Greg Anderson knew he was adding a valuable member to his National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock team in 2003, when Jason Line came aboard as a dyno specialist who would drive the second car.

Anderson, from Duluth, knew the fellow Minnesotan would bring that Midwest work ethic. "You really learn how to work hard at a young age in Minnesota," he said. "I don't know if it comes from trying to stay warm during the long winters, but you develop a tremendous work ethic that stays with you the rest of your life."

Both had a longtime love for drag racing, sparked by their fathers' involvement. While Anderson said he "walked out of high school and told all my friends that I was going to drag race professionally" and worked his way to the drivers seat, Line took a few detours.

While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he had a second job, driving a cab in Naknek and King Salmon, Alaska, which, surprisingly, kept him especially busy when the purse seines, gillnetters, and trollers would offload their catches from Bristol Bay.

Later in the Lower 48, Line became head dyno operator for Joe Gibbs Racing and contributed to Bobby Labonte's 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup championship. Who wouldn't want to associate with the Super Bowl-winning football coach and a top-notch team in America's wildly popular motorsport?

Greg Anderson knew he was adding a valuable member to his National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock team in 2003, when Jason Line came aboard as a dyno specialist who would drive the second car.

Anderson, from Duluth, knew the fellow Minnesotan would bring that Midwest work ethic. "You really learn how to work hard at a young age in Minnesota," he said. "I don't know if it comes from trying to stay warm during the long winters, but you develop a tremendous work ethic that stays with you the rest of your life."

Both had a longtime love for drag racing, sparked by their fathers' involvement. While Anderson said he "walked out of high school and told all my friends that I was going to drag race professionally" and worked his way to the drivers seat, Line took a few detours.

While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he had a second job, driving a cab in Naknek and King Salmon, Alaska, which, surprisingly, kept him especially busy when the purse seines, gillnetters, and trollers would offload their catches from Bristol Bay.

Later in the Lower 48, Line became head dyno operator for Joe Gibbs Racing and contributed to Bobby Labonte's 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup championship. Who wouldn't want to associate with the Super Bowl-winning football coach and a top-notch team in America's wildly popular motorsport?

Line found something more intriguing -- going to work with Anderson's fledgling NHRA Pro Stock operation.

"My dad said I was crazy when I told him I was leaving Gibbs," Line said. "It was the best job I had ever had. Now it's the second-best job I've ever had."

He's not just hobnobbing with champions today. He is a champion, two times over. Driving the Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP twin to four-time champion Anderson's, Line less than two weeks ago at Las Vegas added the Pro Stock crown to the one he earned in 2006.

With plenty of suspense left for this weekend's Auto Club of Southern California Finals in the Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes, Line is plotting his next achievement.

"I don't want to sit around and think about what I've done, because I still feel like for Greg, myself, and our team we have a lot more to accomplish. We want to do some new things," he said. "Someday it'll be cool to look back and say, 'Hey, I won two championships.' " All he's willing to concede is that "for right now, it's a cool thing to have."

He sees the bigger picture and takes pride in that.

"I'm really proud of the fact we've probably had the most successful two-car team that's ever been in Pro Stock," Line said. "To get two cars to run within a couple of thousandths of a second of each other every run, I'm very proud of that, especially when you're toward the top of the pack. It's very hard to do. A lot of folks try to do it, and not everybody can."

When Line won at Auto Club Raceway in February at the season-opening Winternationals, he said his goal was to win all 22 races. He has won six of them, best in the Pro Stock class, while Anderson has won five. In three of Line's six victories, Anderson was runner-up. Anderson won at Indianapolis, beating Line in the final round.

"We're probably being a little hoggish," Line said. "But that's what keeps us going. That's what keeps us in business. If we don't keep winning races, Summit's probably not going to be too interested in paying us. They have a plan to make a buck, and our job is to try to help them, to represent their company well and sell parts for them.

"Our goal is to win. Our team is always taking the attitude that's the most important thing. It is," he said, "but doing it right is also important."

That's the Summit drivers' Midwest mentality popping up again. Anderson was schooled first by his father, then by the late Division 5 racer and Warren Johnson nemesis John Hagen, and then the six-time champion, "The Professor of Pro Stock" himself. And Anderson, who in his pre-driving days was like a brother to now-multi-time winner Kurt Johnson, as well, has tutored Line.

Said Line of Pro Stock's fearsome Foursome from Minnesota, "I guess we're stubborn folks, and that's our redeeming quality. When I lived in Alaska, they had a saying that only the strong go north, and I think the same thing applies to Minnesota. You really have to be tough to live up there . . . not to say the work ethic is better than anywhere else, but it's certainly strong up there.

