Top Methanol Dragster racer Chris Polidano has split from Eurodragster.com sponsor and team manager Derek Flynn just two events after Chris's first race win and new speed record. After an introduction, Chris has hired famed California-based tuner Jerry Darien to manage the team. Chris said "We have hired Jerry to make the car perform better as we know he can help run record times. Our crew our now all-Maltese and I have financed the car for the whole season." Jerry Darien said "This is my first time in Europe. I have a passport and had nothing to do so I am happy to be here. Running 97% nitro here compared with 94% in the US is a whole world of difference. We are struggling to get the data to set it up with, but we will figure it out. I have a race that clashes with Tierp but if we do well here I will come back for the Finals."
Funny Car racer Horst Schön is the latest in a number of racers of modern-day Funny cars to appear, but first he has to sell his old-school Camaro. He said "The car was built by Spitzer racing in 1987 and run by Haywood & Near in the US and then by Deszoe Krivan between 1989 and 1999. I bought it and ran in Competition Eliminator between 1999 and 2006 to a best of 8.1/298kph. It has a small block Chevy with blower and runs really straight; I had a Powerglide but swapped it for a Lenco and clutch which I can adjust for the track conditions." Although Horst has taken six years out of the sport, his son Marc runs a Junior Dragster
Super Twin Top Gas racer Bernd Nissen is, to his knowledge, unique in the world in running a Procharger blower on his bike. He said "The engine is a sportsman-style S&S with home made heads and at 1.1ltr per cylinder the engine needs a lot of air. At 6800 rpm it makes 1.9bar of boost and that is good for 350hp. There is electronic fuel injection from Hestec in Finland and the frame was made by Gerd Caspari and engine by Cord Albers who are my team mates. We are working on the mapping for fuel, but ran a 5.0 in the eighth at Mosten." The team is called Eight Ball and is sponsored by DHL.
Top Fuel racer Stig Neergaard is a welcome returnee following health problems earlier in the season. He said "I feel much better thanks to my doctor, although he doesn't know I am racing this weekend! I am focusing a single car here and have my full team including John Smith. We had some new parts at the start of the season, an Alan Johnson billet blower and Stage 6 heads and look forward to running the car with them." Along with all other racers, Stig was apprehensive about the track, which was damaged by FIA track prep for the German Grand Prix. The two Pro qualifying sessions for Friday were cancelled and everyone is hoping that the conditions will improve with the sportsman cars going down it.
Pro ET racer Sascha Winter (aged 19) from Waiblingen in Germany runs this Trabant Funny Car. Like several other racers he is sponsored by ABBCO, a supplier of waterbeds. The car has a 540cu in BBC with Brodix heads and Enderle Methanol injection and has run a best of 7.88/289.67kph. Like many other shortwheelbase cars, though, he suffered with track conditions and ran 14.306, 4.3s off his dial-in for 22nd out of 28 cars at the end of Q2.
Pro ET racer Gergard Dold has run a SBC-engined '78 'Vette since 2003 with Gerd Schlachter as crew chief and wife Sigrid. His 12.49 was 0.69s off his dial-in for 12th after Q2.
Pro ET racer Sam Young, fresh from a VW Pro win at Bug Jam, was 11th after session 2 with a 10.623, 0.52 above his 10.1 dial-in. The car is wheel-driven but wholly battery-powered and a rule change has made it possible for him to run at Hockenheim this year.
Pro ET racer Daniel Vetterl from Maxhuette in Germany runs a '62 Chevy Nova with a 355cu in SBC as Fast Forward Drag Racing. The car has run a best of 10.52 but was only able to manage 12.885 after two rounds of qualifying this morning, 2.32s off his dial-in. Daniel is supported by team members Kerstin Vetterl and Alexander Boos.
Pro ET racer Boris Baur, with a Nova SS of '66 vintage, is from Hamburg, a 600km drive from Hockenheim and he managed a 10.822 for seventh, 0.22 above his dial-in. Boris is supported by ArmorAll car care products, which has outlets acros Europe.
Pro ET racer Tony Brandes is also sponsored by ArmorAll car care products. His '32 Ford Coupe is on an ethanol-burning SBC with Motown Aluminium block, Edelbrock heads, Powerglide trans and Ford 9" rear. He qualified fourth with 10.46 on 10.30 dial-in.
Pro ET racer David Bachinger from Weissenhorn in Germany runs a low-slung Chevy Nova with a BBC and Powerglide. His best ET is 9.5/228 and this morning he ran a 12.724, 2.7s over dial, for 21st place in the field.
Super Gas racer Rudi Füssel runs this blown Opel in Super Gas as Sweet Little Beast drag team. He was a late entrant and although we saw him in the pairing lanes he was not able to start, with problems. More details about the team are here(in German).
