CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS
AUTO CLUB RACEWAY AT POMONA, CALIFORNIA
NOV. 13, 2016
Chevrolet Wins Pro Stock Title, Dominates Class with 23 Victories
• Jason Line claims third Pro Stock championship and third in row for Chevrolet
• Greg Anderson’s Pro Stock race win pushes career total to 86, second all time
• John Force advances to Funny Car final for third time in the Countdown
• Dan Fletcher wins Super Stock in Chevrolet COPO Camaro for 99th career victory
POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 13, 2016) – Jason Line versus Greg Anderson in the final round of the final event of the 2016 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock season was anticlimactic but nonetheless appropriate and exciting.
Line, driving the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS, had clinched his third Pro Stock world championship and first since 2011 with a semifinal victory over two-time defending champion Erica Enders-Stevens. That win set up the matchup between the 14-year KB Racing teammates, and neither left Auto Club Raceway disappointed.
Anderson, who defeated Line on Feb. 14 on a holeshot in the inaugural race of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season on the same racing surface, repeated the scenario to register his 86th career Pro Stock victory, which broke a tie with Bob Glidden for second all time in the class. Warren Johnson, who was at the racetrack assisting Chevy driver Matt Hartford, is No. 1 with 97 wins. John Force leads all professional classes with 147 wins.
Force nearly registered No. 148, falling in the Funny Car final round by five-thousandths of a second on a holeshot.
Overall, Chevrolet drivers earned 32 national event wins this season across Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock, topping last year’s mark of 29. Chevrolet drivers won 23 of the 24 Pro Stock events, and Line presented the Bowtie Brand with its third consecutive Pro Stock championship.
“It was a great year and I want to thank all our competitors. They did a great job and made us work hard right to the end. It’s been an incredible, dream season and I can’t believe I didn’t mess it up,” said Line, who posted eight victories and six runner-up finishes.
“After I won the Charlotte race, I thought that maybe we had a shot. We’ve had a great car all year. Greg and I probably have had the best cars. It’s been a fun year, and if would have ended any other way I would have been disappointed.”
Anderson’s disappointment over falling three points shy of securing his fifth Pro Stock title was short-lived. He dispatched Bo Butner, driving the KB Racing-prepared Jim Butner Auto Chevrolet Camaro SS, in the other semifinal.
“We came in here with great race cars and I really did do all I could to keep it within one round to get to the final round with both our cars on Sunday and I just fell a couple of points short in qualifying,” said Anderson, the No. 3 qualifier who also earned eight wins over the course of the season.
“Great year for KB Racing, great year for Chevrolet, and great year for Jason Line. I can’t thank him enough. I hired my own assassin, I’ve said it before. But that’s why I hired him. He’s bad to the bone and he’s awful tough to beat. Happy days out here and I’m looking forward to 2017.”
Two-time winner Drew Skillman (Ray Skillman Auto Chevrolet Camaro SS), Vincent Nobile (Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS), Chris McGaha (Harlow Sammons of Odessa Chevrolet Camaro SS), and Shane Gray (Valvoline/Nova Services Chevrolet Camaro SS) were first-round winners. Gray, who will hand the steering wheel of the Camaro to his son, Tanner, for the 2017 season, finished a career-best third in the Pro Stock standings.
John Force, driving the PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS, and Tommy Johnson Jr. had identical elapsed times of 3.918 seconds, though Johnson prevailed by five-thousandths of a second on reaction time for the holeshot win.
“Our race cars are fast. We’re running right there with them and we’re excited about next year where we’re going. We turned the corner this year and we’re moving ahead.”
Courtney Force (Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS) lost on a holeshot to Johnson in the semifinals, which cost her a matchup with her father for the second consecutive event. Teammate Robert Hight, driving the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS, lost in the second round.
Brittany Force, a three-time winner this season in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster, was the No. 8 qualifier. She lost in the first round of eliminations.
