Last winter Ahonen Racing Team was formed and for the first time Ahonen will enter his home race at Alastaro as a driver and team owner. “With so many friends, sponsors and family around, Alastaro is the most important race of the year for us. Of course we will do our very best and we want to win, but don’t forget we are a brand new team and still learning. But Alastaro will be fun”, says Janne Ahonen.

From 2006 to 2010 Janne Ahonen was the driver of the Eagle Racing Top Fueler and when his busy schedule permitted, the Finn was racing in the FIA European Championship. So 2012 is not his first time at Alastaro in a Top Fueler, but still, it’s a complete different situation. “Last year team manager Harri Horto told me he wanted to scale down Eagle Racing or even quit. I wanted to race, so I had to make up my mind”, says Janne. Simo Patoharju and Janne knew each other form 2007, when Simo’s crew serviced Janne’s car. Simo heard the rumour that Janne wanted to start his own operation and the first meeting was there.

Simo continues: “First we had to think about hiring a car or buy our own operation. In the long term to buy is of course cheaper. Well, the decision was made to form our own operation, so you now know we will not leave this business in two or three years. Another advantage of running your own operation is, you don’t have to rely on others. We looked in Europe and the States, but only wanted to buy from a team that wanted to quit. That’s the only way to acquire a complete operation and not a car or engine only and no spare parts and other things you need to run a team. At that moment we got a call from Jarmo Pulkkinen. At Pomona Kenny Bernstein had announced his retirement from the sport. Kenny and Brandon’s crewchief Donnie Bender was responsible for the liquidation of their operation and I knew Donnie from 1990 when I was in the States with Anita Mäkelä. Hectic weeks we had. We had to know our budget and make a list of things we really needed to start our own operation.” In December Simo, Janne and Jarmo went to Bernstein Racing. “When you have an unlimited budget, it’s no problem, but we hadn’t. From tons of parts we had to choose the parts we really needed to start our own operation and never forget the budget we had”, Simo remembers.

The decision was made to create a workshop at Simo’s company and in February the container with car and parts arrived. “We started from scratch so we needed everything. Tengtools was one of our sponsors and they were a great help with all the tools we needed. We bought a trailer from a Formula team and that had to be rebuild too. That took so much time, we had to skip the Main Event at Santa Pod.” Simo also had to form a crew. “Our crew is a good mix of new and experienced mechanics. That’s the best way to give new and fresh ideas a chance. But one thing had to be clear, everybody has to do it like Donnie Bender wants it to be done. It was part of the deal that, as long he has no full time job in America, he will be at all our races.”  

The brand new operation went to Motopark to check all systems and make the first runs. “It’s not a track for Top Fuel cars but we made two launches and everything was okay and even better than expected. At Tierp Arena, our first FIA-race, we made two qualifying passes. The first one was a great launch and in the second a one dollar part broke and Janne had to abort the run. But so far, everything works fine, the crew does a great job and no damage. Of course we want results, but more important for this year is to build a well-trained and smooth running operation. But next year we want to go for the Top Fuel title”, Janne says, with twinkling eyes.

Ahonen Racing Team is a four car/bike and almost family operation. Except Janne Ahonen’s (Finnish Dynamite) Top Fuel Dragster, ART runs a Junior Dragster for Janne’s son Mico (Little Dynamite), an outlaw Camaro for brother Pasi Ahonen (Crazy Dynamite) and a Junior Drag Bike for nephew Aleksi Lindholm (Angry Dynamite). “We would like to say a big thank you to our great sponsors Teho/Olvi, Bilto and Tengtools for supporting our team. Without them this would not have been possible. And we would like to thank Speedgroup for doing such a great job for our sport”, says Simo.

Janne was at the top of his ski jumping career when he started drag racing. “I got an invitation from Harri Horto to visit one of the races. I was hooked immediately.” Janne ran the Eagle Racing Competition Eliminator dragster and in four seasons he won three Nordic and two Finnish championships. “2005 was the first time I saw a Top Fueler and wondered how it was possible that a human being could drive such a car. Now I do it myself. As in ski jumping in drag racing everything has to be 100% perfect to make a good run. Drag racing made me a better ski jumper. To go down a ski-jump with 105 km/h is not so fast anymore when you are used to 500 km/h in a Top Fueler.”

Next race for ART is the FIA European Championships race at Alastaro, the teams home track and race. Janne and Simo are looking forward to it. “The racing part of it is of course the same, you run 1000 foot as quick as you can. But in all other aspects it’s the most important race of the year. Friends, family and sponsors will be around and that’s an extra boost to perform well. So I hope many people come to Alastaro to see us and they have a good race and something to cheer about.”

Check out the entry list for Top Fuel Dragster and the other classes under a  separate headline in this edition!