Drag Racing, In Finland?!

[W-409]

Pekka Penttilä's Modified Stock '62 Dart "Police".

It was found in 2009 after many years:

I'll post more if I can find pictures.

[dragcarz]

Nilo, enjoying the pics, thanks for posting.....love the wheels up action.

[chaotle80]

Hi Niko,

nice pics.

I will add some german Pics after my America Trip.

The only real Drag Racing track in germany is hockenheim, I´ve been there in the last ten years for every Race, but I´ve never seen the track in such a bad condition then this year.

Marcus

[W-409]

Thanks Roger and Marcus!

I really like Wheelstands too.

Looking forward to your pics, Marcus. They're always nice to see, there are interesting cars running in Hockenheim that I can't see in Finland. And yeah, the track was bad this year, I really hope (and guess) that it's better next year.

Next I'm going to introduce another car category: Outlaw!

Outlaw is basically Heads Up group, but there is a Safety Index of 7,50 and you can't go faster than that. Car can be with 4, 6 or 8 cylinder engines and they can be Blower Powered, with a Single turbo, Twin Turbo or without any blowers or turbos. NOS is allowed also. You can run with regular fuel, ethanol or methanol, but if you have blown car, you can't run with methanol.

These have to be door cars and scoop can't be higher than the roof .

Some examples:

Timo Mäkelä's AMC Javelin with 428 Cid. engine without blower of turbos. I'm not sure if there's NOS or not. Best ET around 8,0.

Joakim Viklund's Mustang with Giant engine, it was over 800 Cid. No blower or turbo, and some NOS if I remember correctly. Best ET 7,4 but that's too fast in Outlaw.

Then Kalle Mannerkoski's Plymouth Valiant. No idea about the engine size, but it has some NOS and best ET is 7,6 I guess.

Pasi Ahonen's Chevy Camaro. Best ET 7,5.

Risto Virtala's BMW with 2,2 liters Turbocharged 4 cylinder engine. Best ET is 7,4 I guess?

[W-409]

Sorry about the little delay, I had problems with the internet connection.

Anyway, More Outlaw cars:

One of my favorites: Kenneth Wikberg's Dodge Dart with Pro Charger. I guess the best ET is around 7,9 seconds.

Ari Nikko's Opel Omega Wagon with Pro Charger. Best ET is around 7,7 if I remember correctly.

Hannu Kalliomäki's Camaro. This went easily 7,5 second times, but nowadays Kalliomäki drives Super Pro Street (Faster than Outlaw.) .

Jari Sokura's '57 Chevy. It went 7,7's.

Then my favorite: Tero Kirsilä's '69 Barracuda with Keith Black Hemi and Blower. This one is Loud. 7,9 is the best ET.

[W-409]

Sorry about the long break, Guys.

Here are few more pics of Tero Kirsilä's Barracuda:

There's a compilation of Outlaw Qualification Round 1 at Finnish Championchip Final event. You can see also this Barracuda there.

[W-409]

Now the Fastest Finnish Championchip car category! Super Pro Street!

This is group for Door Cars and the "Index" is 6,8 seconds. That time-range is maybe the biggest difference to Outlaw, and other one is that blown or turboed Methanol engines are allowed too. There are many very professional-type Teams and then some run with HomeMade cars, that's very cool in this group.

Otherwise the rules are quite the same than in Outlaw.

The 2012 season was the first for SPS, so all cars were not on track yet, next summer there should be more.

Examples:

Johan Gripenberg's Chevy Lumina runs with Small Block Chevy (!) and blower. This sounds mean.

Then Hannu Mylläri's Dodge Avenger. This is with 377 Cid engine and one turbocharger. Best ET is around 7,0.

Teemu Pekka's Chrysler LeBaron with Mopar 353 Cid. Engine and TwinTurbo setup. It has been going 7,2's if I remember correctly.

[crazyjim]

It's hard to believe that there are so many cool American cars in Finland.

[W-409]

Juha Räikkönen's Chevy Cobalt with 500 Cid. Pro Stock engine. Best ET is around 7,1 seconds, and he won the Finnish Championchip this year.

Tero Laukkanen's Mustang with TwinTurbos and 520 Cubic Inches. It goes 7,1's, but he was driving Pro Modified license with that car, too. There he went 6,6's so there is potential.

Hannu Kalliomäki's Pontiac, bought from as Nitro Fish car and now it looks like this. He ran one 6,9 second pass, until the engine broke down.

