FHRA Nitro Nationals 2014

[Niko L]

Only a week after the FHRA Drag Race Week at Alastaro, the Nitro Nationals started. This is an European Championship Drag Race event with Pro Categories as well, like Pro Stock, Top Methanol Funny Car and Top Methanol Dragster, Top Fuel and of course my absolute favorite: Pro Modified! The event starts on Thursday and there are three days for Qualification and one for Eliminations. However, Cup categories' Eliminations were already on Friday, which means that Sportsman & Pro ET and Real Street & Top Street cars raced on only those two days. Also, on Saturday the first Elimination round for Finnish Championship categories that had 32 car ladders were driven. That means Super Pro ET and Junior Dragster.

Thursday:
Anyway we arrived to the pits on Thursday morning at 8 AM. Many teams left their cars to the pits after the Drag Race Week, and so did we too. The first thing I did was going to the Race Office to get all of the papers I would need. Surprisingly, the office opened at 9 AM. While we couldn't get the papers, the security officers didn't let us go to the pits even if we showed that we have a trailer in the back and our car is in the pits. Team cards didn't help, either. He told us to drive to the parking lot while he'd call to his foreman to decide what to do. Well, we did just that and soon the foreman came and he let us in.

When we got into the pits, we got some coffee from team Hassinen...Thanks! When the Race Office opened at 9 AM, I went there to get the papers. Drivers' meeting was at starting area half an hour before the race would start. After that I drove to the tech inspection that was in the other end of the Drag Strip. Well, there I noticed that I forgot to take the card with me that has car's information and other important stuff. I could do nothing but run back to the pits and then back to the inspection with that card. I must say that it was freaking hot after I had done that!



Our first Qualification round was at 11.25 AM. It was a "Heads Up run" as there was Noora Laine with her '72 Buick Skylark that runs also in K/SA. After the burnout there was a bit smoke in the car, I guess the wind was blowing from the back... Anyway I took a little red light (-.101) but of course in qualifying that doesn't matter. My 60 FT time was decent and I ran 12.391 & 169.80 as top speed. Not the best run, but not bad either. Noora ran 12.543 on the other lane so I was a bit faster that time.

The second round was at 1:27 PM. This time there was Timo Eronen in his SS/AH Hemi Barracuda on the other lane. The burnout went well, but actually that was the only succesful thing in this run. When I was staged I pushed the brakes and also I activated the Two Step (Button is in the brake pedal). When Timo came to stage as well, I pushed the throttle and the car just crawled forward. A red light for me and a horrible 60 FT time. I went full throttle, but of course the ET was bad, too. 12.703 with 170.34 KM/H top speed for me.

The third round took place at 3:15 PM. The weather was still very nice and hot, so we didn't expect new records. This time on the other lane there war Iiro Mikkola in his F/SA Chevy Nova. Now the car stayed on place and when I lifted the brakes I felt right away that this time the launch was pretty good. And it was, I did a new 60 FT record again, this time it was 1.632. I also got my first green light at Nitro Nats, my RT was .109. I ran 12.283 & 170.68 top speed, so this was a really good run for me. It was not far away from my record that I ran at Motopark.

After that third run I was talking with other Stock & Super Stock drivers and in the middle of Outlaw's Qualification round, we heard from the radio that it's raining in the braking area! It was really strange as only a few minutes earlier the sun was shining and no one could expect a rain to come. Well then the rain started at the pits as well. First it was just a regular rain, but then it started hailing pretty hard... It looked like there would be no racing on that day anymore so after the hailing had stopped I changed my drivers' clothes back to normal.

The asphalt dried really fast, though, so the folks were able to finish Outlaw qualfication round and run Super Pro Street, too, but then it started to rain again and the day was called off. Overall I was really happy with my results, a 12.2 ET is always a good thing.

There was a nice picture of me doing a Wheelstand at EuroDragster.com. It shows that the rear sway bar we added really works!
EuroDragster.com Photo.

[Niko L]

Friday:

After a good night sleep in the Chevy Van the first thing to do for the car was to put the battery charger on. It looked like it would be another really hot day ahead and this would be the day when the Pro Categories have their first Qualifying rounds, too. Of course it means that there won't be many Qualifying rounds for us.

Our first round was before the Pro Categories' first Qualifying round that started at Noon. Our first round was at 11:12 AM. It was another Heads Up run against Noora Laine in her Buick. I did a good burnout, but then again the car crawled over from stage... On my time slip, it says LBTA where should be the reaction time. My 60 FT was horrible, 2.329 and the ET was only 13.132 with 167.81 KM/H top speed. Noora drove 12.863 on the other lane.

