CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
NHRA CAROLINA NATIONALS
ZMAX DRAGWAY IN CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SUNDAY, OCT. 14, 2018
An interview with Pro Stock winner JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; 48th career Pro Stock win and 50th overall; competed in 99th career Pro Stock final and 895 career rounds; has won a race in 15 Pro Stock seasons in a row; 149th win for KB Racing; 10th different winner in class for Chevrolet this season; ties Andrew Hines for 13th on all-time pro win list):
HOW MEANGFUL IS THAT WIN?
“I’m not an emotional guy, but this is really cool. I want to thank all the folks at Summit for sticking with me. The 50th Wally goes to them, for sure. None of this could happen without them. I want to thank (team owners) Ken and Judy (Black) who stuck with me and the few fans I have left. I’m as excited as I get.”
THE SEASON HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE BUT THE LAST COUPLE OF RACES IT SEEMS LIKE YOU’VE HAD THE HORSEPOWER. THAT’S GOT TO HELP YOU CONFIDENCE.
“We struggled this year; we haven’t had the greatest year by an stretch of the imagination. Today I managed to put it all together. I had been getting a lot of heat from a lot of people; my dad won’t even talk to me anymore, so this is a big deal to win today.”
HOW ABOUT THAT FINAL ROUND WHERE YOU LOOK OVER AND IT’S THE POINTS LEADER ON A HOT STREAK.
“It’s not like you look forward to racing Tanner (Gray). He’s tough. He’s been wearing us out.”
TWO RACES LEFT IN THE SEASON. THINK YOU MIGHT SNEAK ANOTHER ONE IN?
“Who knows. It took me a while to get this one, so why not.”
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MONSERT ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 1 qualifier; fell in final): “This has been a killer weekend for our Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Top Fuel team. We are on top of the world right now. We have been struggling all season and it’s tough to keep that momentum and that motivation when you go out first round week in and week out. There is nothing tougher than that. But I have some awesome guys behind me, Alan Johnson, Brian Husen and this whole team. They never gave up on us. Alan Johnson last weekend told me that they had made some changes and I knew that we would turn things around last weekend or this weekend. To come out to the finals, there was no hanging your head there. I am so proud of that and so pumped for these guys. Now we will go out to Vegas in two weeks and we are ready to get a win before the season ends.”
FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 12 qualifier; fell in first round): “Our Advance Auto Parts team had really great incremental times. In the first round, the conditions were prime and we had the car set up to run in the 80s but I think we got a little ahead of ourselves. We overpowered the track and, unfortunately, we were ahead the whole race but we spun down track and we lost the race. It’s definitely a bummer and our team is disappointed. I think we have a fast hot rod, we just have to get the kinks worked out. I am really looking forward to going to Las Vegas and hopefully we can move up a little bit in the points these last two races and take home a win.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier; fell in second round round): “We burned a piston that run and it shut off early because of the NHRA safety systems on the car. We are not far off. We had low E.T. first round and we are running good. It’s just the gremlins. We were racing a guy that is really kind of out of the points, Ron Capps, and they had nothing to lose. They threw the dice and got away with one. So, two races to go and we don’t know how it’s going to shake out.”
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK COOLANT & MOTOR OIL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 8 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I had a good day with this PEAK Camaro race car. It has consistency now. It went down the race track every run in qualifying and every run today. We were trying to get a little bit faster and dip into the 3.80s. We just couldn’t get there and it burned up some pistons. Overall as a team we are doing good. We moved up in the points and Brittany is moving up. It is a long ways to that championship and we are running out of races. I was trying to take the kid out, JR Todd, he is a good guy. I was trying to help Robert. I just couldn’t get it done.”
PRO STOCK:
TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MOTORSPORTS VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in final round): “It was an awesome points day for us especially with Jeg (Coughlin) and Vince (Nobile) going out second round. Beating Erica (Enders) in the semis was huge for us and maybe we knocked her out of contention, I am not sure and haven’t looked yet. I am disappointed with my light in the final, but it is what it is and you have to move on. Just need to get to Vegas and keep the same mindset there and make sure we are going rounds.”
DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN MOTORSPORTS, RAY SKILLMAN AUTO GROUP CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “We’re trying our best to finish as strong as we can this year. We didn’t have the best year all year, but the race car is really coming together at the end of the season when it needs to. We’re not really in a spot to compete for the championship but we’re trying to finish the season strong and this is a good time for our car to come together.”
VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 8 qualifier; fell in second round): “We needed rounds for points and didn’t get them. It’s going to be real tough from here on out, but we will see what happens.”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, MELLIG PERFORMANCE/ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in semifinals: “Definitely not where we wanted to end up but I really don’t think it’s anything we need to hang our heads about. The Grays are on fire right now and its turning into what might be their year. The plan has already been written and when its been written you can’t do anything to stop it. We have a great, great race car. My guys gave me a consistent hot rod and we were on the pole for three of the sessions. We got bumped out by four thousandths of a second and nothing to hang our heads about in qualifying. During eliminations, we were low E.T. both times in the first two rounds, and that round against Tanner (Gray), it was just a good drag race. All four of our Elite team cars were proud of where we were at but we set the bar high, so its hard to not be disappointed that we didn’t go all the way. We have two more races left and we are going to remain positive and do our best to get the job done.”
BO BUTNER, BUTNER AUTO, JIM BUTNER AUTO SALES CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier; fell in first round to teammate Jason Line): “The weekend was a struggle. We really never ever made a very good run. The positive is that Jason’s car is running well, and I’m smart enough to know all that is contagious.”
ALEX LAUGHLIN, GAS MONKEY RACING, HAVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in second round): “(His new Camaro) feels the same as my old car from a driving standpoint but we think this car will ultimately be more consistent and more tunable. We’re still learning what it likes and what it doesn’t like.”