Family business:
Tommi, Hanna,
Heikki and AnitaMakela stormed to
victory in 2019 season-
opener round in Mayon my own earnings and sponsor deals, the latter being
relatively easy for me thanks to the popularity and media
coverage of motorsport in Finland.”
Further success followed in 1990 when, in association with
crew chief Simo Patoharju, she moved up the performance ladder
through acquisition of a supercharged, alcohol-guzzling Pro Comp
dragster from a Canadian team, gaining her class licence in the
States at the historic Famoso Raceway in California. Finnish
expat Jarmo Pulkkinen, who’d moved to southern California, was
instrumental in Makela’s purchase of the proven car, in which she
claimed two further European championships in the Top Alcohol
ranks, a category created when Pro Comp was split between
fl ip-bodied Funny Cars (TAFC) and dragsters (TAD) to make
individual classes. She was also credited with record times and
speeds during a fi ve-season period, an achievement underlined
by her always fi nishing somewhere in the class’s top three spots.
One particularly unfortunate episode occurred when she
took delivery of a new Bob Meyer Race Cars dragster in the
States and entered it in the TAD class at Firebird International
Raceway in Arizona for a National Hot Rod Association event.
The surface had been relaid just before the race was due to be held,
and during the course of qualifying there were several incidents.
Makela’s car crossed lanes and impacted the guard wall during
eliminations, suff ering severe chassis damage. She was unhurt, but
it was unsurprising that the event was subsequently postponed
until later that season after track issues had been resolved.
The car was rebuilt, freighted across to Europe and her racing
career carried on unabated, Makela setting terminal speed and
elapsed time records, and realising her ambition to make the
transition to the sport’s premier class towards the end of the
1990s. The stars aligned when Makela and fellow Finn Tommi
Haapanen, himself a Top Fuel competitor, informally got together
while returning home from a race – “I thought he was a charming
man and would be quite the catch,” she opines – and following
an idyllic courtship they married in 1997, the same year in which
she attained her licence to drive the quickest-accelerating, wheel-
driven, land-locked missiles on the planet.
Driving for Sweden’s Peter Lantz, she secured third place in
the European Top Fuel Championship series the year following
matrimony. But Makela and Haapanen decided it would be ideal
to race a Fuel car together, so they formed Tommi & Anita Top
Fuel Racing. After taking time out of the sport when motherhood
took priority – daughter Hanna was born in 1998, and son Heikki
in 1999 – Makela made a welcome return to racing at the turn of
the millennium, stamping her authority in winning style when inReader offer
Save 30%
on single-day
adult ticketsSanta Pod is pleased to off er Autosport readers a
30% discount on single-day adult tickets for the
FIA/FIM European Finals (5-8 September), featuring
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to the pits and other attractions.30 AUTOSPORT.COM 22 AUGUST 2019
TOP FUEL DRAG RACING