FIA Top Methanol Funny Car
After their win in Finland the Leanders brothers were really struggling to put down a number during qualification at Mantorp, but come raceday Ulf had the car on a tear, running low 5.80s with seeming ease and taking out Danny Bellio, Leif Andreasson and Arvid Grodem on the way to the trophy presentation. “How much do I need to pay you to mention our new clutch?” asked Ulf. We think the performance of the car over the past two meetings is self evident and there will be more than a few Pro Mod teams looking at getting one of the 11” 2 disc versions after Mats Eriksson’s 6.1s.
In contrast to Leanders, Arvid Grodem had a nightmare in Finland, blowing a motor and having no end of problems in getting the race rig home to Norway. The shorter trip to Mantorp yielded a much better result, with Dan Larsen and Jurgen Nagel falling to the Sunoco Mustang and putting Grodem on the podium for the first time in a long while.
FIA Top Methanol Dragster
It was XTC for Rob Turner in more ways than one with a new energy drink sponsor on board for the rest of the season, a 5.459/257 PB off the trailer to head the field throughout qualifying, and then a final round victory over current points leader Peter Schofer, Turner’s 5.608/248 being enough to handle Schofer’s 6.08, the latter slowing after the burst panel popped.