Super Comp racer Marco Leder of Nudow runs a '69 Plymouth Roadrunner in Super Comp with a 500cu in engine. He ran a 10.066 to qualify 5th.
Super Comp racer Sven Damss from Nidderau in Germany runs a BBC early Nova with nitrous and he ran a 10.732, 1.832 over the class index, another victim of tyre smoke on the tricky surface.
Super Gas racer Dieter Götz ran 10.814 in his immaculate '57 Chevy Bel Air to go fifth.
Pro ET racer Karin Becker runs this brightly painter VW and the 2.3 litre car ran 11.351, +.35 over its dial-in for 10th place. Karin is supported by Klaus Mulsow as crew chief and Udo Becker and the car has run a best of 10.89.
This Rocket Scooter is ridden by Jeff Boutonnet. It is capable of 2g acceleration and runs on a jet of steam at 30 bars pressure equivalent to 700hp, using 50 litres on a run.
The dragspeed team also run this jet funny car with Jeff Boutonnet driving. The team have a jet quad bike and jet dragster. Photos of these vehicles are at www.dragspeed.fr.
This mobile bar table is one of the many varied pit vehicles at Hockenheim.
Competition Eliminator racer Carmen Ritscher has this beautiful '69 Mustang-bodied Funny Car with supercharged hemi engine on methanol. The car has so far run a best of 8.6s. The car was built by Red Line Motors, which specialises in the restoration and building of classic US cars. So far the car has not made a pass.
Super Pro ET racer Karl-Heinz Kleider from Himmelstadt in Germany runs a '88 Ford Thunderbird originally built by Murf McKinney. It has a blown 632cu in BBC with Dart block and Dart/Protix heads and JE Pistons and the power goes through a Lenco transmission. The car did not appear in the first two sessions.
Super Pro ET racer Tom Winter runs this '37 Chevy with a 2004 Alson chassis, 555cu in BBC built by Peter Schofer racing with Enderle injection into a 14/71 Littlefield supercharger run at 41% overdrive. Transmission is a Lenco and the car's best is 7.22 at 298kph.
Super Pro ET racer Jutta Winter has a flip top '34 Ford with chassis orginally built by Herb Andrews in 1988. The engine is a 540cu in BBC and Brodix heads and Enderle injection with a hi-rise intake and birdcatcher air intake. Gearbox is a Powerglide and the car has run a best of 7.88/289.67kph. Both these cars did not appear in the first two sessions.
Super Pro ET racer Marc Henney ran a 8.206 on a 8.00 dial-in in his immaculate Mike Bos Race Cars entry.
Pro Stock Snowmobiles might not seem the most obvious cars to run in mid-summer, but they can and are quite spectacular. Pictured is Crossfire 1000 from joker-racing.se which includes a blog on the team (in Swedish). The team are also posting to Facebook as Joker Racing.
The other Pro Stock Snowmobile here is owned by Baker Racing and is based at Sundsvall Raceway in Sweden. The Snowmobiles run times as low as 9.0.
Funny Bike racer Maarten Zijlstra is running the ACU Funny Bike class in 2012 but was keen to enter the class at Hockenheim which boasts a 13 bike field from eight countries. Maarten ran a 9.451 in the first two sessions, but there are still two more sessions to run today. His bike and engine was built in 2007/8 by Jan Smit Power Parts and runs on C16 fuel with nitrous. Best times to date are 8.3/255kph.
Funny Bike racer Sven Fagan originates from Ireland although Team Paddy are based in Kolding, Switzerland. The bike was built in 1996 and features a methanol turbo Gator engine running with Vortex 2 Ward performance heads and MTC Gen 2 clutch. The bike's best is 7.601/289 but here, it ran 8.213/266 for no.3 spot after two sessions.
Funny Bike racer Aristos Sokratous from Limassol in Cyprus races under the Motormania banner. The chassis was built by Koenig Engineering with body by Beasly Composites and beautiful orange paint job by Aris Paintworks. The turbo Hayabusa engine has Vortex heads, MTC pistons, Falicon crankshaft and MTC clutch with four speed Robinson gearbox.
Competition Eliminator racer John Bradshaw is building a 4 litre engined car to replace the Project Z which he is taking to Australia in March 2013. But first he is running the car here and at Tierp. Son Callum is also running in Junior Dragster.
Competition Eliminator racer Sascha Pretzch from Daillens, Switzerland is running as WhiteCross Dragracing and has a 2003 Jerry Bickel ex-Pro Stock Cavalier. The engine is by TRE and is 706cu in Dart aluminium block on NOS with JE pistons and Powerglide transmission. Sascha ran a 8.549 which is 0.82 over his class index.
