So Jonnie, to start.. congratulations to the championship title! Maybe a silly question, but are you content with the outcome of this season?
- We are of course very happy with the season, the European records and European champions title. It would have been fun if Johan had ended second in the championship, and he actually had a theoretical chance to do so when we entered the last race at Santa Pod. We have had a bit of bad luck with the qualifications this season and due to it have had to race each other early in the competitions. Only in Hockenheim we had a chance to meet in the final, but then I was taken out before that (due to a mistake of running on tires that was overdue for a switch, they simply died from one round to the next which we discovered the hard way). 

So what was your thoughts before this season?
- I knew we could run quick, others had, so I gathered if they can do it, we can too.. maybe I just did not realize how quick. And there is, I think still some more to cut on the ET:s, the final run at Santa Pod where I ran 5.42 was not perfect, it could well have been a 5.39..

You look very comfortable piloting the car..
- Yes, it felt great already from the start of the season. In 2012 I “only” made 16 runs, but now I have gotten into it and feel I am in total control of the car and not just a passenger. At Santa Pod I had to really drive the car and pedal it a lot as my goal was to take max bonus points during the qualifications and be quickest in all sessions. I had to go for it each run and it worked out and just kept on through the event and I won the race which was fantastic and it was also a goal before I got there. It would have been great if Johan could have climbed the points standings to 2nd, but we are anyway happy.. Me winning and Johan ending 4th the first season in the class for him and in such tough competition is not bad.

That brings us to another interesting question.. what do you think is the reason the teams in the class have produced such good numbers this seasons, where we have seen new personal bests from a majority of the teams?
- Most of the teams have put in lot of money to buy the best parts and then I think it depends on that one or two teams have stepped up. When that happens other teams try harder and it lifts the class overall. A few years back we saw great runs in the 5.70-5.60 sec range, then Leif Andreasson set a new standard running 5.55. The other teams then also saw it could be done and when that happens we just focus even more and try even harder. The track standards have improved and that is also a contributing factor.

What makes you a good tuner?
- I think I have the ability to look at the computer readings and graphs from a run and understand what they mean and realize what I need to adjust for the next run. I had a lot of tuning skills from running in Pro Mod to bring to the table in Methanol funny car also, I think that contributed to establish us among the top teams real quick.

photo: Jonnie changing the rear wing before the final at Santa Pod.

Are the two cars identical or does it just appear that way?
- The chassis of the two cars are not identical and you may think that we can tune the cars with the same setup, but we can´t, it does not work that way. Johan´s car does not like tracks with too good traction, while my car has less problems with that.

The engines are more or less identical and there are many who think we bought the cars turnkey with setups and all.. but we have actually built the engines ourselves with selected parts (from Australia and the US) that have worked real well. We tune the cars ourselves and we run the cars just like they do in the US, although are allowed to have a higher percentage of overdrive if we want, (125% compared to 92% in the states) we have chosen to run it like they do in the states.

So what happens now when the race season is over?
- We still have a few roadshow stops on the Chevrolet tour scheduled, in Stockholm and Växjö (Sweden) over the nearest weeks, and in a few days we also have the 30 year anniversary of our sponsor Pålplintar where we will be present..

The big news is that we are actually looking into shipping my car to the US and pretty soon. If we can raise a budget we want to run the NHRA event at Pomona and leave the car over the winter to start the season in the US also. We might even consider leaving the car there for the next season and race it in the US and run Johan´s car in Europe (Johan would drive it).

I am thinking now is a good time to do it, while I am still young and have not settled down yet, we are running good numbers and it would be great to see if we can keep it up also running at US tracks. But we need to raise the budget first and we are looking for a few new companies to start cooperation with based in Europe or the US (anyone interested check the contact derails at the end of the article to contact Jonnie).

Speaking of marketing and media, You are good at creating value for your sponsors and have since the start taken media communication seriously?
Yes, we have Patrik Larsson in the team who works as media manager, he´s both a photographer and editor and post updates frequently throughout the events, both via social medias and through press releases. If we can make the US tour happen we plan to make sure Patrik can join and continue the great work he is doing for us also in the US.

The Lindberg Bros team consists of a skilled and dedicated team where Jonnies and Johans parents are highly involved as crew members; Lars-Erik (who is an awarded hot rod builder) is en engine mechanic on Johan´s car, while Ritha cares for the wellbeing of the whole team catering and she is also a great photographer. The team also consists of a few more ladies Maria Anar, Victoria Merlid-Karling, Daria Baxinger and Katarina Wahlström, who are all allround and can assist in different areas in the pits and at the track. The skilled mechanics include Peter “Strumpan” Ström, who manages the clutch and transmission on Johan´s car and is backup on Jonnies car. Christian Merlid is engine mechanic on Jonnies car while Kaj Karlsson is clutch mechanic. And they all of course help each other with what is needed, in a two car team there is always a lot of work to be done!

Jonnie ends the interview by addressing a huge thank you to the entire team and to the group of dedicated sponsors (without them it would not have been possible);
they are listed below

team website: www.lindbergbros.com
contacts: Jonnie Lindberg
jonnie@lindbergbros.com
media contact: Patrik Larsson              patrik@lindbergbros.com