NHRA Pro Stock Drivers Jason Line, Bo Butner & Greg Anderson Ready for 2018 Season
- 5 Mar 2018
When the 2017 season started, six Pro Stock drivers claimed victory in the first six races and 2018 is off to a similar start with Butner winning at Pomona and Chris McGaha winning at the Arizona Nationals.
Butner’s first win in 2017 came at Texas, the fifth event of the season. He went on to win five NHRA Pro Stock events in his first full season in Pro Stock. “Just never give up,” Butner said after winning the November event in Pomona. “I have a great crew; it’s amazing. They don’t give up on me. But the KB team, what does that say about them? Honestly, I rent a car and a motor and they put me in a championship. It’s just unbelievable. Thank the Lord for everything; He shined on me.”
Anderson entered the season finale in Pomona as the leader in the Pro Stock standings. Butner was second, 40 points behind Anderson, who was in pursuit of his first Pro Stock title since 2010. Anderson lost to Butner in the semifinals at Pomona and slowly dropped out of contention for the championship. “There’s always a personal letdown when you don’t personally get it done,” Anderson said. “It’s great for the team. The team had a great year. At the time, it was a tough pill to swallow when I lost at the world finals there. A day or two later, you get over that and realize the big picture was fantastic.”
KB Racing took the top-three spots in the Pro Stock standings. KB Racing’s Line was third in the Pro Stock standings. All three drivers know the bar is set high for the team and they want to continue the success they all experienced in 2017. “I didn’t end like I wanted it to. I didn’t win the championship,” Line said. “We had a good year really. KB Racing as a whole, we finished 1-2-3 Can’t be mad about that.”
Anderson said he thinks KB Racing has the right formula for success. Having Butner win by leasing cars and equipment through KB Racing will give other racers an opportunity to perhaps enter the Pro Stock ranks. “It’s a neat deal, a really cool story,” Anderson said. “It does a lot for the class. It proves to other people they can do it a different way. They can go lease an engine, lease a car from one of the big teams and compete for championships. You couldn’t say that 10 years ago, the class wasn’t like that 10 years ago.”
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Gainesville March 15-18 for the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. |
