photo: New Year, new look for the 2010 Pro Mod champions team Lindberg Bros from Sweden

Two national races have taken place so far this year, at Santa Pod in England and Tierp in Sweden. Britain’s Roger Moore won his maiden Pro Mod victory at Santa Pod’s Auto Trader Easter Thunderball, the opening round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship. It was a race that illustrated the maxim, “To finish first, first you have to finish”. Early-season ailments afflicted most of the runners, though not Moore, who improved his personal-best elapsed time three times and his speed PB twice on the way to an unopposed final. France’s Jean Dulamon also set a speed PB in a first-round match he lost to Moore on a big holeshot.


Photo: Andy Robinson tested in Hungary in april

Britain’s perennial standard-bearer, Andy Robinson, was scuppered by a start-line oil leak after replacing a damaged engine but ran a heartening 6.10sec, 233mph/375kph pass in a post-race test before departing to Hungary for exhibition runs at Kunmadaras. One of Britain’s two new turbocharged cars made its first appearance: Nick Davies gave the Graham Ellis-owned Plymouth Superbird a couple of exploratory launches and will test extensively before the Main Event.

The other new turbo car is due to make its big-race debut at the Main Event. Andy Frost’s Red Victor 3 Vauxhall has already attracted attention before it even reaches the track. The car will be the world’s first street-legal Pro Mod. With the builders still busy, Tierp Arena inaugurated its new strip with some impressive Pro Mod performances.
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photo: Linda Thun Norway, skilled driver in Top Fuel enters in Pro Mod 2011 teamed up with Urban Johansson, Sweden

First, the disappointment: race-winner Mikael Lindahl will not attend the Main Event. Nor will Roger Johansson and (probably) Freddy Fagerström. These Santa Pod regulars have elected not to travel and will be much missed by the Santa Pod fans. So too will Jan Gunnarsson who, like Roger J. and Fast Freddy, improved his terminal speed PB on the Tierp concrete. Indeed, Gunnarsson added a full 10kph to his PB and penetrated the 240mph barrier for the first time. (Can you imagine the furore if Gunnarsson were to take his ’59 Cadillac back to its birthplace and run it in NHRA’s Get Screened America series alongside today’s cookie-cutter, late-‘60s muscle cars?)

photo: 2009 Champion Mats Eriksson, Sweden  had his ups and downs 2010. Hopefully 2011 will be prosperous for the Green Goblin team with the unique Crown Vicky

These absentees notwithstanding, the sextet of Swedish Main Event entries includes one reigning and three former FIA champions and the current European ET record-holder.

Plus one class newcomer. Bucking the trend for US-built cars, Per Svedberg opts instead for a car built in Denmark and an American Pro Mod legend, Scotty Cannon, to tune it. Following three sighting shots, Svedberg’s first full-pull in the Dodge Demon netted a 6.300/234.48mph/377.36kph timeslip, as impressive a new-car debut run as any seen in Europe.

Mats Eriksson and Adam Flamholc both had more muted starts to the season, but Flamholc’s Camaro had at last come good at 2010’s European Finals – and how! – and established itself as a 5sec front-runner, while we all know what Eriksson can achieve when he gets going. Johan Lindberg and Urban Johansson both clocked promising low-6sec ETs. Urban J. joins Graham Ellis as a two-car team owner after importing the ex-Tommy Gray Undertaker from America for Norway’s former Top Fuel ace, Linda Thun Tønseth, to drive.

Michael Gullqvist’s Pro Mod opponents will be thrilled to know that his ex-R2B2 Camaro has been delivered safe and sound to Sweden. Last year Melanie Troxel drove the car at Santa Pod and Hockenheim while Gullqvist steered it to rampant victory at Alastaro, clocking Europe’s quickest, fastest Pro Mod run – 5.911sec/245.76mph/395.52kph – on the way. Early this season, Gullqvist – the only European ever to win an NHRA national event – qualified the car at NHRA’s Gainesville and Las Vegas races, now tuning the car himself.

Along with these British, French, Swedish and Norwegian entries, the Main Event programme includes teams from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland.


photo: Marco Maurischat

The event also marks the welcome return of the Exhaust-Coating.de Pro Mod Challenge after a year away. The Challenge will pit Pro Mod’s eight highest-scoring qualifiers over the course of the FIA series in a prize shootout at September’s European Finals. €2,000 goes to the winner, €500 to the runner-up. Switzerland’s Bruno Bader will be delighted to see its revival. The Challenge was previously conducted in 2008 and 2009 and Bader took home the winnings on both occasions.


Sportsman qualifying for the Main Event begins on Friday 27 May. Two Pro sessions per day are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and final eliminations take place on Monday 30 May.

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