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 DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 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 DI DI DI 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 DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 98 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 127