"I think the four of us also share a strong desire to do well. We may not be the smartest group, but we'll work hard at something to get it right. Although it may only be a coincidence, Warren set the standard, and we're trying to do what he did."

Line and Anderson have combined for six championships, so they're on their way. What keeps Line in line, he said, is recognizing the truth.

"I don't know that I'm hard on myself," he said. "I think you should be your own worst critic, because in order to get better, to try to be better, you have to be honest with yourself. It's hard for most people. A lot of folks are not that self-aware. You try to be." So he tries always to keep it real, saying, "I don't want to be the weak link in the chain, that's for sure."

He simply said, "I think I'm realistic. One thing about drag racing is you can't hide the truth. It's out there. If you go up there and you're .080 on the tree, you’re .080. You can use any excuse you want, but its still .080. If the other guy was .00, then you didn't do your job. You can't hide the truth, and self-deception is dangerous. I try to take a realistic look at things without being pessimistic."

He has said before that the fear of losing has motivated him, but at Las Vegas he said "Some folks seem like they're scared of winning, as well."

That's curious phenomenon. "It is," Line said, "but I feel like I have moments like that, too. I've got to tell myself a lot: 'I deserve to win.' "

And that's something he was taught to resist. Midwesterners aren't a particularly self-indulgent lot. "Exactly," he said. "But you have to be reasonably selfish to do this and do it well."

With that peculiar mix of self-effacement and entitlement, Line has stepped from Anderson's shadow after nine years behind the wheel.

Line began his pro drag-racing career in 2003, when Anderson won the first of three consecutive titles. This year Line swiped the crown from Anderson, the 2010 champion. Today they're more comfortable coexisting as equals.

"The first few years, I really felt like my role was to help Greg win the championship," Line said. "Racers, we're sort of selfish folks by nature. So I want to win, too. There's only one winner. And the toughest guy is right next door. So it's a hard thing. I feel like we've found our place. He and I have both come a long was as far as understanding that and realizing it's a lot bigger than the two of us. It's about our team.

"We have a special group of guys That's what makes it all happen. We couldn't do without them," Line said. He said he and Anderson "are just the two who have the opportunity to screw it up out there."

Line said he understands why Anderson has been the headliner. "In the last seven or eight years, he's won 60-some races [70, for the record]. That's a lot of races in a short time. He wins a lot, so he gets a lot of attention. That's not a bad thing."

Even as early as March at the Gatornationals, which he won over Anderson in the final round to keep the points lead, Line was bolder about expressing his emergence.

"It feels really good," Line said. "I've never done this before in my career, so it's kind of exciting. Usually I play kind of second fiddle to Greg, because he's kind of hoggish. He wins more than his share of races. So for me to do it is kind of fun."

Anderson admitted it was hard to convince the competitive side of himself that it was positive to see his teammate win the championship.

"It took a little time to accept it," Anderson said at Las Vegas. "But now it's time for me to get back in the ring and defend my position, because it would be the very best thing for this race team. If we can finish the year 1-2, we'll have one very happy individual in [team owner] Ken Black, and everyone on this team will be motivated to dig back in and work hard during the winter so we can come back and do it again next year."

With his dry sense of humor, Line quipped, "I'm probably coming out of my shell at [age]  42. I'm more comfortable with myself. There's a lot to be said for being comfortable in your own skin.

"I'm enjoying this one [title] a lot more than the other one, probably for a lot of reasons." Line said. "I'm more calm, more relaxed than I was then. I think I was a little bit naïve and maybe a little bit immature -- just didn't realize what a big deal it really was to be able to win a championship. As time goes by, you realize how difficult it really is. I thought we would just win every year. We work really hard, not that everybody else doesn't, but I just sort of assumed it was going to happen, no matter what."

Line said the gap between his titles "feels like an eternity. In five years, a lot has changed for me, Greg, Ken, our team. It has been a great five years, just a lot of changes."

On the personal side, since his 2006 championship, he and wife Cindy have given son Jack (who wasn't even a year old when his dad won the first title) a sister, Emma, now three.

As a driver, I've had a lot of ups and downs since then [2006]. I'm certainly better in a lot of ways than I was five years ago. You still have to keep working at it."

There's that word again: work. It's as palpable in the shop or their pits as a wrench.

"Whenever I'm asked about the level of success we've achieved," Anderson said, "I tell them we're not a bunch of brain surgeons, but we work hard at whatever we do, which we learned from our parents. I don't know if it's as simple as that, and I really don't understand why we've gotten so many race wins from a couple meatheads from Minnesota. I'm also not saying the rest of the country doesn't work hard, but I know for a fact that you definitely learn to work up there. If you didn't, you froze to death."

The KB / Summit Racing Equipment team still is hot, and Line said he certainly won't be slacking this weekend. The championship, he said, just "means we've won two. That's it."