Drag Illustrated Issue 127, November 2017 | Page 98
30 UNDER 30
DENNIS KLANGEBO
S
weden’s Dennis Klangebo grew
up at the drag strip, first tagging
along with his father before his un-
timely passing when Dennis was 5
years old. Klangebo continued his
childhood trips to the track with his older broth-
ers, who worked with a local Pro Street team that
eventually gave Dennis his first opportunity to
work on a race car. Several years later, he joined
a FIA Pro Mod team and really began digging
into the tuning side of drag racing.
“I think my fascination with tuning first started
when I started doing the Racepak stuff,” Klange-
bo, 26, says. “You can get the data and actually
see everything. When you’re standing on the line
looking at a car, you’re like, Yeah, that must have
been too low on wheel speed so it shook. Then
you look at the log and it was actually too high
and it spun. I like seeing that. The data never lies.”
Klangebo’s youth and subsequent interest in
electronics made him a perfect fit as the tuner
for Michael Joneskog’s turbocharged ’68 Camaro
competing in FIA Pro Mod, as well as for Mag-
nus Frost’s wild Opel Ascona, which finished
third and second in the Unlimited class in its
last two attempts at Hot Rod Drag Week here in
the U.S. He’s also become a source of guidance
in the Swedish pits.
“I’m always helping the older guys over in
Swede n,” Klangebo chuckles. “They always come
over to the pit and ask me to help them with the
MSD grid or their Racepak. Most of the older
guys, they’re almost afraid to touch computers.
I think as a younger person, you’re not afraid to
try the electronics. Even if it’s a new system I’ve
never tried, I can try it and find my way. I think
that’s an advantage to being young – you’re not
afraid to try.”
Klangebo, who’s leading Frost’s effort to build
a steel-bodied Opel Ascona Pro Mod with Pro
Line power for 2018 Drag Week competition,
recently had his work in drag racing validated
in the form of a job offer from Koenigsegg, the
Swedish supercar manufacturer.
“Racing has taken up a lot of time, and it’s al-
ways been like a hobby,” Klangebo admits. “I’ve
been questioned by people like my mom and my
friends: How can I take so much time for racing?
I do it because it’s fun, but it always felt like if I
put in the hours and learn everything, it would
probably lead to something else. This is the first
time I’ve felt like that came true. It’s pretty cool
that a hobby can also turn into a job opportunity.”
– NATE VAN WAGNEN
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MICHAEL RECCHIA JR.
races. I love trying to figure out a way to get more
and more out of the car. I’ve always been very
interested in problem solving, and I’ve always
loved figuring out a way to get that next thou-
sandth of a second.”
Recchia works alongside his dad away from the
track, as well. They bat around tuning ideas at
Agrow-Fresh Produce near their Chicago home.
The team got their first win at GALOT in the
spring of this year and then quickly followed
that up with another final round appearance
in Darlington and then a win in front of their
hometown crowd in Indianapolis. While a mas-
sive engine detonation slowed their progress
at the final two events of the year, their suc-
cess early on was enough to hold on for the
championship.
As for getting back behind the wheel, Recchia
says, “maybe eventually.” Right now, the Pro Ex-
treme championship is still sinking in. “Whenever
someone congratulates us, it’s surreal that we’ve
actually been able to make it this far in the pro-
fessional ranks. It was a great feeling when we
got our first race win, let alone a championship.
It still hasn’t even sunk in yet.” – LISA COLLIER
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L
ong before Mike Recchia was
crowned the 2017 PDRA Pro Extreme
world champion, he was dominating in
the Chicago Wise Guys outlaw series.
At that point his son, Michael, was rac-
ing Jr. Dragsters. As time went on, the younger
Recchia realized he had more fun tuning one of
the baddest hot rods in the nation, his father’s
screw-blown Agrow-Fresh Produce ’69 Camaro,
than driving.
“I started getting into tuning about five years
ago,” Recchia, 28, explained. “My dad has been
giving me more and more freedom over the years
and I pretty much took over the reins about two
years ago, making the calls on the chassis adjust-
ment, the tune-up, the timing, all that.”
At 16 years old in 2005, Recchia had begun
bracket racing a Camaro. Four years later he had
the option to either transition to his dad’s old car
and continue racing locally or crew professionally
as the team expanded to chase national series.
“I decided that I would much rather chase the
professional ranks alongside of him and learn
more about the tuning aspect of it. I felt like that
was a lot more exciting than just doing the local
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