Competition Eliminator racer Klaus Meier runs this nitrous 'Vette which has best times of 7.22/322kph. Engine is a Chevy 632cu in.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Chris Polidano has split from Eurodragster.com sponsor and team manager Derek Flynn just two events after Chris's first race win and new speed record. After an introduction, Chris has hired famed California-based tuner Jerry Darien to manage the team. Chris said "We have hired Jerry to make the car perform better as we know he can help run record times. Our crew our now all-Maltese and I have financed the car for the whole season." Jerry Darien said "This is my first time in Europe. I have a passport and had nothing to do so I am happy to be here. Running 97% nitro here compared with 94% in the US is a whole world of difference. We are struggling to get the data to set it up with, but we will figure it out. I have a race that clashes with Tierp but if we do well here I will come back for the Finals."
Funny Car racer Horst Schön is the latest in a number of racers of modern-day Funny cars to appear, but first he has to sell his old-school Camaro. He said "The car was built by Spitzer racing in 1987 and run by Haywood & Near in the US and then by Deszoe Krivan between 1989 and 1999. I bought it and ran in Competition Eliminator between 1999 and 2006 to a best of 8.1/298kph. It has a small block Chevy with blower and runs really straight; I had a Powerglide but swapped it for a Lenco and clutch which I can adjust for the track conditions." Although Horst has taken six years out of the sport, his son Marc runs a Junior Dragster
Super Twin Top Gas racer Bernd Nissen is, to his knowledge, unique in the world in running a Procharger blower on his bike. He said "The engine is a sportsman-style S&S with home made heads and at 1.1ltr per cylinder the engine needs a lot of air. At 6800 rpm it makes 1.9bar of boost and that is good for 350hp. There is electronic fuel injection from Hestec in Finland and the frame was made by Gerd Caspari and engine by Cord Albers who are my team mates. We are working on the mapping for fuel, but ran a 5.0 in the eighth at Mosten." The team is called Eight Ball and is sponsored by DHL.
Top Fuel racer Stig Neergaard is a welcome returnee following health problems earlier in the season. He said "I feel much better thanks to my doctor, although he doesn't know I am racing this weekend! I am focusing a single car here and have my full team including John Smith. We had some new parts at the start of the season, an Alan Johnson billet blower and Stage 6 heads and look forward to running the car with them." Along with all other racers, Stig was apprehensive about the track, which was damaged by FIA track prep for the German Grand Prix. The two Pro qualifying sessions for Friday were cancelled and everyone is hoping that the conditions will improve with the sportsman cars going down it.
Pro ET racer Sascha Winter (aged 19) from Waiblingen in Germany runs this Trabant Funny Car. Like several other racers he is sponsored by ABBCO, a supplier of waterbeds. The car has a 540cu in BBC with Brodix heads and Enderle Methanol injection and has run a best of 7.88/289.67kph. Like many other shortwheelbase cars, though, he suffered with track conditions and ran 14.306, 4.3s off his dial-in for 22nd out of 28 cars at the end of Q2.
Pro ET racer Gergard Dold has run a SBC-engined '78 'Vette since 2003 with Gerd Schlachter as crew chief and wife Sigrid. His 12.49 was 0.69s off his dial-in for 12th after Q2.
Pro ET racer Sam Young, fresh from a VW Pro win at Bug Jam, was 11th after session 2 with a 10.623, 0.52 above his 10.1 dial-in. The car is wheel-driven but wholly battery-powered and a rule change has made it possible for him to run at Hockenheim this year.
Pro ET racer Daniel Vetterl from Maxhuette in Germany runs a '62 Chevy Nova with a 355cu in SBC as Fast Forward Drag Racing. The car has run a best of 10.52 but was only able to manage 12.885 after two rounds of qualifying this morning, 2.32s off his dial-in. Daniel is supported by team members Kerstin Vetterl and Alexander Boos.
Pro ET racer Boris Baur, with a Nova SS of '66 vintage, is from Hamburg, a 600km drive from Hockenheim and he managed a 10.822 for seventh, 0.22 above his dial-in. Boris is supported by ArmorAll car care products, which has outlets acros Europe.
Pro ET racer Tony Brandes is also sponsored by ArmorAll car care products. His '32 Ford Coupe is on an ethanol-burning SBC with Motown Aluminium block, Edelbrock heads, Powerglide trans and Ford 9" rear. He qualified fourth with 10.46 on 10.30 dial-in.
Pro ET racer David Bachinger from Weissenhorn in Germany runs a low-slung Chevy Nova with a BBC and Powerglide. His best ET is 9.5/228 and this morning he ran a 12.724, 2.7s over dial, for 21st place in the field.
