While each won eight races and went to 14 finals, it was Line who had control for most of the season. He was the points leader for 22 of the 24 races, posted an incredible 65 round wins and capped off a truly spectacular year in championship fashion, all while not knowing completely what to expect.

“ The unknown is what kills you,” Line said.“ We knew nothing about fuel injection. The truth is, we’ re still in its infancy with us. We have a long ways to go, a lot to learn. The gains will be smaller at this point, but there’ s still gains to be made. It never ends. As long as you believe it never ends, it never does. There’ s more to gain. We absolutely have to keep going forward and learning more.”

That’ s Line in a nutshell – quick to savor success, guaranteed not to dwell on it and eager to push forward.

He made a concerted effort to enjoy the moment more this past year, especially as something special started to take shape. Line advanced to the final round at the first eight events, winning five of them, and never really let up, even as the competition

made major steps down the stretch. The Countdown to the Championship was by no means a breeze, but a win in Charlotte to start gave Line enough cushion to hold off any challengers, the biggest coming from Anderson.

As for how he could possibly top his 2016, Line isn’ t about to make any predictions – mostly because he’ ll be too busy working.

“ I’ m not one to, I guess, bask in the glory of the moment,” Line said.“ But it was a fun year. What we’ re going to do for an encore, I’ m not sure. I can tell you this, we’ re both at work. We’ re trying to get better. We have lots to do. I think we both are well aware of the fact that it’ s going to be tougher next year. For whatever reason, we caught everybody off guard with the new rules package. We were able to adapt quicker than they were. Now that they’ ve had it for a year, next year’ s going to be tougher.”- JOSH HACHAT DI

PHOTOS: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER