TOP FUEL TOUR ROUND 2, TULLINGE RACEWAY, SWEDEN
By guest reporter Ivan Sansom
SATURDAY
Back to Tullinge Raceway, just south east of Stockholm, for the second round
of the Swedish Top Fuel Tour 2000 and the accompanying Nordic Pro Street Cup
meeting. This will probably be the decisive meeting of the Top Fuel Tour,
as, unlike Pitea, the weather is excellent, and the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th
place runoffs from the rained off Midnight Sun Nationals have taken place
this afternoon.
The Tullinge track doesn't appear to be in quite the same shape as last
year, where the startline was excellent and the top end a bit hit and miss;
this year the top end is reportedly excellent and the first half not so
good. Track preparation hasn't been helped by the amount of rain that has
fallen in Sweden over the past couple of weeks.
Yesterday Alan Jackson put in a 60 foot (0.93) to familarise the CBD team
with the track. The first round of qualifying today was doubly important as
not only did it count to towards the eliminations ladder, but it also saw
the teams trying to establish a base line for the final runoffs from the
aforementioned Pitea round.
Needless to say, Peter Lantz and the Optima backed team carried on where he
left off at Tullinge last year with a 5.195 450km/h despite a clutch cannon
malfunction. Jackson's pass was the subject of a little head scratching, a
5.854 at 348 km/h seemed a result of a timing glitch caused by reflection
from the CBD rail's highly polished front wheels, tripping the beams and
apparently adding .5 to the ET (it didn't look like a 5.8 from my vantage
point) and giving Alan a red light. The driver, crewchief Bill Schultz and
the timing crew seemed as puzzled as anyone. Monica Oberg and Pelle Lindelow
both lost traction by the 60 foot clocks.
Between rounds AJ spent a lot of care plying copious amounts of shoe
whitener on the front wheels and Peter and Morgan Svensson were putting more
into the clutch. Dan Soderberg was backing a little out of everything from
Monica's ride and Pelle's mount was carrying a little less in the clutch.
The Fuelers were brought to the startline in front of a massive ground for
the second qualifying round and the Pitea runoffs. First up it was Pelle vs
Monica for 3rd and 4th, the clutch adjustments doing Pelle little favours as
a tractionless 13.65 was no where near matching Monica's 5.65 at 339. This
wasn't quite as smooth as it first seemed as Monica complained of terrible
tire shake which forced her off the loud pedal, and then she blew the slicks
off at the top end getting back into it just in case Pelle was still
chasing.
Jackson vs Lantz was a different case, with Lantz recording a consistent
5.22 at 438 to remain undefeated in over a year of Top Fuel Tour action. The
high drama was in the other lane as the CBD dragster gave the Tullinge
ground their first view of a fueler chucking its blower, the big bang and
flames coming just at the time when Alan was neck and neck with Lantz; a
7.05 at 186 spoling what would have been a classic match-up.
Todays highlights in the other classes included Fast Freddie's consistent
6.6's and half track burnouts (the guy IS a star if you hadn't already
noticed); Kai Selkämaa's Super Pro Street Bike running a 8.19; and a certain
spectacular wheelie resulting from a careless driver forgetting his wheelie
bars at home - I won't mention any names to save the team embarrisement, but
I suspect that the Wunder Baum altered might be reunited with an important
piece of equipment come eliminations tomorrow..."
SUNDAY
After a really enjoyable night watching the Wheels Nationals Cruise through
the centre of Stockholm, it was back to the track for eliminations. On
arrival I caught up with the news that Patrik Wikström had lost a headstud
down into the motor in his 6.44 second Super Pro Modified on his final pass
yesterday, and then had the rear end of his Lamborghini Diablo trashed on
the cruise - not a cheap day!
The first race of Top Fuel saw Monica Öberg facing up to Alan Jackson, and
Monica was really up for it - no wonder when you consider this is her last
season and as things currently stand this will be her last day racing over a
full quarter mile. The CBD team spent the previous evening replacing a lot
of parts after yesterday's blower explosion which was caused by the camshaft
drive shearing a "Big problem" to quote Alan.
