(Brian note: As we get towards the end of the year we’re going to relive some of the cool stuff we got to see and do in 2015. Jonnie Lindberg went on to become the 2015 NHRA TAFC champ. This was a titanic day for him and his team)
It is not too often anymore that you get to be present and an outside participant in legitimate drag racing history. I was fortunate to be a bit player as thousands of others were last weekend at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina as Jonnie Lindberg and his team put on the most incredible performance display in the storied history of the alcohol funny car class.
The weekend culminated with his winning the event but that seemed like a foregone conclusion after Lindberg ran the quickest and fastest pass in the history of the sport by a mile earlier in the weekend. While many fans at zMax were bundled up like eskimos, Lindberg and his group of fellow Swedes were literally salivating and the situation in front of them. Cool dense air, a smooth racetrack, and only a couple of attempts to get things right.
Before Saturday, no alcohol funny car had ever run in the 5.30s and no alcohol funny car had ever run more than 270mph. By the time Lindberg and crew were done, their car had gone 5.361 at 272mph effectively destroying the existing performance standards. They did it all with smiles and a confidence that you could almost feel.Lindberg’s car has always been a screamer and long been known as a huge mph capable beast but even they seemed a little surprised at what they had done after the dust settled and they were in the winner’s circle on Sunday afternoon.
This is the titanic 5.361/272mph pass and I’m on the call. For obvious reasons I was losing my mind when this happened. Having seen the car turn 215mph at the eighth mile during the charge I knew that he was going to be going to a place few others had ever been, but he rocketed right past that into a new neighborhood of his own construction…where he is the sole resident.
By the end of the weekend, defending national champion Steve Harker had run 5.40 an was knocking on the door of the 5.30s but he did not punch in there and the fact remains that the conditions that they were racing in won’t be seen until fall of this year if at all!
Anyway, this run is being hailed by drag racing fans as one of the all time greats and surely one of the wildest of the last decade. It was a ball to watch it all happen!
The Europeans are showing the Americans how its done.
…..and in other news NHRA bans Europeans.