Dan Fletcher, driving the K&N/Denso Chevrolet COPO Camaro, advanced to the final round of Super Stock for the 149th time and picked up his 99th career victory. Jeff Strickland of Red Bay, Alabama, who on Saturday clinched the Stock Eliminator title in his GMPartsNow.com/Berger Chevy Chevrolet COPO Camaro, advanced to the final round after qualifying 40th of 63 entries.
“We won here in the first race of the season and to win here this weekend is pretty awesome,” Fletcher said. “This car ran really well. I’m happy for Chevy with Jeff Strickland winning the championship in Stock Eliminator in the other COPO so a good day for the COPO contingent.”
The 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season kicks off Feb. 10-12 at Auto Club Raceway.
ROGER ALLEN, CHEVROLET RACING NHRA PROGAM MANAGER: “What a great season for Chevrolet teams and drivers, who amassed 32 victories across the three professional divisions, set national and track records, and attained personal goals. Congratulations to all the competitors who represented the Bowtie Brand this season, and special congratulations to Jason Line on clinching the Pro Stock title and Jeff Strickland for his Stock Eliminator championship in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro. Chevrolet drivers dominated the Pro Stock class this season, and it was an exciting battle to the finish between KB Racing teammates for the title. Greg Anderson, a four-time champion, was the championship runner-up for the second consecutive season. We’re already looking forward to the start of the 2017 season.”
An interview with Pro Stock champion JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:
Q: HOW HUGE IS THIS?
JASON LINE: “I can’t put it into words. I’m a boring guy; I don’t like pressure. To have it come down to the end like this is hard on my heart. It was a great year and I want to thank all our competitors. They did a great job and made us work hard right to the end. And I want to thank all the Summit folks, (team owner) Ken Black. It’s been an incredible, dream season and I can’t believe I didn’t mess it up.”
Q: AT WHAT POINT IN TIME DO YOU START THINKING CHAMPION?
JASON LINE: “You think about it, but you don’t want to overthink it. It’s not about thinking, it’s about letting your foot out and I struggle with that sometimes. After I won the Charlotte race, I thought that maybe we had a shot. We’ve had a great car all year. Greg (Anderson) and I probably have had the best cars. It’s been a fun year, and if would have ended any other way I would have been disappointed.”
Q: LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME, YOU GUYS DISAPPEARED BECAUSE YOU WERE WORKING SO HARD. WHAT’S IT GOING TO BE LIKE THIS YEAR?
JASON LINE: “Plus we were bitter. We didn’t exactly embrace the new rules; I didn’t anyway. Greg finally dragged me in. This year, we’ll try to stay focused and not mess it up. In order to win the race, you have to be mistake-free and it’s very easy to let your emotions or your adrenaline get the best of you. And it’s not about emotion, it’s about the process. I didn’t do a great job but it was good enough to win.”
Q: ARE YOU GOING TO DO THE SAME THIS OFF-SEASON?
JASON LINE: “We’re going to have to because nobody likes not winning and I promise you our competitors will be working as hard or harder so we have no choice. The gains are getting fewer and tougher to find so we’ll have to come up with some new stuff and make the process better.”
Q: ONCE YOU GOT TO THE COUNTDOWN YOU HAD A BIG LEAD AND THEN IT WAS RESET. WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK?
JASON LINE: “You know it’s coming, but it’s still painful when it happens. My thought was to try to get some back. I feel like you have to at least make the final at the first race, so when we won the Charlotte race I felt like I had a decent chance. For me, beating Greg (Anderson) in that final set the tone for the way the Countdown was going to go. It didn’t go like I thought it was going to, but in the end result it worked out.”
Q: THEN YOU BUILT ANOTHER HUGE LEAD.
JASON LINE: “We’ve had very good cars all year, and obviously that’s the key to winning in this class. The Summit Chevy was bad to the bone. We did the best we could and used the resources the best we could.”
Q: TALK ABOUT THE DYNAMIC THAT YOU AND GREG HAVE. HOW UNIQUE IS THAT?
