2010 FHRA Nitro Nationals
Thursday
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Urban Johansson from the island Gotland on Swedens
east coust was eliminated in the first round of Pro Modified elimination in England last race. By 5 thousands of
a second! "We had problems at Main Event" says Urban. "The car was leaving the line in a crocked way. It took us a little while to adjust the four link the way we wanted it to be. Now we actually have a little bit more power in the engine, so if we get the car to leave the line straight we will run good, Urban sums up. New in the team for this year is Tore (picture) as an experienced clutch mechanic. |
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 Timo Savolainen has been riding motorcycles in drag racing for many many years. This year he stepped up to Pro Stock Bike. He has run a couple of good looking license runs during day. "First time you run the bikes it chocks you! The other time it just terrifies you" says Timo with a smile! |
 Reigning NDRS Super Comp champion Niklas Öhlin and team rolled the dragster out of their little trailer this morning feeling confident. "We were here at Alastro a couple of weeks ago and was #1 qualifier and lasted to semifinal", says Leif. "The car has a new more reliable gearbox this year, that shifts quicker" say Niklas. "Other than that it is pretty much the same car as last year, except a few secret tricks", smiles Niklas. |
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| One of the most sensational operation in the pits
today got to be LG from ME-Racing cutting off the front end of Urs Erbachers Top Fuel dragster! Wini from the Erbacher team explains: "We noticed some small cracks in the front part of the frame after qualification at Main Event. We welded them as a temporary repair and planned to run Finland and then leave the dragster by ME-racing in Borlänge. They said that the repair could be done here so here we are!" "I am going to update the frame to the latest version of front ends while I'm on it" says LG. |
Thursday is totally dedicated for Sportsman racing,
so it is a little bit relaxed in the Pro-pits. Adam Flamholc and the team feel ready and prepared for another round of the FIA European Championship in Pro Modified. "We had a gearbox the failed us already during warm up in Santa Pod", Adam tell us. "We had another one in spare, with wrong gearing in it, that we used throughout the eliminations.(To semifinal). Now we have had the right one repaired and also had time to test in Malmö, so we are ready! |
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| Arvid Grødem had a tough time at his first
race with the Funny Car. "Santa Pod meant more work than we expected" says Arvid. A couple of stupid little things led to four exhaust valves got stuck and destroyed the engine. Also the beautiful body got the destroyed in the bang. "We worked hartd and got back in time, but got shut off for a leakage. Not the way we wanted to start the season. On the good side is that the car feels very, very, good to drive. What we need now is more tracktime with the car", says the smiling Norwegian. |
The Islanders Top methanol Dragster Team of Paul Ingar Udtian, had to find two new team members in a hurry. Long time "diver" (responsible for bottom end of engine) Konrad Ree was painting a house earlier this week. When he took a step backwards he realized the ladder was gone. "He fell 4 or 5 meters" explains Paul Ingar. "He crushed several bones in his feet and will be hospitalized for a while. So we had to call in Raymond Kavli instead. Then my wife Mona had to work this weekend, so we had to make another call to old friend Yum-yum to be the chef for the weekend. Both Mona and Konrad normally have a lot of more tasks, but we will manage this weekend! | |
 Kristina Hägglund is back again! She and her team destroyed the Comp eliminator engine last year and have now decided to get back to Super Comp. "It is the old SC-engine that is back in the dragster" says Kristina. "Only difference now is that we will try to run E-85"says Inge Hägglund, Kristina father. The dragster also has a new paint that not even the team has seen completed yet. "We fetched the last body plates right before leaving Umeå, so we are really excited to see it all on the car" says Kristina. |
 Jarmo Kuutniemis crew is anxious to get the new Dodge Charger Top Methanol Funny Car on the Alastaro track this weekend. "We had a couple of test runs here on Alastaro a couple of weeks ago, and without the perfect traction we were able to at least try the car", says team member Johnny Oksa. The new car was bought as a rolling chassie from Usa. "The engine and drive train are our old ones" continues Johnny. "Of course they are equipped wit a lot of new parts, a PSI-blower among other things." Actually Johnny ends our discussion with the same words as competitor Arvid; "We need more tracktime"! |