Line Wins for Team Summit Racing in Dallas

Summit Racing driver Jason Line got back in the game with a victory at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals. The win marked the fifth time that a Summit Racing Chevy parked in the winner’s circle this year, and brought Line within 30 points of the top spot, currently occupied by Team Summit’s Greg Anderson.

“For me, this weekend was honestly do-or-die,” said Line, who has 47 NHRA Pro Stock Wally trophies and 95 final round appearances. “If you didn’t win here this weekend, the chance of winning the championship was slim to none. But, it’s not over.”

Line, the Number Two qualifier, got a lucky break in Round One of eliminations when he was delayed leaving the starting line but managed to oust Alan Prusiensky with a 6.550 second/210.60 MPH pass to Prusiensky’s 6.788/178.50. In Round Two, Line and Alex Laughlin left the starting line nearly in sync, but at the stripe it was Line first 6.552/210.87 to 6.565/210.37.

In the semifinals, Brian Self shook and rattled, allowing Line to advance to his second-consecutive final round and third of the year.  Line made a 6.590/210.64 pass to Self’s 13.523/62.95.

Teammate Greg Anderson did a good job of knocking out the competition for Line, starting with veteran driver Larry Morgan in Round One and Erica Enders in Round Two with  a 6.572/210.01 pass to Enders’ 6.575/210.37. Hoping for another all-Summit Racing final round, Anderson was stopped short in the semifinals by Drew Skillman 6.559/211.26 to 6.592/209.20.

In the final round, Skillman left .001-second too soon and illuminated the red light.  Line sailed ahead to make his quickest pass of the weekend, a 6.548/211.20 to his opponent’s 8.237/117.86.

“I saw the win light, and botched one of the shifts,” said Line. “I thought, ‘why did he red-light? He was faster than me.’ But I’ve been on both sides of that, so I’ll take this one.”  

Leaving Dallas with just two races remaining, the Pro Stock standings have Anderson in the top spot, KB Racing-powered Bo Butner in the Number two spot, and Line in third. The championship is nowhere near decided yet, as points are valued at one-and-a-half times their normal amount at the season closer in Pomona in November.

Daniel Wilkerson, son of veteran Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson, flew the Summit Racing Equipment colors throughout the weekend. Despite a massive explosion during qualifying that destroyed the carbon fiber body of his Summit Racing Texas Funny Car, he showed up on Sunday driving his repaired chassis with one of his father’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car bodies rebranded with Summit Racing colors.

Daniel entered eliminations in the Number 11 position and faced Courtney Force in Round One of eliminations. The drivers left with nearly identical reaction times, but Force got into trouble and Daniel took the win with a career best 3.975/317.05 pass. It was the third round-win of his career in his 11th nitro Funny Car race.

“The car had a cylinder out at like one-and-a-half seconds, so it was in line to go a 3.88, just like Tim ran first round,” said the younger Wilkerson. “But I saw the win light, and I didn’t care. I wouldn’t have cared if it had gone 5-flat. It was great.”

Daniel’s weekend came to an end in Round Two when his car was stuck in between reverse and first gear following the burnout. He had to shut off and could not make the run, but the Springfield, Illinois-based driver was still elated.

“It was a great weekend and a great way to celebrate the new Summit Racing Equipment store in Arlington,” said Daniel.

Tim Wilkerson had a great day on Sunday and made his way to the semifinals. He is currently eighth in Funny Car points. Wilkerson made one of just five 3.8-second passes during eliminations, and was the only driver, other than event winner Robert Hight, to accomplish the task.

In Round One of eliminations, Wilkerson beat Cruz Pedregon with a 3.886/332.34 pass to Pedregon’s 4.539/195.70. He moved on to defeat Jonnie Lindberg in Round Two, 3.904/331.45 to 4.200/276.63.

In the semifinals, Hight got the best of Wilkerson with his 3.898/331.85 pass to Wilk’s 3.954/316.60.

“We didn’t give the track enough credit, and we went up there probably a little more conservative than we should have been,” said Wilkerson. “But we’ve got a pretty good car, and this weekend was probably a B+.”

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Brittany Force (3.681/326.87) defeated Shawn Langdon (3.693/326.56)

Funny Car—Robert Hight (3.877/332.34) defeated Ron Capps (3.927/329.18)

Pro Stock—Jason Line (6.548/211.20) defeated Drew Skillman (Foul-Red Light)

Pro Stock Motorcycle—Eddie Krawiec (9.336/92.62) defeated Jerry Savoie (Foul-Red Light)

What’s Next
The next race on the 2017 NHRA Countdown to the Championship is the NHRA Toyota Nationals October 26-29 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is the second-to-last race of the season and fifth race of six in the Countdown to the Championship.

For more information and complete race results visit DragRaceCentral.com.