Drag Racing in Happy Hudiksvall
As I crouched down to take the first of many photos of the event, I immediately realized the mistake I had made. As the staging lights blinked on and the 3500 horsepower supercharged big block built up to launching RPM, I knew what I had forgotten. The open headers monumental rumble bashed the insides of my eardrums to pieces like a wooden rowboat in a Baltic Sea storm. Phone? Check. Camera? Check. Lenses? Check. Pants? Check. Hearing protection? Uh… whoops. Safety third here at Blacktop Ranger as per usual. After an hour of unmitigated hearing damage, Pelle Strid took pity on me and lent me his headset. Ringing ears weren’t going to stop me from capturing the local drag race event in Hudiksvall. No way.
The drag event took place on a civilian airport runway. It seems like there are almost as many airstrips as Chevy Impalas around here. The airstrip provides the perfect venue for a 200 meter (1/8th mile) race and has been doing so since the ‘60s. The event was a combination of different class vehicles. Most were simply putting on a show while test and tuning.
The main event so to speak were the wicked Top Doorslammers competing for qualification. The Top Doorslammer cars are very similar to the Pro Mod class. Nitromethane is prohibited, so compression is key. Absolutely massive blowers and twin turbo systems make up to around 50 psi to generate 3000 or more horsepower. Doorslammers get their name from their most obvious characteristic. A Doorslammer must have functional doors. While both lanes were functional, the competition was scored by time and not squaring off head to head. Track prep was well managed and the cars were smoothly orchestrated with very little down time between runs.
The real charm of the occasion was the hometown spirit exhibited. Entrance was a paltry 50 krona (roughly $5) which included parking. There was amble seating available from bleachers on both sides of the strip, but the seats were not filled. Not that there weren’t people to fill them. Rather, the staging areas were open to spectators and most of the crowd stood behind the burnout pad. A careless enthusiast could nonchalantly drive their car to the bleach pad as no barriers of any kind were present. Racing teams diligently wrenched on their vehicles and simply turned left to arrive in line for their run. It was refreshing to experience such serious competition without the big event level complications.
Some familiar faces were in attendance. Lasse Söderlund, Pelle Strid and the rest of their team were there. We had first met Lasse when he was taking his sinister Porsche for besiktning (car certification). Soft spoken and polite, Lasse was easy to talk to and made a fast friend. We ran into Lasse and Pelle last week while they were test and tuning another car at the Föne Air base. I made the horrible error of misidentifying their car as a Ford. Alas, it was a 67 Chevy Nova. I ate up the jokes on my behalf with a smile.
Lasse left the Nova behind for the Hudiksvall Drag day. Instead, he took his screaming fast Bel Air. The purpose built racecar is capable of over 2500 horsepower at full tilt. The beast of a car was responsible for my ears still ringing a day later. So thanks for that Lasse. According to Pelle, they were only testing the car. So it “only” produced a thousand horsepower less than maximum. At the base the previous weekend, we also met Bertil Olsson. He continued to dial in his gen one Camaro at the Hudiksvall airstrip. The Camaro is a fantastic example of a Pro Street muscle car. Key design elements are the massive rear Mickey Thompson tires, and a gorgeous naturally aspirated big block Chevy powerplant. We will be covering the Camaro in detail in an upcoming feature.
Another endearing aspect to the event was interestingly enough, the parking lot. Or rather, the field beside the airstrip. Sure, there were many “regular” sensible Volvos, Saabs, Peugeots, and Citroens. Yet, for every commuter, there were two classics. I met a gentleman named Roger who owns a clean and original 1963 Buick Wildcat. I had seen the car at the Delsbo cruise and was hoping to get a closer look since. The Wildcat didn’t disappoint. From the beautiful vibrant deep red paint to the lush black leather interior, the car represents what I consider the high point of American car art. 1962 to 1965 cars had all the polished metal and artistry from a 1950’s dashboard, while possessing the mean blocky body shape of the muscle cars to come. The Wildcat was powered by the 445 small block. Buick’s engines were named by their torque not their size. The engine is actually a 401 cubic inch Nailhead. Another vehicle that caught my eye was a modified Plymouth Roadrunner. While I didn’t get a look under the hood, vinyl decals signaled that the car was powered by a 505 Ci Mopar. The car’s deep purple paint color and blacked out bumpers gave the Roadrunner a sinister appearance. The car’s lowered stance gave the low wide grill an exceptionally mean look.
One of the most intriguing vehicles we found that day was not an American car, but a once humble Opel Kadett. What originally was powered by a subdued 1.2 liter engine making less than 50 horsepower, now possessed an earth turning 500+ ci big block. The engine possessed a perfectly crafted twin turbo setup sticking halfway out of the hood. The car wheelied violently each time it launched, so the times put up were a far cry from the beautiful machine’s potential. My second favorite was also once a shy commuter car. A four door Volvo 740 turned rocket ship. With the tube frame chassis under her, the Volvo maintained its safety pedigree. The 740 ran superbly with textbook planted launches.
While the event would continue on until the sun went low into the sky, we had to leave halfway through. The experience was incredible though. While racing as a whole has become harder and harder to financially sustain, the ages of the drivers on the track were surprisingly young. Pelle and the M.A.D. Performance Opel crew are both still young enough to be carded at Systembolaget when it came time to drink back home. It was refreshing to see the new breed of car enthusiasts step up to take the mantle and continue the technical innovations being done to cars reaching over 60 years in age. It gives hope that our passions will not die out in the age of the electronic car, drive by wire, and technical automation.
GALLERY
