Link-up with Dom
Lagana brought
US know-how
RO
GE
RG
OR
RI
NG
E
Jndia Erbacher
Maja Udtian Susanne Callin
2000 she added her fi rst FIA Top Fuel championship trophy
to the collection of silverware back at the couple’s racing
headquarters on the farm.
Raising a family took precedence in the early part of the
2000s, and Makela opted to give up the hot seat. Haapanen,
a car mechanic by trade, had bought an ex-Dick LaHaie Fueller
in 1994, and following his wife’s decision to take a racing
hiatus he returned to driving that dragster himself in Sweden
at Mantorp Park’s Veidec Festival in 2007 and a new Mats
Eriksson-constructed machine in 2008.
Come 2009, the kids were of an age where they both wanted
to get along to the races with mum and dad, but who would be
the driver of the Top Fuel dragster? In April of that year, Makela
conducted a fun survey on Europe’s premier drag racing website- eurodragster.com – asking readers to decide whether she
or her husband should pilot the new dragster. The resulting - and overwhelming – verdict was 85% in favour of Makela,
upon which Haapanen graciously stood down, while Makela
has not missed a championship round over the past decade.
The racing operation took an upturn following a fortuitous
introduction to the American Lagana brothers – Dom and Bobby - at a national event in Arizona while the Finnish fi rst family of
drag racing were on a winter break. The Laganas epitomise Top Fuel
racing on a budget and, after visiting an FIA round at Sweden’s
Tierp Raceway in 2013 in a consultancy capacity, they were able to
empower the team. The two teams follow a similar ethos – with
family involvement and the fun factor a priority – and although
the Lagana boys are now largely committed to working with the
Torrence Racing team (Steve Torrence is the NHRA Mello Yello
Top Fuel champion) in the States, their involvement with Makela
continues to pay dividends. “I’ve been very lucky in my driving
career to meet the right people at the right time, and simply
enjoy the sport with its attendant highs and lows,” she says.
That family theme continues, with Heikki working as
Makela’s clutch man and Hanna on cylinder heads, while crew
chief Sami Lehtimaki, Australian tuner Ben Patterson and a
coterie of keen young mechanics and seasoned veterans complete
the enthusiastic set-up. Under their charge, Makela completed
Finland’s fi rst sub-four-second pass at Kauhava in July, her 3.987s
run for the 1000 feet featuring a top speed of 304.4mph...
With her recently announced induction into the British Drag
Racing Hall of Fame, 2019 is becoming a stellar year for Makela.
The question is whether this ebullient woman grounded in
chicken farming can continue to, erm, rule the roost when the
European season climaxes at her “second home” of Santa Pod.
A field of 50% women
Susanne Callin
Susanne Callin, the
Swedish wife of Santa
Pod Raceway CEO Keith
Bartlett, stepped away
from driving one of the
late Knut Soderqvist’s
Top Fuel dragsters at the
end of the 2005 season.
It wasn’t until Easter
of this year that she
returned to racing a Top
Fueller, this time in one
of expat Norwegian Rune
Fjeld’s stable of cars that
operate from the RF
Motorsport base at the
Pod. Having regained
her licence, hers was one
of four cars at the Main
Event being driven by
women – 50% of the
field of eight.Anita Makela may deservedly have the highest profile in drag racing’s
Top Fuel class, but there are other women who have joined the
category to do battle with the guys in the straight-line warsJndia Erbacher
Switzerland’s Jndia
Erbacher (her birth
certificate shows the name
‘India’, but she changed it
to mimic the stylised ‘I’ on
the logo of US motorcycle
maker Indian, which looks
like a J) has followed in
the footsteps of custom-
bike-dealer dad Urs, and
campaigns a Top Fueller
in FIA competition as time
and funds permit. She has
run in the three-second
zone in her dragster –
named Jasmine – and like
her dad, a three-time FIA
European Top Fuel champ,
she’s experienced National
Hot Rod Association
action in the US, where
she gained Super Comp
and Top Methanol
Dragster licences.Maja Udtian
Maja Udtian is the woman
behind the tiller of the
Islanders Top Fueller, a
dedicated team of racers
from Norway. Her father,
Paul Ingar Udtian, has a
lengthy involvement in the
sport, and younger sister
Mari campaigns a Super
Comp dragster. Maja
made her Top Fuel debut
at Santa Pod’s FIA Euro
Finals in 2017, and this
season worked her way to
the final round of May’s
season-opener at the
same venue, but problems
put the 21-year-old out of
contention in the finale,
allowing Makela a clear
run to victory. Subsequent
to this, Udtian is snapping
at Makela’s heels and is
well in the points hunt. P30 READER OFFER22 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 31TOP FUEL DRAG RACING