Per and Karsten share more than the same surname (no, they are not brothers), passion for drag racing and ambition to be number one. They started their Top Fuel careers as part of Jens Nybo’s team, then Kim Reymond’s and Tommy Möller’s. In 2006 they formed their own team and immediately won the FIA European Top Fuel title with Håkan Nilsson at the wheel of their dragster. In 2008 and 2009 Per and Karsten took the honours again, now with Andy Carter as their driver. After the Santa Pod European Finals the Andersens shipped their entire operation to the States and in November 2009 a dream came true when their Top Fueler made its first pass down the famous Strip At Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With two top ten qualifying positions (8th at 3.85 seconds at Las Vegas 2009 and 7th at 3.84 seconds at Pomona’s 2010 Winternationals) the team impressed the American professionals with their capabilities.




Looking back at their American tour, Karsten is still impressed. “It was awesome to race in the States and definitely something we want to do again if we can get the funding. We already have a driver if we go, so that’s not a problem. Highlight was Friday night at Vegas. On our second pass with the car we ran 3.85/307mph, third quickest of that round. Only Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon did better! We were the quickest car to the 330-foot mark all weekend. Running 3.84 at Pomona was nice too! We expected it to be different from Europe, and that’s just what it was. The atmosphere in Europe is great, but in the U.S. it’s indescribable. The traction is a lot better and, in particular, more consistent. You can really apply some power to the track. We can only speak from our experiences at Pomona and Vegas, but those tracks are just the nicest and smoothest surfaces we have ever seen. In Europe traction changes too much and tracks in some places are really bumpy! What would cure some of the weird traction in Europe is having the same track crew for every race! We ran our car harder in the U.S., but blew up fewer parts. Sorry but it’s true! There we really saw the potential of the car and we think we can do better than 3.84! We were having some problems reading the track on Sundays, so now we are working on a new approach that can help us cure that issue!”




The idea of racing in the States started on a cold winter night back in 1994 when Jens Nybo bought Peter Lantz’s Top Fuel dragster. “Yes, the dream has been there for some time! When Andersen Racing was founded in 2006 the dream accelerated, and really took off in June 2009. It took us three months to get the funding in place. We didn’t believe it ourselves; money came from friends and some very, very good sponsors. Really all we did was make some phone calls and within a short time we had more than 100,000 USD from people who believed in us.”

Per and Karsten learned a lot in the States. “Can’t mention it all. It would take forever and there is still more to learn. Same thing with women! One thing we can say is that we are going in the right direction – tuning-wise. We know we are running our car in a totally different way from most other teams. But it works, and with our combination it’s easy to find more power without blowing up too much stuff!”

Now it’s time to concentrate on the European season again. “The car will be back the week after Easter and we can’t wait to get our baby back. It’s almost race-ready. Everything is new and that’s how we like to keep it. We are looking forward to the new season. There is another championship to win and we are going to do all we can to make it a total of seven. Our approach is to be 100% focussed and, as we have always done, take it race by race. What we learned in the States will not work in Europe, it’s a totally different ballgame.” And who do they think will be their main opponents? “No idea. I don’t know the plans the other teams have. But Anita having Don Prudhomme’s former Snake Racing crewchief, Donnie Bender, tuning the car is going to be interesting!” After three 1000-foot races, Per and Karsten will have to switch back to the traditional ¼ mile for Santa Pod. “That’s no problem. As tuners we prefer the ¼-mile, as team owners 1000 feet and as spectators, I think, the ¼-mile.”




Although always seen as a tuning duo, Per and Karsten have their own responsibilities in their streamlined organisation. “Per runs through the data,” explains Karsten, “and I work on the car. During turnaround we will discuss what to do for the next round and 99% of the time – without telling each other – we reach the same conclusion. This year Jim Brissette will join us for the full tour. He is an oracle and has become a ‘must’ in our team! He never tells us what to do, but he gives us tons of ideas to choose from. And he has a nice sense of humour. Our crew works very professionally and they all take responsibility for their respective jobs. Without those guys we couldn’t do it.”




The sponsors who have made it possible for Andersen Racing to realise their dreams and race at this level for so many years are: LUCAS oil, Landmeco, Else-Marie, USA-autodele, Oslo tapet og gulvbelegg, Pack-Plast, Teslak Transport, HAC Artpaint, Jerry’s, Pro Leg, Herning Låseservice, Jyske Bank, Westspeed, Xpedit, Horsens polstring, Dickman tattoo, DOL-sensors, Anchersens Turistbusser, DSV, ABC-skilte.




Special thanks for the American Tour go out to: Del and Chuck Worsham, Grant Downing, Bob DeVour, Salty Dawg and NHRA.