Our second Qualification round was just before the second Pro Categories' Qualification round, at 3:50 PM. This time on the other lane was Jarmo Markkanen in his A/S Pontiac Firebird. This time the car stayed on place until I lifted the brakes and I got .142 RT on that run. My 60 FT time was 1.667 so nothing special, but not too bad, either. Anyway ET was only 12.434 with 168.06 KM/H Top speed.

Those two rounds were all we were able to run on Friday. When the racing was over, we drove to Pori for that night.

Saturday:

On Saturday our first Qualification round took place at 10:37 AM. It was a lot earlier than on Friday, because SET/PET and Real Street and Top Street categories' Eliminations were already driven on Friday. I got a good light on my first run, .062 but when I lifted the brakes I noticed that the car didn't launch properly. It seemed like there was too much gasoline in the carburetor, so probably I set the launch RPM up a bit too early and the engine got too much fuel. The 60 FT was 1.709 and the car ran 12.402 with 170.58 KM/H top speed.





In the pits we noticed that there's not much rubber left on the tires. That meant a short burnout for the next run. That took place at 3:08 and this time while I was concentrating on launching the car so that the RPM is at 3,000 where the Two Step is set, but at the same time I didn't push "Pedal to the Metal", I was way late with the reactions... .447 RT for me, but the 60 FT was good, 1.647. The car ran 12.342 with 169.34 KM/H top speed, so we were pretty satisfied with that run.



Back to the pits we were looking at the tires again. They looked so bad that we thought if there would be another round for Saturday, it's better not to drive. That way we would have tires in Eliminations, too.



In the evening we went to Sauna. The water that came from the shower was cold, but anyway it felt good to be clean again.

[Niko L]

Qualifying Results:

1. Jarmo Grönman with his C/S Chevy Camaro that he imported from the USA in the Winter. Jarmo ran 10.276 that is -1.07 under NHRA Index.


2. Arto Sulopuisto with his B/S Pontiac Firebird. Arto had some problems with the shifter during the weekend, but despite the problems, he did a great job running 10.194 that is -1.00 under NHRA Index.


3. Jarmo Markkanen with his A/S Pontiac Firebird. Jarmo ran 10.202 that is -0.74 under NHRA Index.


4. Yrjö Wallius with his SS/J '67 Rambler American. He ran 10.213 that is -0.58 under NHRA Index.


5. Tarmo Mikkola with his SS/HA '69 Chevy Camaro. Tarmo ran 10.014 that is also -0.58 under NHRA Index.


6. Tarja Gynther in her E/SA '68 Chevy Camaro. She ran 11.211 that is -0.48 under NHRA Index.


7. Iiro Mikkola in his F/SA Chevrolet Nova. Iiro ran 11.457 that is -0.39 under NHRA Index.


8. Niko Lindström with K/SA '74 Chevelle. I ran 12.283 that is -0.36 under NHRA Index.


9. Elina Salakari in her SS/HA '67 Chevrolet Camaro. She ran 10.267 that is -0.33 under NHRA Index.


10. Jere Lilja in E/SA Pontiac Trans Am. The car that Eero Knihtilä drove a couple of decades ago. The last time it was seen on the track was 1992 before this year. Jere ran 11.385 that is -0.31 under NHRA Index.


11. Hannu Palasmaa in his CC/S '71 Chevrolet Chevelle. Hannu was suffering from traction problems, but he managed to run 10.307 anyway. It is -0.29 under NHRA Index.


12. Noora Laine in her K/SA '72 Buick Skylark. She ran 12.543 that is -0.10 under NHRA Index. Unfortunately the engine broke down on Saturday, so she couldn't race on Sunday.


13. Timo Eronen with his SS/AH Hemi Barracuda. Timo had major traction problems and unfortunately his engine broke in Qualifying. His best ET was 9.528 that is 0.22 over NHRA Index.

[Niko L]

Sunday:

When we woke up at Sunday morning, it looked like this would be another hot day. And it was, probably even hotter than Saturday. The first Elimination Round for Stock & Super Stock was before the first round of Pro Categories' Eliminations, and our turn was just before 11 AM.

We were wondering what to put as a dial in. After a lot of thinking, I thought it would be a good idea to put a bit slower dial in than what the car might run, so that I'd push the brakes before crossing the finishing line. So I wrote 12.37 on the windows.

We were called to the Line Up.

