging Line.
Although naturally disappointed by his premature exit, Line nevertheless took heart in his race car’s tremendous performance, as well as his stellar season, which saw him establish new personal bests in wins (5), elimination round wins (50), elapsed time (6.534 seconds) and top speed (211.96 mph). This, combined with his teammate’s victory over Johnson in the final round, left the 40-year-old Minnesotan encouraged heading into the off-season.
“I have no excuses, as I had been struggling a little the last few races, but the sun was shining in my eyes in that round, which made it hard to focus,” said Line. “Of course, it was still possible to get the job done because Greg had a great light during his run, so it came down to my not getting the job done.
“However, I feel really good about how my Summit Racing Pontiac ran today. I know it sounds funny, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to lose that way, so in some strange way, that’s not completely bad. The point is we had a great car – that run in the semifinals was the quickest corrected run I have ever made. It was a great pass and hopefully a sign of what we can do with these KB Racing cars next year.
Established in 1968, Summit Racing Equipment is the leading high performance parts and accessories company. Summit Racing offers the largest selection, lowest prices, and best customer service in the high performance industry via catalogs, Internet, and Retail Super Stores. The company is headquartered in Tallmadge, Ohio with retail locations in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and McDonough, Georgia.
Running after his teammate Greg Anderson in the semifinals, Line had the opportunity to make it the third all-Summit final of the year. However, standing between the 2006 champion and his tenth final of the season was veteran Kurt Johnson, who was looking to score the upset. Although Line once again produced a jaw-dropping run, setting low elapsed time and top speed of the weekend with his 6.555-second, 211.36 mph pass, it fell an agonizing six-thousandths of a second shy of overcoming his opponent’s starting line advantage, as he used a .001 reaction time and 6.624-second pass to narrowly edge the hard-charging Line.
Although naturally disappointed by his premature exit, Line nevertheless took heart in his race car’s tremendous performance, as well as his stellar season, which saw him establish new personal bests in wins (5), elimination round wins (50), elapsed time (6.534 seconds) and top speed (211.96 mph). This, combined with his teammate’s victory over Johnson in the final round, left the 40-year-old Minnesotan encouraged heading into the off-season.
“I have no excuses, as I had been struggling a little the last few races, but the sun was shining in my eyes in that round, which made it hard to focus,” said Line. “Of course, it was still possible to get the job done because Greg had a great light during his run, so it came down to my not getting the job done.
“However, I feel really good about how my Summit Racing Pontiac ran today. I know it sounds funny, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to lose that way, so in some strange way, that’s not completely bad. The point is we had a great car – that run in the semifinals was the quickest corrected run I have ever made. It was a great pass and hopefully a sign of what we can do with these KB Racing cars next year.
Established in 1968, Summit Racing Equipment is the leading high performance parts and accessories company. Summit Racing offers the largest selection, lowest prices, and best customer service in the high performance industry via catalogs, Internet, and Retail Super Stores. The company is headquartered in Tallmadge, Ohio with retail locations in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and McDonough, Georgia.