[W-409]

Yes, Jim. They are long distance away from their factories!

Then Mikko Saarinen's Plymouth Cuda. Before he was driving Dodge Dart in Outlaw, but after crashing that one, he started to build Cuda.

"Mikko Saarinen (Finland, Outlaw) bought the meeting to a dramatic close with a heavy crash into the temporary wall in the right hand side of the shutdown area, hooking in front of Timo Makela’s Javelin. The weight of the impact sent debris from Saarinen’s Dodge Dart far and wide, Makela damaging the side of his car in getting out of the way, and then, as silence descended, there was the surreal rumble of the concrete wall collapsing for over 100 metres down track. Amazingly, Saarinen was able to drive home that night, a testimony to the strength of the rollcage as there wasn’t much else of the car left intact."

You can see that Timo Mäkelä sure had the cabin full of hands when trying not to hit anything in high speed.

Not the best video, but the only one I could find.

[W-409]

Sorry guys I forgot this topic completely and just came across it when I was looking at older posts.

Here we go again, more Super Pro Street Cars.

Tomi Pellinen's '56 Chevy. It has Blown Methanol engine and it sounds just like ProMod to me... Steel bodied. This is pretty wild car...

Kaj Erik Nieminen's Chevy Corvette. It has big engine and some NOS.

[W-409]

Atte Nyberg's Chevy Camaro with Blown Methanol engine, to me it sounds very ProMod like. It didn't work that nicely on its first race, but I guess they will make it run nicely to the next season.

It's a shame I can't get the sound in this image...

Then Hannu Flink's '41 Willys. This has huge engine and NOS, best ET so far 6,9. He does always very nice burnouts!

And one Video I filmed at Finals 2012:

[Mooneyzs]

Niko....great pics thanks for sharing

[W-409]

Thanks and glad to hear you have enjoyed the ride.

Now the situation is, that we have went through all Finnish Championchip car categories. So next I will move on to Finnish Pro Stock, Pro Mod etc teams, so called Professional Classes who drive European Championchip series.

First in line there is Pro Stock, where we have only two Finnish teams.

First Richard "Nixxon" Sundblom. He has been few times the second on European Championchip standings, but he has never won the championchip I guess. He drives Chevy Cobalt, best ET is somewhere about 6,6 seconds.

Then other team, which has been racing Pro Stock for only two (or three, can't remember surely) years, Österberg Racing. Driver is Sampsa Palos, who is really good driver, too. Best ET is at low 6,7s. He has won a couple of races with that car.

[W-409]

So you think we have no Pro Modifieds in Finland? If you did, you're wrong.

First Kristian Nyström's '57 Chevy Pro Mod. Best ET is 6,16. Car is built by Andy Robinson Race Cars.

Timo Äikää's '62 Chevy Bel Air Bubbletop. This car has 899 Cid engine with NOS. Can't remember the best ET for this one, though.

[W-409]

Then we have Tami Brander with his '69 Camaro. He built this car few years ago, and it runs nicely. Best ET is 6,148 seconds.

[W-409]

Then we have Marko Lantto from Flat Out Racing. He goes always Full Throttle and he don't lift up the throttle very easily. The car is '81 Chevy Corvette, best ET is around 6,3 seconds.

But on Last year's second event, it seemed to be slippery for this Vette...

And a Video (Not Mine).

Sometimes he does huge burnouts, too. Don't care about the Corvette guy, don't know who he is and the video is not mine either.

[W-409]

More Pro Modifieds!

Jari Parén's '63 Corvette. It has 762 Cid Fulton engine with NOS. I don't know the best ET for this one, though.

And Tero Laukkanen who was mentioned in SPS category, has moved to ProMod. He has still that Twin Turbo Mustang.

Those are the current drivers of Pro Mod. Though here are two cars that I haven't seen on track for a while.

Seppo Saapola & '57 Chrysler 300. Really nice and fast car, 2006 he was Third at European Championship. If I remember correctly, 2009 was the last time when I saw him on track.

And Tomi Pöntinen's Camaro.

[comp1839]

hey niko, maybe this will fit your interests. recently, my friends at precision chassis completed a rebuild on a car for a guy out in your neck of the woods. his name is victor jansson. i understand he purchased the car from a gentleman who "tagged the wall". victor then sent it over to precision chassis to have it fixed. the car was originally built by precision for duece staley. any way here are some before during and after pics of the car.

as it arrived.

front halved.

new body.

new nitous system. plus a ton of other stuff .

back home and doing a burnout.