On the first pair, #1 Qualifier, Jarmo Grönman had a solo run. Jarmo got almost perfect RT, .004 and he ran 10.234, which is even faster than he did in the Qualifying. On the second pair, it was supposed to be Iiro Mikkola against Timo Eronen, but because of Eronen's engine broke, Iiro got a solo run too. Looks like the solo run went really well, he took a perfect .000 RT and ran 11.646! The third pair was a battle between Yrjö Wallius and Jere Lilja. Jere left before Yrjö, but he red lighted by -.024 and he ran 11.371 with 11.38 dial in. That means Wallius got an easy run, he took a .020 light and ran 10.182 on 10.22 dial in. The fourth pair consisted of Tarmo Mikkola and Hannu Palasmaa. Hannu took a better RT (.032 against Tarmo's .156) and took the win running 10.321 on 10.32 dial in! Tarmo broke out a little, he ran 10.041 with 10.05 dial in. The fifth pair was Niko Lindström against Arto Sulopuisto. I did a very short burnout, because of the tires. I lifted the Line Lock immediately when I shifted to the third gear. Anyway I knew I will have to take a good light or otherwise Arto will win, but when trying a good light I went red by -.052. Luckily I saw the red light, so I was able to run full throttle to the finishing line. I had a decent 60 FT time, 1.657 and my ET was 12.330 with 171.26 top speed. Looks like my dial in was pretty good, though, with a little braking I guess I'd have been quite close. Arto took a .327 RT and ran 10.196 with 10.17 dial in after my red light. On the sixth pair Jarmo Markkanen was against Elina Salakari. Jarmo took a bit better RT, .026 against Elina's .081 and won the race even if Elina was closer to her dial in. Jarmo drove 10.238 with 10.20 dial in and Elina drove 10.268 with 10.25 dial in. On the last pair it was supposed to be Tarja Gynther against Noora Laine, but because Laine's engine had broken down, Tarja got a solo pass. He took a -.250 red light and ran 11.671.

On the second round the first pair was between Jarmo Grönman and Iiro Mikkola, the two guys who took .004 and .000 Reaction Times on the first round. Mikkola took a better light, .048 against Jarmo's .229 and won the race by running 11.672 with 11.50 dial in time. Jarmo drove 10.362 with 10.29 dial in time. The second pair was Yrjö Wallius against Hannu Palasmaa. Hannu took an excellent light, .015 against Yrjö's .056 and he ran 10.367 with 10.28 dial in. Yrjö ran 10.248 on 10.20 dial in so Hannu took the win. Arto Sulopuisto had a solo run on the third pair. He took a .064 light, but he had problems with the shifter again and ran only 13.928. The last pair was Jarmo Markkanen against Tarja Gynther. Tarja left first, but she red lighted a little (-.033). She ran 11.368 with 11.30 dial in. Jarmo took a .103 RT and he ran 10.248 with 10.18 dial in.

The Semi Final round came really fast after the second round. On the first pair Iiro Mikkola was running against Hannu Palasmaa. Iiro took a .069 light, but Hannu's RT was a bit better, .013. However, Iiro ran closer to his dial in (11.427 with 11.40 dial in against Hannu's 10.409 with 10.31 dial in) and he went to the finals. On the second pair two Pontiac Firebirds were running against each others. Arto Sulopuisto in his B/S Firebird and Jarmo Markkanen in his A/S Firebird. Both guys had set their dial ins to 10.23. Markkanen's RT was better, .014 against Arto's .150 and Jarmo won the race even if Arto drove closer to his dial in. Jarmo ran 10.369 and Arto ran 10.284.

The Final was between Iiro Mikkola in his F/SA Chevy Nova and Jarmo Markkanen in his A/S Pontiac Firebird. Reactions were nearly the same, .092 for Iiro and .099 for Jarmo. Anyway Jarmo drove closer to his dial in, 10.284 on 10.28 dial in and he won the race. Iiro ran 11.465 with 11.40 dial in.



Congratulations for the both finalists!

On Sunday we were also shopping at Drag Race Finland's place. The guys do such a good work that it's worth sponsoring! Of course we had to buy also a little decal for our car.



Here is a video of my runs from this weekend.



Thanks To:
-Team Hassinen for coffee and for lending us a towel so that we could go to Sauna.
-Jarmo Grönman for the tips he gave me.
-My little sister Laura for the action pictures of our car.
-Special Thanks to Drag Race Finland for resurfacing the Drag Strip and to the track crew who worked hard prepping the track in a very short time.

For the next race at Kalajoki Airport we have ordered new Mickey Thompson tires... See you there!