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THE ETFA AND JAPAN

The Acceleration Archive: Before we move on, I know you were involved with the ETFA (the European Top Fuel Association) around this time, which ultimately led to the FIA European Championship Series which we have today.  Can you talk to us about the ETFA and what it meant to have the association?

Pelle Lindelöw: Well with all the European Top Fuel teams that began to emerge in the early '90s, we wanted to organise Top Fuel racing into a proper championship – not just a circus for demo runs or bought in races.
We began having meetings with promoters in Sweden, and Stuart Vallance - who was then racing his British Top Fueler – came over to Stockholm to attend one of these meetings.  The promoters said we needed some kind of spokesman and Stuart said he knew the perfect guy.
And that guy was Keith Bartlett.  So at the next meeting Keith was introduced to the promoters and the other racers.  A lot of meetings then followed, usually in Stockholm, and Keith used to stay at my house when he came over for these meetings.  Eventually as a group we formed this association called the ETFA and a contract was drawn up with the promoters.  I think as racers we expected the contract to be half a page of text, with a dotted line for us to sign.  But being an Englishman, Keith had like a 50 page contract with every describable detail written in, from how much pit space we should have, down to how many tickets each team was allocated.  It was a culture shock, but it worked. Keith is a fantastic entrepreneur and he knew how to speak to people, he had a way with words and exactly the character you need, it was very important for drag racing to have a person like that.  Liv Berstad and Rune Fjeld were also very active from the beginning of the ETFA.  We also had Tuula Jatinen, a very good press officer we hired from Finland.  She did a wonderful job.  No newspaper or TV station escaped her attention and the media had no excuses if they didn’t feature the ETFA races.  We had ten Top Fuelers around Europe in 1991 - 92 and the championship was contested over seven events - one more than the current FIA series as Piteå was also included back in those days.  

AA: And how did the transformation into the FIA series come about?

PL: That happened while we took time out to race in Japan, so all I knew when we got back to Europe was it was now the FIA Championship and everything was much more expensive, entry fees became more expensive and you had to enter the whole FIA series.  There were a lot of changes from how things had been with the ETFA but ultimately it was to the good, I think.  In the past there were too many cowboys.  Things needed to be straightened up, better organised and look like a professional championship, which I think it now is.

AA: We’d better not get ahead of ourselves, as I want to talk to you about Japan later.  So can we go back to 1992, as after a decade in Top Fuel, this was about to become your most successful and fruitful period.

PL: Without a doubt!  I remember we had to get Kent Persson to drive our car at the 1992 Finals at Santa Pod as I had a bad back.  He was shorter than me so we had to ‘customize’ the cockpit with a lot of duct tape, and pieces of wood!  He reached the final though (which was rained off).  The car was beginning to run good, and 1993 was going to turn out to be our championship year.

AA: So was it all down to the new car and engine?

PL: A combination of that and the by-word in drag racing – consistency!
There were other quicker cars around, but nobody beat me at the tree.
And we kept the car in one piece, running 5.2’s to 5.4’s, and running them like clockwork. Consistency was the key to our victory in 1993.  We went to all the ETFA rounds, even if we hadn’t planned it and couldn’t afford it.
Maybe we were foolhardy, but we could see what we were achieving, and once the train was moving we couldn’t stop.

AA: And as a direct result of winning the European Top Fuel Association Championship in 1993, you were invited by the NHRA to go racing in Japan.  Can you tell us how this all came about?

PL: Well it all started with a phone call in the winter of ’93 from a great friend to many Swedes, Krister “G” Johansson, who had moved to Los Angeles and was working for Gary Burgin.  Krister wanted to put us in touch with Melvyn Record, and Melvyn and Carl Olson wanted to bring some European racers to Japan.

AA: Maybe we should explain Melvyn and Carl’s role in all this?

PL: Well Melvyn had started as a journalist who many will remember from Fire Up Magazine and National Dragster.  He had moved to the USA in the early 1980’s and was working with NHRA International Relations and reporting directly to NHRA’s Carl Olson.  Melvyn and Carl were our main contacts at NHRA for everything leading up to and during our Japan trip.

AA: But of course it wasn’t just one trip was it?