Edited July 14, 2013 by comp1839

[W-409]

Thanks for the info & pictures Dave! I've seen pictures of that car, but can't remember whose car it was before Victor bought it. Very nice car and I'm sure it runs very good.

Here are two Finnish Top Methanol Funny Car drivers. First Johnny Oksa who is driving his dad's (Jarmo Kuutniemi's) car. Jarmo passed away because of health issues, and this car needed to get back on the strip. So Jarmo's son Johnny drove the license and he has been racing with the car this season very nicely, especially when he has no experience of Drag Racing before stepping into TMFC.

And then Ari Pietilä who has another Jarmo Kuutniemi's car. This is the car that Jarmo drove before buying that Dodge Charger. It was a Chevy Camaro then, but Pietilä's team turned it into Dodge Intrepid.

[Danno]

Awesome thread, Niko. {Sorry I missed it before!}

Excellent pix and some really outstanding cars. Glad to see racing is alive and thriving in your country!

[W-409]

Thanks Danno! There are many cars in Finland for sure, and luckily racing is alive.

There are two Top Methanol Dragsters in Finland. First one is driven by Marko Leivo and this is Arto Höylä's old car that has a Personal Best of 5,7 Seconds if I remember correct.

And Esko Raisvuo who has that A/Fuel Dragster. Best ET is around 5,6 if I remember correct. Not my picture.

[comp1839]

question for you nikko. (maybe someone has already asked and i just missed it) do the fuel cars (t/f and funny car) run 1320 ft. or 1000 ft. like here?

[W-409]

I think no one has asked that yet, or if someone has, then I must have forgotten that too. It was a couple of years ago when Top Fuelers started to run 1000FT instead of the regular 1320. Though there are only a couple of Nitro Funny Cars here in Europe, and they don't drive on every race. Though it looks like they are getting more popular all the time.

And now let's post all Finnish Top Fuel Dragsters. Last year on the European Championship, Finnish TF Drivers took all places from 1 to 6.

None of these pictures are mine, usually I take videos of these things.

First Risto Poutiainen who started driving Top Fuel Dragsters in 1991. He drove a few years then and had a little break of racing. In 2009 he was back on track and he has placed 2nd on European Championship three times, in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and 2012 he won the European Championship.

This happened at Alastaro Nitro Nationals 2010. Stig Neergard & Risto Poutiainen crashed very badly. Both cars ended to the center line after finishing line and Stig pulled the chute straight on Risto's eyes and the cars hit each others. Poutiainen's car destroyed completely, and yes, it was brand new car. Stig's car didn't damage that bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ9Auv5Aiyw

This happened on Friday, at the second qualification round. Since there are four in total, Poutiainen's team started building a new car. Their times were disqualified, but after working the whole night and next day with help and parts from other teams, they were ready for the last Qualifying Round as the only guy that is out from the ladder. But Risto ran very nicely on that round taking the # 1 Qualifying Spot with the new car they had just built.

On the Eliminations Risto ran to the Finals where Timo Lehtimäki beat him. The win marginal was a couple of thousands of a second.

This is the Final Round.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuJ2Gbzl7W0

Then Timo Lehtimäki. Another fast TF Driver and this car is pretty consistant too.

Anita Mäkelä. The only woman who has won the European Championship in Top Fuel. She started driving Competition class already in the '80s.

Then Jari Halinen. "Jari started his drag racing career in 1984. Since then he has won several Finnish Chamionships, a nordic Championship, and run numerous records. Jari has driven dragsters and altereds in Competition class, and also Top Methanol Dragster before moving to Top Fuel in 2007."

Then Antti Horto. "He started his race career in Junior Dragster in 1996. After some successful years he gained his Super Comp license in 2001, and won the Finish Championship the same year. In 2002 he took his Competiton Dragster license and competed in both B/D Dragster, where he finished no1, and Super Comp were he finished in third place." 2011 He drove Top Fuel license and this year he is the current leader in European Championships.

And last - but not least, Janne Ahonen who has been Racing since 2003-2006 in Competition Eliminator, and 2006 he moved to Top Fuel Dragster.

[PappyD340]

Wow Niko those are some great pics lots of inspiration there, and I thought we were the only one's that had real drag racing, man I got fooled (lol) thanks for sharing!!