JASON LINE: “I haven’t seen it in any other form of motorsports. We been able to stay together for 14 years and that’s like an eternity. Of all the things that we’ve accomplished in racing, I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of. We don’t mind fighting, but we’re not fighting to win, we’re fighting to go forward.”
An interview with Pro Stock event winner GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:
Q: TALK ABOUT THE RACING TODAY. YOU FELL A LITTLE SHORT ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP. IS THERE ANY SOLACE IN GETTING THIS WIN?
GREG ANDERSON: “There is. To break Bob Glidden’s record is obviously fantastic. That‘s something I never considered, could think about or image, and now that it’s happened it’s just unreal. He is a hero of mine and I wouldn’t be here today without him. He helped create this class with guys like Bill Jenkins and Warren Johnson. They paved the way and we’re just trying to carry it on the best we can. Great day. I can’t cry. I did all I could do today. The only thing I could kick stones about is I didn’t do a great job in qualifying on Friday. I messed up in Q2 and I lost three points to Jason and those three points are a big three points. Bum deal but you do the best you can. Sometimes you make a mistake and I did on Friday and it cost me, and that’s what the decider was. It was a great fight all year. We had some great battles. The last half of the year the rest of the class got involved and we had some great battles with them, and for us to dig in and regroup when we entered the Countdown with a little advantage from a large advantage in the regular season was amazing to come back and do it again. Between the two of us (Jason Line), we won two-thirds of the races. If you would have told us that 12 months ago, I would have told you that you were crazy. We overachieved this year and we’re leaving here happy. We’re looking forward to 2017; it’s going to be tighter than ever. We’re going to have to find a way to race better yet and find more power.”
Q: WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO?
GREG ANDERSON: “That’s where the gains are made – in the off-season. When you race every weekend or every other weekend you don’t have that much time so you have to get it done during the wintertime. A year ago at this time we got our tails whipped by Erica (Enders-Stevens) and we finished second and we had this new rules change coming up that we weren’t looking forward to and we were dragging our lip and were complaining. We packed up here and went to Kuwait and saw soldier after soldier and what they do for us, and it completely changed our outlook. When we saw how they run into battle without a second thought, we left there with a whole new attitude and came home and said ‘this is not a problem.’ Changing to fuel injection is not a problem. That’s an opportunity for us that these soldiers have created for us to go out there and race, so we need to make the most of it and gain an advantage on somebody. We’re going to do the same a week from now; we’re going over there again and get that knock in the head. That’s what turned it around for us last year.”
Q: BASED ON THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON, DID YOU GUYS SAY THERE’S NO WAY WE CAN LOSE THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
GREG ANDERSON: “Absolutely not. We said it every race; they are going to catch us. It’s probably going to happen next week. Everybody learns from everybody else. The racers look at the other racers and see how they do things. You know the technology is going to get around sooner or later, and we were shocked it took as long as it did. It finally did and we were scared when we started the Countdown. Now we’re on even ground with everybody going into the Countdown. We did a great job of racing, starting at Charlotte. Jason won and I was runner-up, and that gave us that confidence boost that we could still do it even without the performance advantage. We can outrace them. It went back and forth through the Countdown. It came down to the final race of the year and a dream scenario for us. Jason is the world champion and I won the race. What a dream.”
Q: SO NEXT YEAR YOU DON’T EXPECT A HEAD START?
GREG ANDERSON: “We already know that we’re not going to get out to that start. We’re going to do all that we can over the winter. We’ll put in another winter’s worth of work like we did last year, otherwise we’ll come out behind everybody. I can guarantee you that the other 13 drivers out here and not leaving happy and they are sick and tired of losing to us. They are going to work extra hard over the winter and the rules package the way it is there is not that much leeway for people to jump out. Now that we have a year into it, there’s not any low-hanging fruit left on the tree. I don’t see anybody jumping out to a big advantage next year, so that means Jason and I are going to have to find ways to better jobs as drivers.”