Jason Line Utilized Wilson Manifolds Sheetmetals and Carburetor Spacers from day one in his NHRA career and has since qualified for his first 100 races.  With his successful qualifying effort at the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil, Pro Stock driver Jason Line became one of only four Professional racers in NHRA POWERade Drag Racing history to qualify in each of his or her first 100 attempts.

The driver of the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP joins retired Pro Stock great Bruce Allen (148) and the two winningest riders in Pro Stock Motorcycle history -- Dave Schultz (157) and Angelle Sampey (168) -- as the only racers to accomplish this feat.

The rare accomplishment caught the humble Minnesota native off-guard.

“I absolutely had no idea about it coming into the race,” admitted Line. “[National DRAGSTER's] John Jodauga told me in the pits, and I said, ‘Wow. You got me.' I know we've never DNQ'd, but we're usually too busy worrying about the next race to stop and think about things like that.”

Proud KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson joked, “Now don't you believe us when we say we don't pay attention to that stuff?”

In his 100 successful qualifying attempts, Line has started in the top half on 82 occasions and has been in the top four more than half the time with 58 such starts. Line has 13 No. 1 qualifying spots, and he has followed through on his qualifying prowess with13 wins, 30 final-round appearances, a 160-87 round-win-loss record, and the 2006 NHRA POWERade Pro Stock world championship. The only active qualifying streak longer than Line's in Pro Stock is teammate Anderson 's, who last failed to qualify at the fall Las Vegas event in 2002.

“A couple times we came pretty close in the last qualifying session,” said Line. “It says a lot about our people and how they can get it done under pressure. I've been really fortunate in my time as a driver to have good horsepower and be surrounded by good car people.”

Line remains focused as he continues to carve his way into Pro Stock history. A dyno operator and tuner in addition to being a driver, Line is burning gasoline on the dyno in the team's North Carolina shop until the wee hours to squeeze more power out of the team's 500-cid GM engines in anticipation of back-to-back races in Las Vegas and Atlanta, where the title sponsor of the event is also his primary sponsor, Summit Racing Equipment.

“I don't think I've done a very good job in the past of balancing [my roles on the team], but I'm trying to do better,” said Line. “I'm learning a lot right now in that respect. Fortunately, we have a good group of guys, and the weight doesn't fall on any one person's shoulders.

“Running at your sponsor's race is definitely something you think about. We try to impress them every week. I feel bad when we don't, but we always work hard to try to bounce back the next time.”

The competitive landscape of Pro Stock doesn't seem much different to Line than when he began driving other than that more drivers are in the upper echelon.

“What really changed since I started doing this five years ago is that there used to be three or four top dogs at every race,” said Line. “Now it's more like 10 or 12 cars that are really competitive, some with multiple cars in their teams. The field is pretty level. We've always believed that as long as you qualify you can win a race, but qualifying 16th and winning is more of a reality now than it ever was.”

Given the personnel and resources provided by team owner Ken Black and sponsor Summit Racing Equipment, Anderson and Line approach every season with lofty expectations that are both placed on them and self-imposed. The team earned four NHRA POWERade world championships from 2003 to 2006 and has every intention of sending this year's championship trophy to Black's Las Vegas office.

“Winning a championship with either one of these cars would make this season a success,” said Line. “I think the Countdown to the Championship format was changed for the better, and we learned a better way to approach a few things in the format than we did last year. In retrospect, it's hard to consider 2007 unsuccessful with nine wins between us and second- and fifth-place finishes, but we approach every season with the championship in mind.”