Bruno Bader
If the true test of a great drag race is its bump spot rather than its low qualifying time, then Tierp’s Pro Mod show was a cracker. The anticipated performance feast on Europe’s first all-concrete track did not produce 5-second elapsed times, at least not in qualifying, but its 6.240 bump spot (Norbert Kuno) thoroughly eclipsed the previous European best, 6.408 at Mantorp 2009. Six Tierp racers ran inside that Mantorp bump yet failed to qualify.
At the head of the field, however, five racers did achieve 6.0’s, and all but two of the qualifiers ran quicker than 6.2sec. Three of them still fly the flag for the outer ranks of diversity. Jan Gunnarsson and his brazen Cadillac qualified ninth (6.123) without actually denting his personal bests, quite a rare feat at an event in which 18 of the 29 racers present set no fewer than 44 separate time and speed PBs between them.
Fredde Fagerström
Fredrik Fagerström continues to amaze in his physics-defying Chevy truck, clocking fresh, unbelievable PBs (6.125/377.89kph/234.81mph) to qualify tenth. ‘Fast Freddy’ demonstrated his prowess with blown alcohol motors during 2007’s single-season diversion into Top Methanol Funny Car which netted him the European championship. Please don’t abandon the truck, Freddy, but we do sometimes wonder what you might accomplish in something sleeker.
Niclas Andersson is another who spurns the beaten path towards late-60s muscle cars. His bulbous ’51 Chevy Business Coupe may have forsaken red livery for fashionable black, the photo editor’s bane, but it still runs the Pro Mod numbers on its occasional visits from Swedish Top Doorslammer. Here, Andersson qualified as high as seventh with new personal bests of 6.105/377.36/234.48. It is a pity Andersson does not follow the full FIA tour. His past achievements in Pro Stock and TMFC suggest it could be a fruitful venture.
Ola Dahlblom
Martin Lundkvist
Two class newcomers made immediate impacts without making the cut. Ola Dahlblom and Martin Lundkvist both stepped up from Competition Eliminator. Lundkvist swapped a turbo’d pickup truck for a turbo’d Camaro to clock a 6.572 best, good for just 24th on the list, while Dahlblom hit 6.290/362/225 in his blown ‘Vette for third alternate (19th qualifier) – no carefully graduated approaches there.
Mats Eriksson
At the sharp end of the field, late-60s muscle cars occupied five of the top six qualifying places, Mats Eriksson’s ’56 Ford Crown Victoria (third at 6.047) being the exception. A little surprisingly, perhaps, Michael Gullqvist ceded first place to Adam Flamholc (6.010) – ‘surprisingly’ only because, until someone exceeds the 5.91/395/245 European bests he hit at Alastaro last year, Gullqvist is always going to be the target man to beat. Mikael Lindahl got close to Gullqvist’s record speed with a 392.44kph/243.85mph personal best (at 6.28) in the opening qualifying session, good for Top Speed of the Meet. Though Lindahl improved his ET to 6.137 to qualify 11th, none of his subsequent six terminal speeds came closer than 10kph to that first-session mark.
Marc Meihuizen
Andy Robinson
Has anyone noticed, by the way, how Pro Mod is a Swedish-preponderant class? Go on, you must have. For the benefit of those blind to nationality, ranged against 17 Swedes at Tierp were three Germans, three Dutchmen, three Finns, a Dane, a Swiss and a Brit, plus one Norwegian driving a Swedish car. Two more Swedes on the entry list did not attend. We delight in the size and variety of our FIA Pro Mod entry lists but, were it not for the abundance of Swedes, it would be a vastly thinner class. And Swedes so often win.
Johan Samuelsson
