MOHNTON, PENNSYLVANIA – Though rain-delayed, Jason Line had a perfect weekend at the Auto Plus Nationals. Not only did he win the race, he also qualified No. 1, and set the new national et record with the quickest run ever in a Pro-Stock Car. His Pontiac GXP went a 6.477 sec/212.79mph in the semi-final run on Monday morning. In the final round, he went against Ronnie Humphrey in his Genuine Hotrod Hardware GXP. Line’s 6.48 sec/ 212.79 mph run was good enough to claim the race. "That's the second time we qualified No. 1, set the record, and won the race,” Line said. “It feels really good to do that because there is a very small club of guys who've done it. I like going into the last three races with the amount of points we have because it's not as much pressure. It's not over by any means, but I wouldn't trade my position for anyone else's." Line extended his lead in the Countdown over teammate Greg Anderson to 181 points.
It was a bitter sweet Top Fuel final round for Del Worsham who ran the quickest run in NHRA history with a 3.735 sec/323.81 mph but lost the race to Spencer Massey. A quicker reaction time and strong performance (3.770 sec/323.12 mph) by Massey was too much for Worsham. "Alan Johnson and Del Worsham did an amazing job in the other lane to make their car run as fast as it did,” Massey said. “It makes it that much sweeter of a win, in a way, for the win light to come on in our lane with a 3.77. I saw his nose out there at about 200 feet and never saw him again until I looked over after the finish line." Massey is first in points with a 65 point lead over Antron Brown.
In Funny Car, Robert Hight took top honors in his GTX Ford Mustang. Hight ran a cool 4.06 sec/302.62 mph easily beating Johnny Gray who lost traction posting a dismal 9.083 sec/73.91 mph run. Hight needed this win to keep him in contention in the Countdown. "We know that this was our last-chance race," said Hight. "If we lose early again here, it's over. You put yourself in such a hole when you lose first round in the first few races in the Countdown. It was also in our mind that we didn't win a single round in the Countdown last year. You've got to get that off your back.”
In other interesting racing news, the Ben Bowbly-designed, Dan Gurney-built DeltaWing race car was unveiled at Road Atlanta this past weekend. Originally proposed as a single-seat spec racer, the DeltaWing, with added passenger seat, was proposed to the ALMS and Le Mans sanctioning boards. The innovative car was approved for competition as part of the “Garage 56” program which allows cars with emerging technologies to compete apart from the normal classes. The DeltaWing was designed to achieve maximum performance from the minimal use of natural resources. A special lightweight REAMS material supplied by Panoz is used for the bodywork. The car will be powered by a small turbo-charged 4-cylinder engine (supplier TBA) and will ride on specially designed Michelin tires mounted to 15” rims.
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