NHRA News: Line living large after first NHRA victory (5/25/2004)

Line living large after first NHRA victory

5/25/2004

"Racing in Pro Stock is just about the dream of every Sportsman racer, especially in Stock and Super Stock."
– Jason Line

He's the driver of the second Pontiac Grand Am out of the Ken Black Racing stable and he's pretty handy working with an engine as well. But students of drag racing know that Jason Line is no newcomer to the sport, having won the NHRA Sportsman championship in Stock eliminator in 1993, and the national event in Brainerd in 1992 and 1997.

Now the 34-year-old Minnesota native is living a lifelong dream, driving a Pro Stock Pontiac Grand Am with one of the best crew chiefs in the sport, Greg Anderson, making the tuning calls on his car.

Line spent a valuable tenure as a dyno operator at Joe Gibbs Racing from 1997-2003, and he was a part of that organization's two NASCAR championships with Bobby Labonte in 2000 and Tony Stewart in 2002. A chance meeting in Charlotte with fellow Minnesotan Anderson eventually resulted in an opportunity to drive a second car for Ken Black Racing and returned Line to his roots in NHRA Drag Racing.

After four consecutive races qualifying No. 2, with a pair of runner-up finishes at Houston and Bristol to teammate and current points leader Greg Anderson, Line finally broke through with a career-best weekend in Chicago at the seventh annual NHRA Route 66 Nationals. After qualifying No. 1 for the first time Saturday, Line powered by the competition, and his boss Anderson in the final, to claim his first NHRA victory.

The leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, Line also drove his Grand Am to career best numbers in E.T. and speed at Houston Raceway Park with a run of 6.723 seconds at 205.26 mph, helping him reach the No. 3 spot in the POWERade points, where he currently resides.

The ultimate team player, Line didn't hesitate to spring into action after Anderson broke his primary engine recently during Friday qualifying at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. As soon as his driving duties were completed, Line drove three hours back to the race shop in Charlotte, put the repaired powerplant on the dyno in the middle of the night, loaded it up and delivered it to Anderson just in time for race day. Because of Line's unselfish contribution, Anderson defeated his blurry-eyed teammate in the semifinals of the Atlanta eliminator on a holeshot and went on to win the race.

Q: How does it feel to finally win?

Line's first win is one he'll always remember.
Racers Edge Photography

Line: As a former sportsman racer I can tell you it's an unreal feeling to win in Pro Stock. It's the ultimate for guys like me. I wish Greg hadn't red-lighted in the final but it was still a win for the team and we're all happy. I was surprised, really, to see the light come on. I told him I was going to saw the Tree down and I did (with an .004 start).

I was really calm going into the final. I knew our team would win no matter what. It was great to get by Greg because I didn't think I'd ever beat him. I know he's happy for me.

Q: Was it sweet but friendly revenge for Atlanta?
Line: Greg drilled me on a holeshot (.016 light) in Atlanta and I let a 6.79, the best E.T. of the round, go down the tube, so I really can't make any excuses. I was happy for Greg to win five races in a row, something only two other drivers have accomplished in Pro Stock, and to see his name there with Bob Glidden and Ronnie Sox.

Q: Is it nice to have Greg tune your car?
Line: With the success he's had driving lately, everyone has kind of overlooked and maybe forgotten what a great crew chief Greg is. But he's the guy making the calls on my car and that's such a cool deal. There are a dozen guys who could get in that car and drive better than I do, and Greg and the rest of the guys on the team are making me look better than I am. I'm in first-class equipment with a first-class crew, and there's not a better team out there. The car is getting better and I'd like to think that I am also.

Q: How did you got started in drag racing?
Line: My father Lawrence raced in the '60s and early '70s. He bracket-raced and competed in Stock eliminator. It was kind of a natural thing for me to be involved in drag racing. My father had an automatic transmission shop, so I've been around cars and the automotive industry my entire life.

The big red eye spelled doom for Anderson.
Racers Edge Photography

Growing up in northern Minnesota, we raced cars and also snowmobiles pretty much from the first time I could remember, and it's always been a family affair. Even now my whole family races. My mother Maxine races in Stock, my sister Stephanie (Diekema) races in Super Stock, and my dad and two brothers have Stockers also. We all just have a tremendous love for the sport of drag racing.

It was kind of a strange deal when I went to work for Joe Gibbs Racing because I'd never seen a NASCAR race before – I didn't even know who Bobby Labonte was. The guys at Gibbs Racing had a lot of fun with that. I had no idea who anybody was other than maybe Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. But I knew who Warren Johnson was. He was a lifelong hero, him and Bob Glidden.

Q: So you weren't star struck when you arrived in Charlotte?
Line: Not at all. I was more awestruck by the size of the Joe Gibbs Racing facility, the kind of equipment they were using and just the professionalism of the organization itself. But as far as the drivers, I really didn't know that much about them.

