Line Embraces Fresh Challenge as Season Begins in Pomona
Mooresville, N.C., February 5, 2014 – Jason Line and the Summit Racing team have faced and overcome many challenges during their tenure together, with a collective 105 national event wins and six NHRA Pro Stock world championships stand as testament. The group will have another opportunity to display their determined and resilient nature when they enter the 2014 season of NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series under circumstances that have never before been a factor. For the first time in his illustrious career, Line will compete at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona at the Circle K NHRA Winternationals, the first of 24 events on the tour, without teammate Greg Anderson.
Instead, eight-time FIA Pro Stock champion Jimmy Alund will be piloting Anderson’s Summit Racing Equipment/KB Racing Chevrolet Camaro for the first six events while the decorated driver is out of the seat for the first six races for scheduled surgery to repair a bicuspid aortic heart valve.
“It will certainly be strange – I’ve never been to a Pro Stock race without Greg Anderson,” admitted Line. “This is something that is a priority, though. Of course, Greg didn’t want to miss any races, but the rest of us were thinking, ‘Buddy, you take care of yourself. Do what you have to do.’ It’s going to be very strange, for sure, but the Summit Racing team has been faced with plenty of challenges in the past, and this is simply another that we will have the opportunity to overcome. We look forward to Greg’s return in a couple months, and we hope we make him proud while he’s away from the racetrack.”
Alund, one of the most successful Pro Stock drivers in Europe, is very familiar with the KB Racing team and their equipment. In 2013, the Swedish racer won five of six events of the FIA European Championship season, was No. 1 qualifier at each race, and reset both ends of the series Pro Stock record with a KB Racing engine under the hood of his 2012 J&J Performance Camaro.
“It’ll be fun to have Jimmy on board,” said Line. “He has some similar traits to Greg. He’s a real go-getter with a serious drive to win, and I think we’ll learn a few things from him.”
While Alund drives the already-familiar blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro, Line will also be in familiar territory as he slides in behind the wheel of what was formerly the silver Summit Racing Camaro. The car had been crashed at a test session last fall with Line behind the wheel but now returns to rotation repaired, ready, and with a fresh coat of brilliant blue paint to match the Chevrolet that Alund will command.
The Summit Racing team is rounding out the last few days of the off-season at the newly resurfaced Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix and putting in one final test session before making the short journey to Pomona to participate in a race that Line has won twice (2009 and 2011) and where he was No. 1 qualifier in 2012.
“We always like returning to Pomona, especially for this race,” said Line. “The first race of the season is a fresh page for everybody. We have some interesting challenges to deal with, but the Summit Racing team has put in a lot of hours and effort during the off-season. Hopefully, it shows.”