Jason Line wanted to give spectators at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park something to remember in the hometown of KB Racing’s primary sponsor. He delivered what amounted to a personal thank you.
Line, driving the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS, won the Pro Stock class of Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals to complete a Chevrolet first-half sweep of the National Hot Rod Association Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season with 12 victories.
Also, Courtney Force advanced to the Funny Car final round for the second time this season in the Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS and 16th time in her career, while John Force Racing teammates Robert Hight in Funny Car and Brittany Force in Top Fuel reached the semifinals.
Line defeated KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson in the final round for his class-leading seventh victory of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and 44th of his career. In their 32nd head-to-head final, which includes the past four events, Line ran 6.678 seconds to Anderson’s 6.717. Anderson, competing in the finals for the 133rd time, is 18-14 in final-round matchups with Line.
“To win the Summit race in the Summit car at the Summit track is a huge deal. Greg and I have been very fortunate to be able to make that happen a lot of times throughout our racing careers so it’s fun and really exciting,” said Line, the Pro Stock points leader.
Anderson, who was the No. 1 qualifier for the fifth time this season and the 85th in his career, has won the other five races.
“He’s the person I want to race the most in the final, but he’s also the person I want to race the least in the finals,” Line added. “He’s got killer instinct and he’s a great driver.”
Chevrolet drivers claimed the top eight Pro Stock qualifying spots and swept into the semifinal round of eliminations. Line defeated Vincent Nobile (Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS) in one semifinal, and Anderson topped Shane Gray (Valvoline/Nova Services Chevrolet Camaro SS) by one-thousandth of a second in the other.
Nobile, who won the event in 2011 and 2012 and who advanced to the semifinals for the second time in the past three races, defeated No. 3 qualifier Drew Skillman (Ray Skillman Chevrolet Camaro SS) and Anderson bested Alex Laughlin (Gas Monkey Garage Chevrolet Camaro SS) in Round 2. Laughlin, the No. 8 qualifier, earned his fifth round win of the season (and fifth of his career) in eliminating Jeg Coughlin Jr. in Round 1.
Courtney Force, the No. 4 qualifier who won at Houston earlier this season, fell to No. 1 qualifier Ron Capps. Force, who defeated Capps in the final round at Norwalk in 2013, has eight career wins and eight runner-ups finishes, including 2015 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.
“It was an awesome weekend for our Traxxas team. I’m really excited,” Force said. “I was really hoping we could get it done this weekend, but I know we have a really good race car and we even gathered enough points this weekend to move our Traxxas team up to the No. 2 position in the points.”
Hight, who registered a personal-best 3.886-second pass in the second round of qualifications in the new Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS, defeated John Force Racing teammate John Force in the second round. Force, driving the PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS, ran 3.998 seconds to Hight’s 3.982 pass. Force recorded his 13th round win of the season and 1,243rd of his illustrious career in eliminating Matt Hagan in Round 1.
In Top Fuel, Brittany Force fell in the semifinals to Shawn Langdon, who went on to win the class for the second consecutive week. Force, the No. 3 qualifier in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster for the second consecutive week, reached the semifinals for the fifth time in 12 races this season. She has won twice and was the runner-up another time.
David Barton completed another dominating weekend performance by winning his third consecutive race in the four-event SAM Tech (School of Automotive Machinists & Technology) Factory Showdown over FOX Sports 1 NHRA commentator Bruno Massel. Both drivers were competing in Chevrolet COPO Camaros.
Jeff Strickland, the No. 13 qualifier in the GMPartsNow.com/Berger Chevrolet COPO Camaro, advanced to the semifinals in Stock Eliminator. Strickland won the class competition a week earlier in Bristol, Tennessee.
After a one-week break from on-track competition, Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, hosts the 19th Route 66 NHRA Nationals on July 7-10.
“Congratulations to all the Chevrolet drivers for an exciting and memorable weekend of racing at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park,” Chevrolet Racing NHRA program manager Roger Allen said. “Jason Line earned his seventh Pro Stock win of the season for KB Racing as Chevrolet completes a first-half sweep of the class with its 12th consecutive victory. Courtney Force reached the Funny Car final round for the 16th time in 107 races, while John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight also advanced to the Funny Car semifinals in the new Chevrolet Camaro SS. And Brittany Force, a two-time Top Fuel winner this season, reached the semifinals again in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster.
“And special congratulations to David Barton, who won his third successive Factory Showdown in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro. After four weekends of racing in a row, Chevrolet teams will receive a well-deserved weekend off before starting the second half of the season at Route 66 Raceway as they focus on the Chase to the Championship.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:
TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY
“We didn’t run as well as we would have liked today. There are cars that are very close to us. That’s good for them, not good for us. But to win the Summit race in the Summit car at the Summit track is a huge deal. Greg (Anderson) and I have been very fortunate to be able to make that happen a lot of times throughout our racing careers so it’s fun and really exciting.”
YOU ALSO CLINCHED A SPOT IN THE COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP. HOW DOES THAT FEEL?
“All good. I haven’t really thought about it a whole lot. It was just a fun day.”
YOU HAVE RACED GREG IN THE FINALS A LOT. DO YOU EVER GET SICK OF IT?
“No. The only thing I get sick of is his win light coming on. Other than that, everything is good. He’s gotten then best of me way more times than I of him. He’s tough. He’s the person I want to race the most in the final, but he’s also the person I want to race the least in the finals. He’s got killer instinct and he’s a great driver. Right now our cars are so good that it certainly wasn’t an easy day, but it was a great day. Things went according to plan, and they always don’t work that way.”
WHAT FIRES YOU UP?
“The thing that fires me up every week is my wife and kids like to eat so just keeping my job and trying to do the best I can. Obviously, it’s fun when you win and when you are winning. But it’s not going to stay like this. We’ve had a bunch of bad times as well, and right now we’re going to just enjoy the fact that we’ve won this many races and I think we’re going to win more before the year is out I hope. That’s what really motivates me. We have a lot of folks depending on us to make a living so we try to take it serious and to the best we can.”
ON THAT LAST RUN, WAS IT I GOT TO BEAT HIM AT THE LINE?
“Yes, no question. I knew we had a slight advantage having that lane. Usually when I race him I give that up. He’s tough. We both struggled today to be good on the tree, but it was good enough.”
HOW MUCH FUN ARE YOU HAVING?
“Honestly, this is the most relaxed I’ve been racing. It’s nice not be in a panic going into Sunday.”
THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A WEEKEND OFF YOU WORKED AS HARD AS EVER.
“And we will this week, too. We have a lot of work to do. I also have a lot of work to do with my Stock program. The Pro Stock stuff is the priority. We’ve made a lot of runs and need time to go back and refresh some stuff.”
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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