PL: No we raced in Japan in 1994 and 1995.  After all the arrangements had been made at the beginning of 1994, we raced at Piteå and then had a 14 hour drive back to Stockholm to put the fueller in a container for Japan.
That was collected the next day and then it took 40 days for the ship to sail to Japan.  We then flew out on 9 August 1994.  That was myself and Gunnar Elmqvist, Janne Carlsson, Ulf "Hot Dog" Schill, Bosse "the Diver" Söderkvist (not a relative to Knut, a K instead of Q) and of course our Crew Chief, Gary Burgin from San Clemente, CA.  Also Tina Remell came along and worked as an interpreter for us, the Japanese and the Americans, and Kjelle Pettersson was with us too.  Kjell's role at the two events was to be the Race Director and work together with NHRA’s Steve Gibbs with track preparation and make sure everything on and around the track worked as it should.  Our first race was at Oita Aso Racing Park on the island of Kyushu, south of the Japanese mainland where we were racing against Robert Reehl and Ray Stutz from the USA and Robin Kirby from Australia.
There was absolutely no traction at all but our first qualifying session was cancelled due to thunderstorms, hurricanes, you name it.  Then when we returned to the track the next day Kjell and the NHRA guys had worked their miracles on the strip and with the weather improved the traction wasn’t so bad.  Still I ran with the throttle stop on, which got me number one qualifier!  But I lost in the eliminations and Reehl won the Oita Aso meeting.  Then later we moved to Fuji International Speedway, two hours from Tokyo.

AA: Who was organising these races?

PL: The Japanese Drag Racing Association and the NHRA contingent together with Kjell Pettersson, took care of everything - scrutineering, track preparation, startline officials, medical care etc.  There were a lot of people including a Diamond P camera team, and photographers from National Dragster and more.  All in all we filled two buses, one that the Americans called the "Serious Bus" with the Europeans and one called the "Fun Bus".

AA: An unforgettable experience for you and everyone I’m sure?

PL: Without a doubt. It was a pity we couldn’t have stayed longer to see more of Japan.  It’s a beautiful country and the people are so friendly.  As for the racing, we were a bit disappointed with our results but overall we were satisfied with what we achieved.

AA: Did you leave the car in Japan ready for the next year?

PL: No, we shipped it back. We did not know if we would be asked to go back again so the car was shipped home after the Fuji race.  But when NHRA asked us to repeat the trip we accepted without thinking twice.

AA: And how was 1995 different to 1994?

PL: It just the one race at Fuji International Speedway in 1995.  And this time Top Fuel was a six car field from five different corners of the globe.
There was us from Sweden, Rico Anthes from Germany, Rachelle Splatt from Australia, Ray Stutz from the USA and Takahiro Tashiro and Yuichi Okyama from Japan.  But it was a very strange deal.  We arrived on the racetrack on Saturday 27 August and made all our preparations.  NHRA were having problems convincing the Fuji track management that the track needed to be sprayed with VHT, as Fuji is of course also a racing circuit.
Eventually after a lot of negotiations they were allowed to prep the first eighth, but that was all.  The race was a one day event so we were at the track at 06.00 in the morning, warm up at 07.00.  First qualifying at 08.30.
But I broke the fuel pump drive and ended up with a 8.08 for a fifth spot out of six qualifying cars.  The first round was against Takahiro Tashiro, which was a real close race 5.93 against 5.98.  Then in round two we overpowered the track and went instantly up in smoke against Rachelle Splatt.  So it seemed we were packing the car back in the container by mid-day – a slight exaggeration but our second trip to Japan seemed to be over very quickly!  Rachelle later defeated Rico Anthes in the Final and we had the third place to bring home.

AA: So for this first truly international Top Fuel race Australia were the victors over the Swedes, the Germans, the Americans and the hosts?  But I presume NHRA were looking to expand drag racing into Japan; could you see the difference in the 12 months between your first and second trip?

PL: Oh yes. NHRA had been organising exhibition races in Japan since 1992 but in 1994 and 95 it was a real attempt to start an international drag racing series.  There were also Alcohol Funny Cars from Japan, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Mats Westman flying the flag for Sweden.  And there was Pro Stock, Top Gas, Pro Stock bike… everything.  They had a lot more cars in 1995 and the quality was improving.  The biggest class (in number of cars) was a kind of Japanese Pro Stock class, Japanese cars like Nissan and Lexus with 6 cylinder engines, EFI’s and turbo chargers, 40 miles of wiring and tiny tubes, a truckload of relays and timers and a whole lot of problems and some strong possibilities. Actually some of these cars where running very good (like low eights), however they were rather scary as they were totally noiseless.

AA: So Japanese drag racing was taking off?

PL: Well it was, there was a huge media interest but as big as the crowds were for these international races they were not big enough to cover the cost - in my opinion.  That must have been the biggest problem for the promoters.  NHRA tried another two race tour again in 1996 with Monica Öberg and Rico Anthes representing Europe, but that's another story someone else can tell.

© Andy Barrack 2005

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