Q: When did your Sportsman career begin?
Line: In the mid-80s when I was 15. I didn't have a driver's license yet, so I started a little premature really. I had what they call in Minnesota a 'Farmer's License.' If you lived on a farm you could drive a car or a truck in the daytime within 20 miles of your home, and that was the only license I had. They never asked me for a driver's license when I pulled up to the gate for my first race, so I figured we would go for it.

Q: How was it to win the 1993 NHRA Stock Eliminator championship?
Line: Stock eliminator is a difficult category. My father has raced for years and has never been able to win a national event. It's a very difficult thing to do, so winning the championship in 1993 was a huge deal to me. When I was kid I told my mother I was going to be the Stock Eliminator champion, so it was a dream come true. Getting up on the stage at Pomona to accept the championship award was a pretty scary deal for a young kid from Wright, Minn. I grew up in a town of 92 people, so getting up on stage in front of a crowd about 10 times that was a little intimidating.

Q: Why did you switch to NASCAR?

Line is third in the championship chase.
Racers Edge Photography

Line: In 1994, we decided that to move our engine program forward we would need a dyno. So we bought a DTS dyno, built a shop, and started out with that. I knew a guy at Joe Gibbs Racing, Joe Hornick, who works with us now, who was the research-and-development guy there. He knew I had a DTS dyno, which was a fairly new dyno at the time, and asked me if I would be interested in operating one at Gibbs Racing.

I went to Charlotte thinking I'd stay for a year just to see what I could learn, and as it turned out, it was a great move for me personally. I was surrounded by people who were much smarter than I was, and in an environment like that you couldn't help but learn. I still have a very close relationship with the guys over at Gibbs Racing and my tenure there helped me tremendously.

Q: How was it to be a part of a NASCAR championship?
Line: In 2000, I was the at-track engine tuner for Bobby Labonte's Pontiac Grand Prix, so I traveled with the team and that was pretty cool. It was an incredible learning experience and a tough schedule as well. I'd like to think I didn't hurt their cause.

More effort was put in at the shop, though, than at the track. You win the race at the shop and that's been our theory at KB Racing. Preparedness is so important.

I've put a lot of effort into engine theory and learning how to make a racecar go faster, and all of my life I've had the opportunity to learn from some pretty smart people, from my father to everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing to where I am now at KB Racing.

Q: Did you always keep your love of drag racing?
Line: Always, although racing in NASCAR was a full-time job and didn't leave much time for anything else. I was always very interested in what was going on in NHRA. We would sit around bench racing on Monday mornings, look on the Internet to see the results and we would kind of hack on whoever was cutting bad lights. Now whenever I cut a bad light, the guys at Gibbs Racing call me up and give me a hard time. I started a bad trend there. I still talk to the guys over there about three or four times a week and I'm still very good friends with everyone. The head engine builder, Mark Cronquist, was very good to me and treated me very well.

Q: How did you and Greg get together?
Line: I'd hang out at Jerico Racing Transmissions, which makes manual transmissions for NASCAR and drag racing. The guy that runs it, Jerry Hemmingson, is from Minnesota, he's a drag racer, and has a DTS dyno, so I used to spend a lot of time there. Greg ended up renting shop space from them when he moved to Charlotte. Joe Hornick and I would visit Greg and sort of help him out because he didn't have enough guys. I knew Greg's brothers, and I knew Greg's dad, but I had never met Greg. We grew up about 40 miles apart. I raced snowmobiles, and so did his dad.

Greg is a working machine and he leads by example. Every night when we're at the shop until 12 a.m. or 1 a.m., Greg's not only working right along side you, he's probably working harder than anybody here. He's very motivated, and I think where we're from in northern Minnesota contributes to that work ethic. There are a lot of hard-working people from that area, and to survive in that cold country you have to be tough and self-reliant.

Q: How did you move into the seat?
Line: Joe Hornick suggested to Greg that if they had a spare car they should put a motor in it and let me try driving. Greg asked me if I could come work for him, and at the time I couldn't do it because my opportunity to learn was so much greater at Joe Gibbs Racing as far as engine theory and running the dyno. Financially it wasn't a smart move either because Greg couldn't pay me what I was making at Gibbs. The only way I would do it was if I had the opportunity to drive. Greg's said they were getting a second car, offered to let me drive it, and I made the switch. Racing in Pro Stock is just about the dream of every Sportsman racer, especially in Stock and Super Stock. I would have paid money to race in Pro Stock.

Q: How was the adjustment?
Line: The fastest I'd ever gone before was 10.60, and I noticed a huge difference right away. I can't even begin to tell you how big of an adjustment it was. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the guys in this class because they make it look easy and it's anything but easy. I'm still learning. I'd like to think I'm getting better each week.

Crashing in Columbus was not my idea of starting a Pro Stock career. All I could think of while I was upside down was I couldn't believe I'd waited my whole life to do this, and I screwed it up on my first try. I thought Greg would be upset. It was a brand-new car with just three runs, but Greg and Ken were unbelievable. They just wanted to make sure I was okay. It taught me a little about having respect for these cars.

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