Line Keeps Team Summit in the Pro Stock Points Race

Three-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line was a fierce machine at the 66th annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals. He has been striving to win NHRA's most historic race, but a semifinals finish and a very powerful race car has him deep in the championship battle. Line is now third in the points standings and just 11 points out of first place.

"My Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro is fantastic," said Line. "We had a little glitch earlier in the weekend, but we finally figured it out before the second round. The good news is that my car is healthy again."

Line easily advanced on a red-lighting Aaron Stanfield in the first round of eliminations, then came head-to-head with Team Summit counterpart Greg Anderson in the second. Anderson had been a beast in qualifying, swiping up bonus qualifying points–a total of seven–with the quickest Pro Stocker on the property. In the first round of eliminations, he continued to dominate with his Summit Racing Camaro laying down a 6.564-second pass at 208.59 MPH to defeat Val Smeland and earn Low ET of race day.

Anderson was off the starting line first with a .027-second reaction time to Line's .052 second RT, but Line had the faster car for the first time all weekend. His 6.598/209.07 eclipsed his team mate’s 6.624/208.55 by just .001-second for the win.

"I lost by a thousandth, but it might as well have been a mile," said Anderson. "We've made a lot of strides lately with our engine program and our cars, and they're fast. But you have to be perfect in every way if you want to win."

Line fell to Matt Hartford in the semifinals, but was pleased to move on from his meeting with Anderson.

"I want to see both of us do well, of course, but I honestly felt bad because his car had been so good all weekend," said Line. "I like racing Greg, and I'm running out of chances to do so. We have five more races this year, if all goes as planned with the NHRA schedule, and hopefully we'll get to race each other a few more times."

Wilkerson Reaches Semifinals
Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang rebounded from a disheartening early exit three weeks ago by reaching the semifinal round at the U.S. Nationals.

Wilkerson qualified third, tying his best start of the season. He met up with part-time campaigner Dave Richards in Round One of eliminations. Wilk left first and never trailed, clocking a victorious 3.915/328.62 pass to Richards’ 8.079/84.91.

It was Wilkerson against longtime Funny Car campaigner Bob Bode in Round Two. They were delayed just before the waterbox as they watched NHRA's Safety Safari refresh the racing surface after an earth-shaking pedalfest performed by the last two Top Fuel dragsters.

The wait did not fluster Wilkerson, who nabbed a starting-line advantage with .077 second RT to Bode’s .105. Wilk needed the edge at the stripe, claiming victory with 4.011/312.78 to his opponent's 4.005/318.62.

Wilkerson’s day came to an end in a very close semifinals match with Jack Beckman, the eventual race winner. The two were just .008-second apart as they left the starting line, with Beckman tripping the final timer first with a 3.915/329.10 to Wilkerson’s 3.914/324.59. The margin of victory was just .007-second.

"I don't like getting beat at the biggest race of the year, but I'm pretty excited about how our Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford is running," said Wilkerson. "That last round was so close–you'd almost rather smoke the tires than lose a race that close. But the crew chief in me is glad it didn't end that way. At least I had a chance to learn something.

"We sure have a good car. That run was low ET of the round, and it would have beat any other car than the one we raced. But it's okay. If we keep tapping on the door, one of these days it's going to open up."