Lindberg Makes Quickest & Fastest Runs in TAFC History, Wins Charlotte

Courtesy of Lindberg Bros. Motorsports

 

Cool air and a tight racing surface at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., presented racers with the chance to make record-setting performances at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on March 27-29, and Jonnie Lindberg was ready to seize the opportunity. He not only became the first Top Alcohol Funny Car on the planet to break the 5.3-second and 270-mph barriers, but he capped it off by scoring his second NHRA win.

“When I saw the forecast for the race, I thought, ‘This is my chance. If the track is good, I know we can run 270,’” said Lindberg. “The conditions were perfect. It was amazing. With a good track and that air, you can’t get much better than that. You’ll probably have to wait 10 years to see it again.”

After setting the speed record during his last outing in Gainesville at 268.71 mph, Lindberg surpassed that on his first qualifying attempt on Saturday (Friday qualifying was cancelled due to rain) with the first 270-mph run in class history with a 5.473 at 270.10 mph despite pedaling the car to get through early tire shake. He saw that there was more left and tuned up his 2010 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for a run that the drag racing world would soon be talking about.

 Lindberg launched hard down the left lane and kept charging to a screaming 5.361 at 272.01 mph. The 5.361 elapsed time was a half-tenth quicker than the previous quickest run in NHRA history set by Frank Manzo four years earlier.

“It had a really good tune-up, and it was a perfect run,” said Lindberg. “The car was amazing. I brought it up in low gear, I shifted it, and it was amazing how fast it accelerated. It felt like a 5.39 or a 5.40. When they told me it was a 5.36 at 272, I was stunned.

“It was a good run. It was as good as it can be. The engine looked brand new on it. The parts really work good together. The heads, the rockers, everything works good. I didn’t hurt a thing this weekend, so it was perfect.”

Lindberg left the capacity crowd in awe, but his job wasn’t done yet. He needed to run an e.t. within one-percent of the 5.361 to back up the record, and he also had his sights set on winning the race. He overcame tire shake to run 5.574, 263.77 to beat Bill Naves in the first round. In the second round against Brian Hough on Sunday (a rematch of the Pomona final), Lindberg took his shot. The result was a 5.381, 270.64.

“The track was cold and really good in the morning, so I just went for it then,” said Lindberg. “I knew I can run a high-5.30. I put a pretty aggressive tune-up in it and ran a .38. After that, I backed it down again because I wanted to win the race.”

Lindberg ran 5.523 in the semifinal round to defeat Dan Pomponio Jr., who won the event in 2013 and 2014. That set up a final round matchup between Lindberg and 2014 NHRA champion Steve Harker.

Harker had traction issues, and Lindberg ran a strong 5.406, 269.94 to collect his second Wally trophy of the 2015 season in only three starts.

“It was a really smooth run,” said Lindberg. “I didn’t want to run that .36 and then not go down the track again. The 5.38 and 5.40 proved that we can repeat.”

 

Lindberg left the event with not only the win and both ends of the national record, but he also recorded the three quickest elapsed times (5.361, 5.381, 5.406) and four fastest speeds (272.01, 270.64, 270.10, 269.94) in NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car history.

“I think this was a perfect weekend,” said Lindberg. “It can’t be much better than this. To top this off, I probably need to go for the championship. That’s the plan now. I don’t have all the funding in place to go for the whole championship, but I’ll work hard to figure it out. I can’t stop now.”

Lindberg Bros. Racing extends its gratitude to supporters Manton Pushrods and Rockerarms, Manley Performance valves, Noonan Race Engineering cylinder heads, Leanders Clutches, Composite Specialties injector hats, Bullet Cams, Jan-Cen, Red Line Oil, XRP, Kjelland Transport, CPI, Total Projekt, Geoveta, Scania, BST, Fastec, VSM, Scandrock, Birka Motorrenoveringar and Scott Gaddy Racing.

The teams’ next event will be the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston, Texas, April 24-26.

Television coverage of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals will be broadcast on ESPN2 on April 5 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET/8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PT.