Jean Dulamon is not only France’s fastest and most experienced drag racer but also one of the sport’s driving forces in his home country. Dulamon has raced a Competition Eliminator dragster in France, at Hockenheim and at Santa Pod and, during the past two years, with great success at Drachten in the Netherlands. Last year, with a new engine in the dragster, Dulamon ran 6.78 seconds and 320kph. In more than 20 years of racing, this was the first time he had broken the 7-second/300kph barrier.



Now it’s time for the next step. And what a step it is!



In America, Dulamon bought Vinny Budano’s Shafiroff Racing ’68 Camaro SS, winner of the NMCA Pro Street World Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Built by Tim McAmis Race Cars, the machine has a carbon-fibre body and is powered by a 734ci Shafiroff 4-stage nitrous engine. The car sits race-ready in Dulamon’s workshop at Tarnos, a village in South West France close to the Spanish border, where Dulamon runs a Peugeot dealership.

“At Easter we shall make our first test runs with the car,” says Dulamon. “We have to get familiar with it. Maybe we shall also use one of the test days before the Main Event. We shall run at the Main Event and intend to do all rounds of the FIA Championship.”



After so many years driving a dragster, Dulamon finds Pro Modified a very different type of vehicle. “Yes, I wanted to go faster and drive something completely different so I ended up with Pro Mod.” Asked about his goals for his maiden season, the Frenchman shows confidence. “You have to be ambitious. I want to run into the fives and if we can do that, we shall win races.”



Jean Dulamon will be the first Frenchman to enter Pro Modified, already the FIA Championship’s most international class. And that’s always good for Pro Mod and drag racing in general. Last year Hockenheim saw an invasion of French drag racers, so who might be next to step up to an FIA class?