The match up delivered Tullinge's first side by side five second race with
Monica victorious with 5.33@350Km/h besting Jackson's 5.43@369, the later
suffering from severe tire shake at 100 feet which led to the fuel levers
closing and the car nosing over. Monica's pass wasn't trouble free either as
Dan Söderberg showed me the remains of the front end casing of the
Littlefield blower which split about 75 metres from the finish.
On the other side of the ladder, No 1 Qualifier Peter Lantz and the Optima
backed car was to face Pelle Lindelow and the Red Line Oils car. Peter ran a
bracket like 5.20@436Km/h which bested a 5.48@352 for Lindelow, who finally
suceeded in getting down the Tullinge track with a very fat motor.
In other eliminations my heart sank as the fire crew and ambulance was
dispatched to the top end after Fast Freddie had put in a below par 7 second
pass. Most importantly Freddie was A-okay, but what of the pick-up, would he
be at Santa Pod in September???
Pelle against Jackson for 3rd and 4th places saw Bill Schultz adopting Plan
D for the latter's fourth run at Tullinge, basically adding some to the
clutch to try and get the slicks to turn on the sticky track and overcome
the tire shake that has plagued the CBD team throughout their Swedish tour.
Plan D worked as Alan squeezed a tight one in the lights with a 5.35@458km/h
(top speed of the meet) to Pelle's 5.42@374.
Peter and Morgan Svensson decided to leave the car pretty much as it was for
the final against Monica, leaving the opposition to try and catch up. Dan
Söderberg was quite optimistic about Monica's chances in the race as the
incrementals from the previous round placed the two cars pretty much even at
60 feet and Öberg some 10 mph faster at half track before the enforced
shutoff spoilt what would have been a 5.2 or better. And boy what a final it
was. Morgan and the crew had a heart stopping few moments when the car
refused to fire first time; Monica patiently waited with her motor running
for what seemed like an age. Stupendous burnouts were then followed by a
brief burndown, and then Monica welded Peter on the tree before shutting off
slightly early to a 5.42 which Peter passed in the final few yards with a
Low ET 5.18@451km/h.
Monica said that it was the first time in ages that she had sworn when she
saw Lantz fly past; Peter was glad to be quitting as he didn't enjoy seeing
another car way out ahead! When asked about the problems firing up Peter
responded "I think my crew were trying to screw me up" with a big smile on
his face. So the "Retired Racing" Top Fuel final was a classic and brought
to a close another stupendous meeting at Tullinge. The Top Fuel Tour moves
on to Landskrona in three weeks time, if you can be there!
I must apologize for not covering the other classes here in any depth, but
kudos to the winners in overcoming some very tough fields. In no particular
order they were: Per-Anders Norrbom (Real Street); Leif Ivarsson (Street);
Uno Nilsson (Pro Street); Jimmy Ålund (Super Pro Street); Lars-Åke Karlsson
(Super Modified); Kent Trenneman (Super Pro Modified and a record 6.80 for a
Glide equipped doorslammer in Europe) Niclas Svensson (Super Small Block);
Håkan Lundgren (Pro Tech); Pär Eriksson (Super High Tech); Peter Johnsson
(Street Bike); Thomas Hällberg (Super Pro Street Bike); Per Larsson (Harley
Drag); Rickard Sörman (Harley Drag Breakout); Mikael Nordström (Snowmobile)
and Jan Gustavsson (Super Twin Top Gas).
Thanks also to all the racers, officials and photogs who made me so welcome
and helped out with translations, time sheets, and lifts to and from the
track.
But what of Fast Freddie? Well, straight from the man himself, he will be at
the Pod in September and looking to perform 6.4's (and beyond?) so all his
British fans out there can sleep save in the knowledge that the pickup will
be back!
Further reading
Top Fuel Tour 2000 web site
Peter Lantz's web site
Monica Öberg's web site
Pelle Lindelöw's web site
SHRA Stockholm web site
Photographs from Top Fuel Tour round 1 at Piteå
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