CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS
AUTO CLUB RACEWAY AT POMONA, CALIFORNIA
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
NOV. 13, 2016
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.”
An interview with Pro Stock race winner GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier):
Q: YOU’RE NOW NO. 2 IN PRO STOCK WINS. HOW DOES THAT FEEL?
GREG ANDERSON: “It’s special. Bob Glidden is an icon in this sport; probably made Pro Stock what it is today. To have more event wins than Bob Glidden is not even fathomable for me. It feels great.”
Q: IT WAS A SPECIAL DAY FOR YOU AND THE KB RACING TEAM, AND YOUR TEAMMATE WON THE TITLE.
GREG ANDERSON: “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 could of points short in qualifying. That’s all on me. 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.”
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 8 qualifier; fell in first round): “It’s a tough way to end the season, but when you look back overall it was my best season yet. Three wins in a season is pretty strong. It’s challenging in Top Fuel; the competition is definitely tough. Going into next season I think we have a lot to work off of just with how strong our season was this year – constantly qualifying well, constantly going rounds, and also getting that monkey off our back with that first win. Now we go out there and want to have fun but we want to win. By far the best memory of the entire season is that first win because we’ve been chasing it for so long – since 2013 – and to be able to turn that win light on and stand in that winner’s circle, holding that Wally, celebrating with my team was by far one of the proudest moments ever in my career.”
FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, TRAXXAS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “We had a great race car this weekend in going rounds. To have that semifinal round matchup, we should have won it. I believe (Tommy Johnson Jr.) got away with luck on that one. I still think we were on a pretty good run and would have been able to outrun him, so we’re just going to have to look on to next season. All in all, our Traxxas Chevy Camaro team is feeling really good out the season and coming out pretty strong this weekend. I feel really good about the car we have and excited to see what we can do next season.”
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK ANTIFREEZE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in finals): “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.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in second round): “We had a great race car today and we just came up a little short. That was a very close race in the second round and our Auto Club Chevy did everything we wanted it to with a 3.92. It took the quickest run of the day to beat us. This Auto Club Chevy has been great and I wish we could have gotten the win. No one is hanging their heads over here. The performance improvements we have seen this season will carry over into next season. I am going to start working towards another championship very soon.”
PRO STOCK:
BO BUTNER, BUTNER AUTO SALES, JIM BUTNER CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier, fell in semifinals): “It’s not the way we wanted to end, but what a great year and great team. They took me in like brothers and I’m already looking forward to next year.”
SHANE GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, VALVOLINE/NOVA SERVICES CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier, fell in second round): “I think (the season) went great. We finished third in the points. That is better than I have ever finished in the standings. My best finish is fourth, I finished fourth a couple of times. This team has been awesome this year. We skipped Phoenix to get regrouped. We ended up third. I can’t thank Gray Motorsports and everyone who supports this team enough. It has been an awesome ride and I can’t wait for the next chapter with Tanner (Gray) driving this thing (in 2017).”
ALEX LAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN RACING, GAS MONKEY GARAGE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier, fell in first round): “It has been a solid season. We missed the Countdown by two points and would have been either third or fourth (in the standings) even with a bad day today. I’m very much looking forward to next year. We’re going to run a full season in Pro Stock and I’m going to run a full season in a Top Alcohol dragster as well. I’m looking forward to it.”
VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in second round): “Not a bad year, though definitely not the way we wanted to finish. Next year is right around the corner. The guys are going to go back to the shop and find some more horsepower and I’m sure I’ll be testing before I know it.”
DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN RACING, RAY SKILLMAN AUTO CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier, fell in second round): “We had a solid car this weekend and came up just short in the quarterfinals. Overall, I’m pleased with the way the season came together. We got two wins in the second half when the car started coming together, and we’ll start planning for 2017 and a run at the championship.”