Super Gas racer Rudi Füssel runs this blown Opel in Super Gas as Sweet Little Beast drag team. He was a late entrant and although we saw him in the pairing lanes he was not able to start, with problems. More details about the team are 
Super Comp racer Marco Leder of Nudow runs a '69 Plymouth Roadrunner in Super Comp with a 500cu in engine. He ran a 10.066 to qualify 5th. 
Super Comp racer Sven Damss from Nidderau in Germany runs a BBC early Nova with nitrous and he ran a 10.732, 1.832 over the class index, another victim of tyre smoke on the tricky surface. 
Super Gas racer Dieter Götz ran 10.814 in his immaculate '57 Chevy Bel Air to go fifth.
Pro ET racer Karin Becker runs this brightly painter VW and the 2.3 litre car ran 11.351, +.35 over its dial-in for 10th place. Karin is supported by Klaus Mulsow as crew chief and Udo Becker and the car has run a best of 10.89.
This Rocket Scooter is ridden by Jeff Boutonnet. It is capable of 2g acceleration and runs on a jet of steam at 30 bars pressure equivalent to 700hp, using 50 litres on a run.
The dragspeed team also run this jet funny car with Jeff Boutonnet driving. The team have a jet quad bike and jet dragster. Photos of these vehicles are at 
This mobile bar table is one of the many varied pit vehicles at Hockenheim.
Competition Eliminator racer Carmen Ritscher has this beautiful '69 Mustang-bodied Funny Car with supercharged hemi engine on methanol. The car has so far run a best of 8.6s. The car was built by 
Super Pro ET racer Karl-Heinz Kleider from Himmelstadt in Germany runs a '88 Ford Thunderbird originally built by Murf McKinney. It has a blown 632cu in BBC with Dart block and Dart/Protix heads and JE Pistons and the power goes through a Lenco transmission. The car did not appear in the first two sessions.
Super Pro ET racer Tom Winter runs this '37 Chevy with a 2004 Alson chassis, 555cu in BBC built by Peter Schofer racing with Enderle injection into a 14/71 Littlefield supercharger run at 41% overdrive. Transmission is a Lenco and the car's best is 7.22 at 298kph.
Super Pro ET racer Jutta Winter has a flip top '34 Ford with chassis orginally built by Herb Andrews in 1988. The engine is a 540cu in BBC and Brodix heads and Enderle injection with a hi-rise intake and birdcatcher air intake. Gearbox is a Powerglide and the car has run a best of 7.88/289.67kph. Both these cars did not appear in the first two sessions.
Super Pro ET racer Marc Henney ran a 8.206 on a 8.00 dial-in in his immaculate Mike Bos Race Cars entry.
Pro Stock Snowmobiles might not seem the most obvious cars to run in mid-summer, but they can and are quite spectacular. Pictured is Crossfire 1000 from 
The other Pro Stock Snowmobile here is owned by Baker Racing and is based at Sundsvall Raceway in Sweden. The Snowmobiles run times as low as 9.0. 
Funny Bike racer Maarten Zijlstra is running the ACU Funny Bike class in 2012 but was keen to enter the class at Hockenheim which boasts a 13 bike field from eight countries. Maarten ran a 9.451 in the first two sessions, but there are still two more sessions to run today. His bike and engine was built in 2007/8 by Jan Smit Power Parts and runs on C16 fuel with nitrous. Best times to date are 8.3/255kph.
Funny Bike racer Sven Fagan originates from Ireland although Team Paddy are based in Kolding, Switzerland. The bike was built in 1996 and features a methanol turbo Gator engine running with Vortex 2 Ward performance heads and MTC Gen 2 clutch. The bike's best is 7.601/289 but here, it ran 8.213/266 for no.3 spot after two sessions.
Funny Bike racer Aristos Sokratous from Limassol in Cyprus races under the Motormania banner. The chassis was built by Koenig Engineering with body by Beasly Composites and beautiful orange paint job by Aris Paintworks. The turbo Hayabusa engine has Vortex heads, MTC pistons, Falicon crankshaft and MTC clutch with four speed Robinson gearbox.
Competition Eliminator racer John Bradshaw is building a 4 litre engined car to replace the Project Z which he is taking to Australia in March 2013. But first he is running the car here and at Tierp. Son Callum is also running in Junior Dragster.
Competition Eliminator racer Sascha Pretzch from Daillens, Switzerland is running as WhiteCross Dragracing and has a 2003 Jerry Bickel ex-Pro Stock Cavalier. The engine is by TRE and is 706cu in Dart aluminium block on NOS with JE pistons and Powerglide transmission. Sascha ran a 8.549 which is 0.82 over his class index.
Competition Eliminator racer Klaus Meier runs this nitrous 'Vette which has best times of 7.22/322kph. Engine is a Chevy 632cu in.