Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 20
Dirt
JIMMY ALUND
Camaro with a win at the Charlotte Four-Wide
Nationals. The victory came with great honor as
it secured Alund as the first European driver to
win a professional NHRA race.
The amiable Swede ventured home soon af-
ter and continued his string of successes in FIA
competition. Looking to expand his experience
in 2017, Alund made the decision to scale back
on a few Pro Stock races and add Pro Mod to his
racing repertoire. He took over driving duties on
Magnus Petterson’s Old 51 Chevrolet Business
Coupe and brought longtime mechanic Petter
Greborn along for the ride, with Petterson tuning.
Alund, who has been drag racing since 1986,
readily took to the Old 51, and in 2018 the col-
laboration of the team really began to flourish.
Alund reached a coveted milestone in July as he
doubled-up with wins in both Pro Stock and Pro
Mod at the Finland Hot Rod Association Nitro
Nationals – another first for a European drag racer.
“It was a dream come true,” said Alund between
rounds at the Summit Racing Internationals in
Tierp one month later, where he won another
Pro Mod trophy. “We had such a bad start to
the weekend with the Pro Stock car in Finland;
we didn’t get down the track once in qualifying
and were dead-last on the qualifying sheet going
into eliminations. But [fellow racer] Michael
Malmgren saved our day with a borrowed set of
tires, and we were the fastest car down the track
every run. I had full faith in the Pro Mod car and
won with that one first, then less than 10 minutes
later I jumped in the Pro Stocker, started it up,
and won the race. It was unbelievable.”
Switching between the two cars is no easy task.
According to Alund, the Pro Mod car is more
forgiving with twice as much horsepower but
requires more concentration to drive. Cutting a
good light in the Old 51 is difficult, but the benefit
of concentrated effort was getting back in the Pro
Stocker after a couple of races with improved
reaction times across the board.
“It’s a big challenge to race both cars at one
time. They are two different animals,” said Alund.
“You have to have all the logistics in order. In one,
you have push buttons for shifting, a converter, a
handbrake instead of a footbrake. The good thing
is the Pro Stock car is something I’m used to for
15 years, so I don’t have to think too much. The
hard part is doing a good job, but that’s always
the hard thing in a Pro Stock car.”
Alund says that both cars are challenging in
their own way, but that’s what makes it interesting.
“I like the Pro Stock car because it’s more picky,”
said Alund. “It requires more of you as a driver,
and you have to be perfect. I know people don’t
like to hear this, but it also requires more as a
tuner because the Pro Mod car is a little bit more
forgiving, power-wise. But they are fun in differ-
ent ways. I really like the sound from inside the
Pro Mod car. It’s quieter [in the cockpit], so you
can really hear the engine and know if it’s happy
and if you’re making a good or bad run. Plus,
when I put that Pro Mod car into second gear, it
really puts you back in the seat. It’s unbelievable.”
He has amassed 11 championships in the FIA
European Drag Racing Series and scored a vic-
tory in NHRA competition, and Alund doesn’t
appear to be scaling back his racing any time
soon. Running a limited schedule in Pro Stock
has meant that for the past two seasons, he wasn’t
able to acquire enough points to contend for the
FIA championship in both classes. One might
ponder the possibility of ramping up and going
for the biggest double-up of all.
“People ask me about my future plans all the
time, but for right now, I just take it race by race,”
said Alund. “The best scenario would be to have
one car in the States and one here [in Europe], that
way I can drive both, but we’ll see what the future
brings. We’re having fun, and that’s what I like.”
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 140