Super Gas Bikes gathered after their third qualifying session. Pictured from left to right are: Daniel Andersson, Henrik Andersson, Tage Olsson, Niclas Nyman, Mats Karlsson, Fredrik Andersson, and Kalle Lyrén (son of Roger Lyrén).

MSD representative Joe Pando spoke first at the MSD/Racepak seminar. This was a very popular event attended by about 150 racers from all Pro classes. A wide range of questions were asked including latest software developments enabling timing to be displayed on Racepak screen with the latest software version. MSD are able to update any racer's software on site and have produced a book of wiring diagrams that can also be downloaded from their web site.

Racepak and MSD are coming up with ideas about making vehicles safer with electronics. In the US MSD are co-ordinating with Ray Alley who is now in a role with the racers' body PRO. Joe said more MSD parts would be distributed to Scandinavia via a link-up with parts distributor Hansen Racing (in the UK GPR have distribution rights). He also explained the history of why the MSD product is 44amps and how the voltage to the coil came to be 45,000 volts.

Associated with Markko Lantto's Pro Mod Team are the Flat Out Junior Dagster team and, in the foreground, the KTM RC8 Super Comp Bike of Aku Lantto. Aku said "I usually run in Pro Street bike but this is the most suitable class here. It's brand new, I've only had eight or nine runs on it so far. I built it in two months and have shortened the wheelbase to 1520mm and lowered the suspension, fitted a supercharger and lengthened the rear fairing. It produces 250hp at the rear wheel and I'm aiming for low eights or high sevens."

Junior Dragster racer Jessica Andersson plans to move to Super Comp in three years. Team manager and mum Lena Andersson said "We are from the North in Umeå and Jessica won the recent race at Skellefteå. It took us two days to travel to Mantorp as it's 900km. At this meeting the field is highly competitive and Something broke on the engine so Jessica is qualified 20th. We hope it is repairable."

Lena Andersson said "There is a huge field here because the sport is growing. Kids get their friends to come along and they want to buy a car. Jessica's friends who are here for the first time are Frida Jonsson (pictured) and David Jonsson.

Super Gas Bike racer Kenneth Holmberg also runs www.swecomposite.com which produces carbon fibre parts for racing bikes (customers include Ian King and Anders Karling) and also for marine and hospital care applications. Kenneth is planning to produce a carbon fibre body for a Pro Modified car. "The mould is ready in four parts and I hope to produce the body in August." Kenneth's bike is a Harley which also runs in Pro Twin. Son Douglas runs a Junior Dragster.

Also running in Junior Dragster is Tommy J. Nygaard's daughter Nelly who runs a home-built car. In the rear of the shot is Tommy's slingshot dragster which originated in Dauerheim's Speed Shop in Vauxhall Union, New York in the early 1970s and was driven in the US by Fred Ahrberg. Tommy has owned the car since 1994 and raced it for five seasons in Super Comp. Tommy said "I put the car back together to run in Top Sportsman. It has a three speed Lenco and clutch so driving it is quite complicated. I did a huge 90 degree wheelie and had to rebuild the chassis forward of the engine."

Competition Eliminator racer Torben Stenström was pleased to have run his first seven second pass in two years with the Anglia 105E in spite of minor problems. "I had tyre shake in both second and third and also suffered a bearing problem with the prop shaft", he said. I need higher revs to run a 7.90 which is our target. Torben said he is bringing the car to Santa Pod for the European Finals as he would like to sell it as turnkey or rolling chassis to an English racer. "The car is fine tuned it has a 358cu in Panella small block with twin Holleys. Once I have sold the car I will plan what to build next. But even if I take a year off from racing I will still get track time as I drive the two seater dragster at Meca Raceway every Wednesday on about five or six passes to eighth mile times of 5.4/200kph."

In his second year in Competition Eliminator, Petri Nagy ran a 0.81 under his H/A index off the trailer. "Our target is to get the European class record. It's our second year in the class and we did struggle at first. The Chevy Monte Carlo used to be owned by Michael Callin and was successful three or four years ago and then run by Adam Flamholc for a year, so there was pressure on me to do a good job with it. I went to Frank Hawley School in 2005 to learn race car driving. The car has a 267cu in small block Chevy with high compression heads and A1 Proflite transmissions. Petri's sponsors are Karlstad Bilforsalning AB and MMR, Adam Flamholc's company. "Thanks to my crew without whom this would not be possible, Christer Peterson (crew chief), Marco Pyykkö, Kevin Lundvall and Tracy Peterson.

