Intramural Tussle Ends Line’s Day in Topeka Semifinals

After recording the quickest time in two of the four qualifying sessions, Summit Racing driver Jason Line entered Sunday’s final eliminations of the Dollar General NHRA Summernationals in Topeka, Kan. looking to add his first Kansas “Wally” to his trophy case. He seemed headed in that direction in the first round, as he combined the quickest elapsed time of the weekend at 6.566-seconds with a top speed of 210.11 mph to defeat Steve Kent.


It was a similar situation in the second stanza, with Line covering the quarter-mile in 6.571 seconds with a top speed of 209.26 mph to eliminate a resurgent V. Gaines. This set the stage for a semifinal encounter with teammate Greg Anderson. Although Line posted his best reaction time of the day at .028 and made another strong 6.580-second, 210.57 mph run, it fell thirteen thousandths of a second shy of his stablemate’s 6.575-second, 210.93 mph effort, putting a premature end to the 2011 champion’s day.


“The Summit Racing team had a good day today, and I had one of my best in Topeka,” said Line. “It stings to not come out of here with a win, but we leave knowing Greg had the best car he’s had all year, and mine was good enough to run low e.t. of the weekend and be quickest in four of the seven rounds we ran. I also made some strides, doing a better job of driving overall. The bottom line, however, is that we didn’t win, and we’ll have to wait two weeks for our next chance.


“With two new Chevy Camaros to get ready, we’re going to have our hands full between now and Englishtown, but I’m looking forward to finally driving a real muscle car in Pro Stock. I’ll have to wait a year for my next shot at a Topeka win, but all in all it wasn’t a bad weekend. It just wasn’t a great weekend, which is what we’ll be aiming for in New Jersey.”


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. For more information, please visit www.summitracing.com.