30 UNDER 30
“ I CAN BE HONEST AND SAY NITRO IS MY GOAL . THAT ’ S BEEN ON MY BUCKET LIST SINCE I WAS A LITTLE KID . NITRO FUNNY CAR IS THE COOLEST CAR YOU CAN DRIVE , IN MY OPINION . NOW THAT I ’ VE TRIED IT , I LOVE IT .”
30 UNDER 30
CALLING HIS SHOTS
Jonnie Lindberg came to the United States with every intention of breaking records , winning races , and claiming championships . In just three short years , he ’ s accomplished all of that . The goal-oriented Swede now has his sights set on stepping up to nitro Funny Car racing , allowing him to set new goals at the sport ’ s highest level . been on my bucket list since I was a little kid . Nitro Funny Car is the coolest car you can drive , in my opinion . Now that I ’ ve tried it , I love it . Now I just need to work hard and go after it . I ’ m pretty hard-headed , so I think we should manage to figure something out . We ’ ll see what happens . Now I have my license . You never know ; maybe [ the big teams ] will call me when they need a sub-in driver ,” added Lindberg , who was reportedly on the short list of fill-in drivers for Alexis DeJoria when she missed the World Finals to recover from a concussion .
Lindberg won ’ t just jump at any chance to race a fuel car next year , though . Being a field-filler or an also-ran doesn ’ t appeal to the competitive Swede , who ’ s actually won four consecutive world championships when his 2013 FIA title and brother Johan ’ s 2014 FIA championship are taken into consideration . If he ’ s going to make the ultimate step up to the high profile , multi-million-dollar nitro ranks , Lindberg wants to do it the right way . He wants to win .
“ Of course I want to race nitro , but I ’ m not going to jump in a car that just qualifies and doesn ’ t win a round . If I drive a nitro car , I want to be in a good car so I can be a top contender . I don ’ t just want to do it to drive one . I ’ d rather drive my
“ I CAN BE HONEST AND SAY NITRO IS MY GOAL . THAT ’ S BEEN ON MY BUCKET LIST SINCE I WAS A LITTLE KID . NITRO FUNNY CAR IS THE COOLEST CAR YOU CAN DRIVE , IN MY OPINION . NOW THAT I ’ VE TRIED IT , I LOVE IT .”
alcohol car and win . I love to drive my alcohol car , so if I don ’ t get a nitro ride I ’ ll just continue doing what I love here . Next year I plan on doing the same thing we did this year ; try to go three in a row ,” Lindberg confided .
Along with the temptation of going quicker and faster in a car that makes around 7,000 horsepower more than his current ride of choice comes the curiosity of how to make said car go so quick and fast . Lindberg already knows how to make a screw-blown , methanol-burning Funny Car go fast . There ’ s no question about that . But does he know how to make a nitromethane-chugging fuel Funny Car get down the track ? Maybe not yet , but Lindberg ’ s history with steep learning curves suggests that it won ’ t be long before he picks up the intricacies of applying an insane amount of power in less than four seconds at well over 300 mph .
“ I understand the basics of a nitro car . If I were to drive a nitro car I would probably want to be involved in the tuning . Maybe if I don ’ t drive I would love to tune one too . I would love to drive and tune , just like Tim Wilkerson basically . He does really good . It works for me now to drive and tune my alcohol car , so why wouldn ’ t it work in a nitro car ?”
With a track record like his , who could argue with reasoning like that ? DI
PHOTO : JOE McHUGH
76 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 115