Super Gas racer Antti Kivinummi runs Simuna Speed Shop which is about 100km from Alastaro and has fielded a two car team for this event. Antti is driving this Anglia which he has raced for the last 15 years and built himself with the help of his friend Kari Lepomeki. The engine is a 490cu in BBC with a single Dominator carb, AFR heads and a Simuna Glide which Antti builds.

On the side of Antti Kivinummi's car is the inscription Sweed Eater which we believe may not refer to Antti's dietary habits. The team hoping to partake of the feast is Sanna Heino, Mikko Soini, Toni Avnio, Mikko Virtanen and Kalle Kallioniemi.

The other car in the Simuna Speed Shop team is this 2006 Spitzer Super Comp dragster which is raced by sixteen year old Joonas Pesonen. Team member Mikko Virtanen translated for us that the car was designed for Competition Eliminator but has a throttle stop for Super Comp. It's Joonas's first time in Mantorp and his first season in Super Comp, having raced in Junior Dragster for the last eight years. The engine is a LS-7 Big Block (old style) with AFR heads and a Simuna Glide. The best time is 8.4. Joonas said "The team have helped me to learn to drive the Super Comp car. It's not so different from the Junior Dragster although the startline procedure is different and the car is much quicker; once you know the basics in Junior Dragster, you can apply them to other classes." The dragster is sponsored by Pennzoil and Motor Power.

The A/D Comp Eliminator dragster of Per Bergström is also from 2006 and the chassis was fabricated by Neil & Parks on a 250" wheelbase. The drive train is mainly Pro Stock: an ex-Jimmy Ålund engine with twin carbs matched to a Liberty transmission. Per was making a close inspection of the gearbox as we visited the result being that it had suffered 'medium rare' damage. "The car was good off the line but suffered problems when we shifted into second," he said. "This has been a bit of an unlucky track for us. Fortunately there are six people on the team who will be able to help me fix the problem." It's Per's fourth race with this car, although he has been racing for 30 years. The best time so far is 7.0/318kph. Sposorship is from Ödeshögs Mekaniska, a friend's automotive engineering business.

Continuing the ex-Jimmy Ålund theme is the A/A Pontiac Firebird of Mats Jacobsson which is the car raced by Jimmy to three European Pro Stock titles. Mats who is from Tumba, Sweden and runs as Team Firehawk, has two engines for this car, a 508cu in Pontiac with Big Chief heads and a Oldsmobile DRCE II of 507cu in. There is a Liberty trans. Mats said "We have run 7.25 and the car's potential is 6.95 but our target is to beat the European A/A record of 7.08. Unfortunately brake failure meant the car went off the end of the track, with bits of kitty litter being found in the bell housing. Mats said he had planned to run in Pro Stock but was unable to obtain his license in time. "I raced for ten years, then took ten years off and started again last year with a B/Dragster." Mats will run the car at Sunsvall and Malmo before moving up to Pro Stock next year. Sponsorship is from Mats' business Musclecars.se which builds cars for street use, and Swedish Business Bank. The crew are six in number.

Running in D/TA is Jani Lindvall from Kannus in Finland whose 1976 Escort Mk2 was developed over a period of 10 years. This runs a 2 litre engine with Cosworth heads, titanium rods and a billet crank. Fuel injection and ignition is by Hestec and there is a Garret GT/r turbo. transmission is Liberty 5 speed and 9" Mark Williams/Strange rear axle. The car's best is 8.552/252kph and has been on a dyno to give a reading of 822hp. The D/TA index is 9.25. Jani said thanks to his crew Petri Koski-Vähälä, Teenu Lehvonen and Jarkko Joki-Hollanti and sponsors Motorset Ky, Fixus, and Oy Finn-Marin. Mantorp is this year's sole race outside their native country, the team plan to attend Hockenheim and Santa Pod next year.

Team Bankrobber with driver Rimbert Vahlström (centre), crew chief Michel Strand (right) and crewman Dennis Glanby (left) run a Plymouth Suburban Wagon in Competition Eliminator and the combination is pretty well sorted. Dennis said "Our best ET is a 7.43 and although we had massive tyre shake and Rimbert lifted 75m before the finish line, we still ran a 7.52 in the first session. The car is running slightly smaller tyres and the team aim to break 300kph for the first time this weekend. As well as crewing on Bankrobber, Dennis has been assisting Patrik Pers in his Top Fuel Dragster at Piteå.

