Drag Illustrated Issue 141, February 2019 | Page 22
I
n one sense, 2018 was a year Jonnie
Lindberg would very much like to forget.
The two-time Top Alcohol Funny Car
world champion suffered through a frus-
trating – and that’s putting it mildly – 2018 sea-
son piloting Jim Head’s Funny Car, winning just
seven rounds over 23 races. It was one disappoint-
ing result after another and certainly not what
Head or Lindberg were accustomed to through-
out their careers. “It was just a bad year for us,”
Lindberg admits.
But in another sense, the year included one of
the most enjoyable moments of his career. Lind-
berg and Richie Crampton combined on a wildly
creative project that took on a life of its own, as
they used the screw-blown Hemi, Lenco, titanium
can and clutch out of Lindberg’s TAFC and put it
in Crampton’s all-steel ’57 Chevy Wagon.
It made for an incredible scene as they drove
and raced the car during HOT ROD Drag Week,
leading to a groundswell of excitement and
buzz. The amount of support and fanfare the
car received blew Lindberg away, but it was pre-
cisely the type of feel-good moment he needed
to wipe away the frustration of his professional
racing career.
“We built that car and we thought it’s kind of
cool and let’s see how it goes, but the response we
got from that car was unbelievable,” Lindberg says.
“Everybody loves it and we created a monster, I
think. People really liked that car.”
Lindberg hopes to translate those good vibes
into a bounce-back season in 2019 in Head’s
Funny Car, which will include a killer new paint
job. More than anything, though, he hopes the
car gets back to performing at a high level, much
like it did during Lindberg’s rookie Funny Car
season in 2017.
But it was almost as though 2018 never had
a chance. John Force crashed into Lindberg at
the second race of the year in Phoenix and the
single-car team could never find its footing after
that. They didn’t qualify in Gainesville at the next
event and once they got behind the eight-ball dur-
ing a busy season, Lindberg and company never
recovered, failing to make it out of the second
round all year.
“I think we have a good plan for next year,”
Lindberg says. “Sometimes you need a really
bad season to start changing stuff. You just re-
group and build up for next year. We were both
frustrated.”
After the crash with Force, the team struggled
with the changing track prep and then had issues
with the tune-up and clutch discs. But despite
ample frustrations throughout the course of the
season, Lindberg has high hopes for 2019, par-
tially because he is fully aware of the work Head
puts in. Lindberg is no slouch there, either, and
that combination brings out the best in both the
veteran Head and the rising star in Lindberg.
“People think it’s easy to tune a fuel car and
they’re wrong,” Lindberg insists. “It’s really tough
and they’re so finicky. But we get along great to-
gether and I think they don’t just want a driver. I
think he hired me because I know how to work on
a car and that’s why it works with him. The whole
team is great, we get along good and I think next
year we’re going to turn things around.”
Lindberg believes the team will be in its sweet
spot as far as next year, too. The plan is to cut
back to 16 races, with the team starting the year
in Gainesville in March. That gives time for ev-
erything to be ready to begin the season and also
ensures the team has time to work through any
issues over the course of the year.
It also allows Lindberg the opportunity to tune
the TAFC and even head back to Europe. Lind-
berg also promises something impressive – think
orange and plenty of skulls – when it comes to
the look of the Head Racing Funny Car.
“We had wraps on the car and Jim Head, he
hates the wraps,“ Lindberg says. “We’re going to
have real paint jobs on the car again, like old Jim
Head bodies. It’s going to be pretty cool. I’ve seen
some sketches and you’re going to see a pretty
cool body coming out.”
Speaking of cool, expect Lindberg and Cramp-
ton to return to Drag Week with something in-
credible. They have plans for something wild,
but the whole atmosphere of Drag Week was
an experience Lindberg really enjoyed and the
following the duo built up during that span was
too memorable for them to stop after one year.
“We would like to build a really lightweight car
to do it,” Lindberg says. “We’ll see. We’re prob-
ably going to do it because people want to see it.
“It took me back to where I started, really. It
felt like I was home in Europe. It was cool and
I think Richie felt the same. He started driving
big-block blown motors. I like Drag Week. It’s
real-deal racers. It doesn’t matter if it rains or
snows, they’re going to drive in DI
it.” DI DI
DI DI DI DI
22 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
DI DI DI
Issue 141
Dirt