Per-Erik Lindgren who has travelled from Piteå in the north for this event, admitted he is serious about winning the NDRS Competition Eliminator championship this year. "The competition may not be quite as strong but I want take the championship any way I can", he said. The Bantam Per-Erik has driven for several years has had a second place last year. Whilst it runs in F/A, there is a spare engined in case he feels the need to move up a class if the index gets reduced too much in eliminations. "I enjoyed visiting Santa Pod and it was good to see more cars trying Competition Eliminator in the UK", he said. Per-Erik thanks crew members Kent Gronberg, Jacob Gronberg and Robban Wallmark.

On the hood scoop there is the message "R.I.P. Peter Frost."

It's the first year in Stock/Super Stock for driver Glenn Appelgren (rear, left) and crewman Lars-Erik Ahlberg who run a Dodge Polara in I/SA. The engine is a 383cu in with single carburretor and the car was imported into Sweden new in 1964. It was rebuilt to NHRA spec four years ago. The biggest change is the gearbox Glenn said "You can change the internals of the gearbox to aluminium to save weight and ours was produced by Mancini Racing Transmission. The engine modifications are restricted and even the casting no. of the carburretor has to be original. An additional gasket under the carburretor is allowed." The engine was blueprinted by Jim Lewis in Oklahoma who has been an NHRA record holder with a similar unit. Glenn's best is 11.80/181kph on an index of 12.60 which was good for no. 5 qualifier at the recent race in Vasteras. Glenn's racing career goes back to modified in 1986-9 and he ran a Plymouth Satellite at Santa Pod once, in 1990.

Erik Wallin from Uppsala runs this A/SA Camaro. "I bought this in 1996. It had been built in the US in the 1980s and sold to a racer in Åland who raced it from 1988 to 1992. It was stored for four years afterwards. Cal Method from the US (whose wife Mary Anne races a Chevy Nova in the NHRA) has hekkped me update the car and now I am working on it myself. Although I have friends who come to the track I believe Stock/Super Stock is for one man to work on the car and race it rather than a team sport." The car has a Big Block 427cu in rated at 425hp with single carb. "My best us 10.52/200kph at Piteå a couple of weekends ago. But I don't expect to run that quick here because of the uphill gradient and the climate."

Eurodragster.com sponsors Simpson are represented by this expanded stand run by Jan 'JP' Phersson (pictured with girlfriend Annelie Olsson). As well as selling a full range of Simpson products, JP is developing what is probably the world's first Stock/Super Stock Dodge Viper with extensive dyno testing to try to get the best out of what is a highly developed car off the showroom floor. Jan also heips run the Stock/Super Stock web site which includes not only more than 30 Swedish but also ten Finnish cars.

The Simpson shop also plays host to two Stock/Super Stock cars, one of which is Europe's first SS/AH (for Hemi) capable of running eights. Driver of the Barracuda Anders Homberg said "I ran a 9.05 at Skellefteå and lifted before the finish line. My problem here is I have no parachute and it's tough trying to stop the car from the 240kph speeds it runs." The engine is by Joe Allread and this is his first customer car. "I'm delighted with it as it has put out 914hp on the dyno. The car is from Jim deFrank a race car owner in the US and I bought it 3 1/2 years ago. Since I got it Jan Ake Norberg has fitted a chassis with a Pro-Stock style cage in the car."

Super Gas racer Jans Petter Linstrøm and Jan Boien from Sandefjord, Norway run this pretty Chevy Vega. Although Jans Petter has been driving the car for two years, he has been active as a team member and in road racing for thirty years. "I bought the car from Denmark when it was 90% finished - it was originally built in Sweden in 1999. My goal is to do big wheelstands, get the car down into the eights and have fun!", he said. The block is a 620cu in aluminium World Products block with Brodix heads and Powerglide transmissions. The car's best time is 9.04/154mph.

Super Gas racer Jon Olsen (left) runs this '52 Willys Outlander in Super Gas, which must be one of the most unique combinations ever. "I have a collection of ten military vehicles. This one was built for driving on offroad courses but I found that too boring so put a 350 cu in supercharged Chevy and took it drag racing. I then bought a 509 cu in supercharged engine from Tor Øyvind Skinne who is a fantastic engine builder. It puts out 1160hp but I call it a 'coffee engine' because you drive it and then you can sit down and have a cup of coffee." The car's chassis was built by Jon and team mate Ole Vauger (right) to be different. "The only problem is as you can see the air gets under the car, so it carries the wheels easily." No problem for us.